What are our Assemblies
An Assembly is the standard format of a Collective Thought meeting and mainly consists of a conversation on a given topic with a limited number of people. All Assemblies have at least one moderator, who follows certain guidelines on the topic at hand which have been previously drafted and approved. At the end of the Assembly, a Report is drafted by the moderator based on what the participants said and wrote during the Assembly. The specificity of every Assembly, Guidelines and Report can slightly vary according to the context and the subject matter.
Throughout the meeting, we focus on (1) create a comfortable environment where people respect each other, (2) foster different ideas and perspectives and (3) reach some sort of consensus at the end. For a more detailed explanation, you can read the Guidelines on how to build a Collective Thought.
Four types of Assemblies
Workshop Assemblies
Focus on the subjective expression of the participants, providing a social space which si perfect to face complex questions which do not find an easy answer in our daily life. This Assemblies usually bring new and original ideas, allowing participants to make connections between their individual experiences. Topics of discussion can be like ‘What is my place in society?’ or ‘How to handle disagreements?’.
Definitional Assemblies
The starting point is usually a term, a concept or a theory, in an attempt to foster its collective understanding. In the process, it is possible to point out anomalies, benefits, criticism and whatever the definition implies. Often, participants have different meanings in mind and this sparks misunderstandings that can hardly be settled. Topics of discussion can be like ‘The circularity of language’ or ‘What is discrimination?’.
Meta-Assemblies
These meetings are important for participants which are active within the Foundation. The focus is on discussing the essence of Collective Thought theory with all its implications. Everything can be put into discussion, including the very essence of the Foundation itself. This is done to constantly keep all the aspects of the theory in check and involve participants in building the method with which other Assemblies are held.
Ad Hoc Assemblies
Generally, these meetings are designed case-by-case when they need to be held in different locations and/or for other organisations. As a matter of content, they can be any of the other three types, but they are drastically different in number of participants, duration and discussion design.
