Group structures and necessary ground rules will be designed to prevent or at least limit most of the common obstacles to productive group interaction. Detailed instructions for implementing the group format as designed will be available online. Facilitators will be trained online to help.

Active participation in every meeting will be ensured by calling on everyone in the group to speak about each proposed solution in rotation. In this way, each group member’s work will be discussed, or at least commented on, by everyone in turn.

In the first meeting, if possible, all of the participants will present their solutions briefly. Everyone in the group will be specifically asked to respond to each proposer with questions, comments, and suggestions. These first interactions will take place only between people proposing solutions and each responder, one at a time.

The participants in each group will probably already have read all of the solutions that will be discussed in the first meeting. Possibly, they will also have talked with some of the authors of the proposals presented in the meeting before actually discussing them with the whole group in real time. Therefore, they will be somewhat familiar with most of the ideas presented in the first group meeting, and will have had an opportunity to think about them before they hear all the other participants ask their questions and make their comments.

During a period of open discussion, every group participant will be called on to speak and respond to what’s said. Those that don’t volunteer will be called on to express an opinion or a response, at least once during every meeting. If they decline to speak at that point, they will be called on again, if time permits.

The time allotted to each speaker in both the rotation and the open discussion will be determined by the number of participants in the group and the amount of meeting time agreed to. To ensure that all participants get a hearing and a response on each issue, each will speak only when recognized, within a limited time frame determined by the facilitator at each meeting.

If a group has five members, each will probably have about three or four minutes to interact with the presenter in the first go around. This first rotation will probably last for about an hour and a half. The free discussion period that follows the first rotation might last about two hours, with about a half-hour allotted to refreshment breaks. If the meeting time agreed on is about four hours, everyone in the group will have an opportunity to interact with each other, for an average of about five minutes for each exchange. This suggested process will of course vary by agreement between group members.

It’s important that each group member briefly present their own proposal and respond to every other proposer in turn during the first go around. If, for some reason, there isn’t enough time in the first meeting for all the members to get everybody’s responses to their proposal, the go around should be continued and completed at the beginning of the next meeting.

It’s equally important that all group participants express their opinions and offer comments as honestly as they can to every proposal presented in every meeting. It will be fine, for example, simply to say “I agree,” or “it sounds good.” However, it will always be better to say specifically what “sounds good” about it and everyone will be encouraged to do so. If a responder disagrees with something said, s/he will be strongly urged to try to explain why in some specific detail (i.e. bad unintended outcomes, impractical idea, excessive cost).