Ground Rules
The Forum runs four conferences a year, as well as a range of other network meetings and other events. We use these ground rules as a starting point for all of our events, checking that the participants agree to them and asking if there are any others which the group would like to consider. We have found that this works well!
- Allow people to disagree
- Challenge the issue not the person
- Confidentiality: in general, members may leave the meeting and repeat what was said, but not who said it
- Confidentiality: people may raise specific issues and ask for them to be kept within the group. Let the scribe know if you don't want it noted (notes on flipcharts are public)
- Depending on your group you may wish to agree on less swearing than usual!
- Don't interrupt each other
- Do encourage participation
- Mobile phones off
- No Jargon
- No language which could be construed as discriminatory or is offensive to others
- Do not use your status to undermine others
- Treat each other with respect
