Your role is that of being a facilitator for your Community Meeting. Not the voice of your Community Meeting itself.

When you met local People from across your Community in STEP 6, you explained who you were, what you were doing and why you were there, and then you listened as the Person or People told you what they think.

It is important to understand that your role at your first Community Meeting will be very similar again.

The strength in the PROCESS, METHOD and AIM of Officially NONE OF THE ABOVE is helping everyone in your Community to take back their own power.

To do this, we must give everyone back the opportunity to speak, to use their own voice and to be heard.

The agenda for your first Community Meeting

The real agenda of your first Community Meeting is to begin the process of bringing what appears to be a very different group of People together. They can then begin the process of recognising the value of what they all have in common, and what they share, together. All in one room.

There is a good chance that amongst any Community Meeting, and particularly if the meeting is one of the first, there will be a Person or People present who will be happy to sound off very quickly, IF they don’t get the opportunity to take over. Or they believe that there is more value in doing things a different way.

When you begin and you speak for the first time, it is very important that you create and share a few brief ‘house rules’ with everyone.

These could be something like:

That by being here, and by taking part, we ALL agree that:

• This Community Meeting is for everyone and as such, everyone will have the opportunity to speak – IF they want to.
• We will all commit to listening to what every speaker has to say.
• When we want to comment, our comments will be shared in the sense of looking forward and how ideas can be built and improved upon, rather than being negative and critical or focused on the past.
• If we don’t understand someone else’s perspective or we believe that in some way it doesn’t make sense, we will respectfully ask them to explain their perspective further and ask them to do so using their experiences – if they are happy to share.
• That we all remain polite, respectful of others, and above all else, we won’t speak across others and will wait for our turn.

You will be surprised by just how engaged everyone will quickly become, once they know that not only they will be heard, but everyone will be listening to everyone else with the same open mind too.

So that every member of the Community who is present is treated as fairly as can be, it might also be a good idea to follow a format and talk everyone through what that will happen as each person speaks, before you begin.

This might be something like this:

• Everyone will have the opportunity to speak.
• We will go around the room in order but will be happy to begin with anyone who is particularly keen to speak first.
• When it’s your turn to speak, please share your name and the area of our Community where you live.
• Please also share with us if you already have a role within our Community too.
• We would then like to hear your thoughts on any issue which is concerning you, along with any thoughts about how people affected could be helped.
• We would also like to hear your thoughts on what your ideal public representative should be experienced in and able to do, before we make a Community Decision upon whether to endorse them, and then support them when an Election is called.

The most important thing to do is to make sure that everyone who wants to speak has had the opportunity to do so – no matter how long it takes.

It’s always worth being patient.

Don’t let anyone talk about forming or agreeing Policy at this stage:

As we discussed in STEP 4 when we talked about posting on social media, this is not the time to do anything other than listen to what everyone has to say and what experience they want to share. It’s not the right time to get into the details of Public Policy itself.

The overall AIM of Officially NONE OF THE ABOVE and the Community Meetings that you have brought into being, is for your Community to select the very best Public Representatives that it can, and then endorse and support them until they have successfully been elected. That is the right time for any discussion about Public Policy to begin.

If any kind of effort to reach agreement on a political position takes place at this stage – even if it’s about who and what, or how something is wrong, you will very quickly find that cracks will appear in the support you have been working so hard to grow.

No matter what the topic might be, even words that suggest People have to get behind an idea that might polarise opinion at this point, will be enough to derail your efforts.

People need to experience that Community Meetings not only have the power to bring members of your local Community together. They MUST also see and then KNOW that collaboration of this kind can yield genuine results too.

This will not be achieved until your Community Meeting has selected, endorsed and supported candidates and they have been elected – When People will see that Politics established on commonality rather than separation and difference, is a real alternative and choice.

Things to be aware of:

Communication is a two-way street.

Being a good communicator is as much about being able to listen and hear everyone when they speak or understand them through whatever it is that they do, as it is to speak, write or publish your words, yourself.

A public meeting is a very different environment to somebody’s own doorstep, where most people will feel safe. Many of the People who felt very comfortable talking to you one-to-one, will become hesitant to speak, when the opportunity comes to speak in front of ‘everyone’.

This is a very human and normal response. So don’t push anyone to speak if they don’t want to.

Also bear in mind that the experience of being in a group can make some People feel boxed in. If they think for any reason that what they have said could be viewed in some way as being wrong, they might easily become defensive too – which in some cases might appear they are becoming angry.

What you should have achieved when your first Community Meeting reaches its end

Your first Community Meeting is only the first. And it could be the first of a great many to come.

Let’s hope so. Because agreeing and then arranging your next Community Meeting will be one of the first and most meaningful ways that you can measure your success and see the result of the effort that you have put in.

By the end of the first Community Meeting, those attending should know and understand:

• The primary AIM of Community Meetings is to qualify, select and then support candidates who are members of your local Community to stand in every upcoming Election as the candidate or candidates who have been chosen by the Community, to represent the Community and to speak and Vote on its behalf.
• The dates and timelines for the next Parish/Town, Borough/District, County/Unitary Elections covering your area (where they are relevant), and any pointers you might then be able to provide about when the next General Election might be.
• The role that each and every member of the local Community is being invited to play in selecting Community Candidates for upcoming Elections.
• When the process of selecting Community Candidates for the next Election is likely to begin.
• The date of the next Community Meeting.
• What everyone who is already contributing to the PROCESS will be doing next.
• How everyone can keep up to date, keep in touch and do their bit to build the Community Meeting, so that as many People as possible are ready and able to take part, when you all come together and meet next time.

You should arrange the next Community Meeting as soon as possible and hold meetings as frequently as possible thereafter.

Be prepared to have small interim meetings online, using software like Microsoft Teams or Zoom, if this will be helpful to anyone – and particularly everyone who is making an active contribution and taking part as a volunteer.

Depending upon how well attended your last Community Meeting was and when the next Election will be, you should begin taking steps and discussing the process you will use to select your Candidates as part of a special Community Meeting that you might be ready to hold next time.

Please be aware:

Your Community Candidates cannot begin working on their Election Campaign, or the pre-campaign work that they will need to, UNTIL your Community Meeting has Selected and Endorsed them.

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The AIM of Officially NONE OF THE ABOVE is to have Candidates on every ballot paper in every Election who have been selected by the Community – so that there is a legitimate and qualified choice.

Selecting your Candidates for Endorsement will be rather like being an employer who is setting up and managing a recruitment process.

The key difference will be that there isn’t one person or two, but potentially an entire Community of local People that will be making the final decision and choice.

Because of the clear need and requirement to respect and protect personal data, some of the process may need to be undertaken by a committee that is appointed by your Community Meeting, which can then make a recommendation or perhaps offer several People who can then speak to the whole Community and answer questions that will help everyone to settle upon the final choice.

The most important part of the Candidate Selection process will be the very first job your Community Meeting will have to complete.

This will be to identify, agree and implement the framework or terms under which your appointed committee will then makes its recommendations or present its final choice.

Some things that you should all discuss and consider:

No person should automatically be precluded from consideration to be endorsed by your Community as a Candidate for reasons other than those which would disqualify any person from becoming a registered candidate in the relevant Election to be held.

Please get in touch with your Local Council to check what they are.

However, a successfully Endorsed Candidate should, at least:

• Already reside within the Community that they would represent or live very close by.
• Offer experience of life which has enabled them to understand the priorities and behaviour of others, from across different social and demographic groups.
• Offer sufficient experience of holding responsibility of some kind, within business or some other organisation, where they have demonstrated an appreciation of how organisations and services work.
• Be patient and caring for others, with a clear ability to listen, understand and empathise whilst remaining objective where different perspectives and experiences may be involved.
• Have confidence and the ability to speak and explain real life concepts to others objectively and to present alternative options in a way that is accessible to all and basically makes sense.
• Possess evident self-awareness and the ability to consider the impact of their actions upon others, as well as the likely actions of others upon themselves, all in ‘real time’.
• Be aspirational rather than idealistic. And practical but not negative in their demeanor and approach.
• Have skills and knowledge that would clearly be beneficial to the Community, when used in a relevant political role.
• Be driven by public service, rather than by personal ambition of any kind.

Your Community Meeting should avoid selecting a Candidate, purely because:

• They are popular or already have some kind of ‘standing’ in the Community.
• You like them.
• They sound credible and appear to know ‘all the right things’.
• They already have a ‘following’ of some kind.
• They seem to have a lot of ideas.

Under no circumstances should your Community Meeting be asked to consider any person for endorsement as a Candidate, if:

• They are a current member of any Political Party or activist organisation.
• They are a sitting / elected member of any Council, or Parliament or of any other publicly appointed or elected body.
• They have been a member of any existing Political Party within the past 5 years.

To be fair, finding People who have the most appropriate kind of experience and approach who actually want to be involved in Politics, given the way that things are and how they have been, won’t be the easiest task. At least right at the very beginning.

However, finding the right People from within your local Community is certainly nowhere near impossible.

The PROCESS will be made much easier by following each of the TEN STEPS to Officially NONE OF THE ABOVE, as rigorously and as diligently as you can.

The reality is that once People start to become aware that there is a growing, non-political option that’s all about doing what’s right for everyone, many more good People will be interested in coming forward to serve on behalf of our Communities than those who are prepared to take the risk that Politics offers them right now.

Choosing your Candidate Selection Committee

Choosing the members of your Community Meeting who will sift through, research and initially interview potential Candidates for Endorsement is just as important a job as selecting the Candidates to stand in Elections themselves.

As with Candidate Selection, the ability to be objective is key.

Selection Committee Members must be able to look at every part of the information they have and go in search of and be able to consider it without letting their own experiences and biases get in the way.

You will need at least three People and preferably five or even seven to take on this role.

Of these, it may become apparent that one member will have more of these attributes and as such may be well placed to take on a chair or facilitator role, where they can point out where certain things may have excessive influence on how Candidates are perceived in some way.

Transparency

Whatever process you decide upon and whether you have a Candidate Selection Committee or not, there is absolutely no reason to hide anything, other than any personal information that it is only right and that it might be necessary to protect.

Please research handling personal data and The Office of The Information Commissioner if unsure.

When your Community Meeting has agreed and set the Terms for Candidate Selection, these should be published in full online, with links highlighted and made available across all of the social media platforms that you are using and making available publicly.

It is essential that the process your Community Meeting uses to select, and Endorse Candidates for Elections is clear, agreeable and fair to everyone – with the balance of fairness always weighted towards the Community as a whole, rather than what will be helpful to any particular Candidate.

PLEASE REMEMBER: Public Representation IS NOT A JOB. IT IS A RESPONSIBILITY.

For this reason alone, it is essential that no part of this whole process is compromised by entertaining even the smallest bias towards what any individual involved within it may want.

Presentation, Questions and Answers

No matter the process your Community Meeting decides upon to get there, the final decision and therefore the Endorsement of a Candidate by the Community, MUST come from an overall Vote of the Community Meeting itself.

Whilst the Candidate Selection Committee may have made a selection, or ideally presented several preferred choices for the Community Meeting to make its choice or choices from, it is essential that all those members of the local Community taking part in the final Vote have had the opportunity to see the ability of the candidate(s) to represent them, demonstrated BEFORE that Vote takes place.

One of the best ways to achieve this, beyond an open Question & Answer session, will be to ask the final candidates to talk through their understanding of a complex area of public policy that the Community Meeting has already identified as being important.

Then ask them to go through, in detail, and explain their understanding of each and every aspect of that issue. How they would go about finding a solution, and what their considerations for reaching a choice of solution would then be.

How many Candidates does your Community Meeting need to Endorse?

This may sound like a silly question to ask at first glance, as many of us are used to the idea that we Vote for one person to represent an area in any Election.

That’s certainly true for Parliamentary Elections when we are voting for an MP to represent us.

However, it’s not always the case for Local Elections, when Councillors are being elected.

Council Wards for Borough/District and County/Unitary Authorities or Councils can often have multiple seats.

So, it’s not unusual to be electing 2 different Councillors or perhaps even 3 at the same time – meaning that Voters will need to choose that number of candidates to support when they actually come to Vote.

By rule of thumb, the more local the Council or the smaller the geographical area it covers, the more candidates – and Votes on one ballot, local People could have. The very first time I was elected as a Councillor to a Town Council, my Seat was one of 6!

Therefore, your Community Meeting will need to endorse the same number of Candidates for the number of Seats or Vacancies to be filled, that there are.

This information will be available from your local Democratic Services or Elections department and more information about the different Councils and the Tiers of Government can be found on my FREE to read, web version of How to get Elected.

REMEMBER: The AIM of Community Meetings with Officially NONE OF THE ABOVE is to provide all Voters with the exact number of Candidates to fill any elected positions that are vacant within our current System of Government.

The Community Meeting will select those Candidates through the Officially NONE OF THE ABOVE process, just like the Political Parties use their own processes to.

The VERY BIG difference is that Candidates endorsed by Community Meetings will be selected to be genuine Public Representatives who work for and on behalf of the Community. Rather than being Candidates who will always be working for someone, somewhere else and out of sight, with an agenda that isn’t in yours or your Community’s best interests.

The Vote

When it comes to the final Vote of the Community Meeting and the Candidate Endorsement itself, the Vote to achieve this MUST be conducted in the fairest way that it can be.

On the face of it, it would appear that the easiest way to be assured of legitimacy would be to work with a simple show of hands.

However, when everyone can see what everyone else is doing, it can too easily mean that ‘group think’ or fear of offending or upsetting certain People from within the local Community can get to work. This is something you will always need to be mindful of.

Remember, if the PROCESS and METHOD are compromised at any stage, then the real AIM of all of the work and effort made will not have been achieved. The Community WILL NOT have the chance to be represented properly and legitimately in the way that it should.

Therefore, passing a ballot paper or slip of paper with the name(s) of each candidate listed to each member of the Community who is voting, and asking them to place a tick against the name of one of the proposed candidates listed, will almost certainly be the right way to complete the voting process and to ensure that it has been fairly done.

Supporting The Candidate

Once your Community Meeting has endorsed your Candidate(s), the work doesn’t end there.

The process of supporting your Candidate(s) to connect with everyone across the Community is your next essential step.

You should use all of the social media platforms that you have to make People aware of who your Community Meeting has Endorsed, and therefore who has the Community Meeting’s qualified support.

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It is important to remember that Officially NONE OF THE ABOVE is neither a Book nor a Guide for Election Candidates, once they have been Endorsed by a Community Meeting will need to do as part of an Election campaign itself.

Officially NONE OF THE ABOVE is about the creation of circumstances where Candidates for Elected Public Offices have been vetted, selected, approved and endorsed by the Community to be on our ballot papers as a ‘recommended for, by and on behalf of this Community’ choice.

In time, being Endorsed by a Community Meeting to run as a Candidate in any Election will be enough, in itself, to attract Votes from a significant number of People. Much in the same way that the majority of political candidates get backed by People right now. Not because of who they are. But because of which Political Party they are running with.

It may be a relatively short time until your Endorsed Candidate(s) attract that kind of support. But that time could well prove be longer than the time between now and the next Election in your area.

Ideally, your Community Meeting will Endorse Candidates to run in the next Election that is scheduled or expected.

Whenever that Election might be, it is essential your Endorsed Candidates begin work on campaigning across the area and connecting with Members of the Community, in very much the same way as you will be doing yourself.

Until such time as a shared name or political vehicle might be needed and agreed upon to bring all Community Meeting endorsed or approved Candidates together, the best way for any Candidate to consider themselves for the purposes of registering with your local Democratic Services or Elections Office, is to run as an ‘Independent’ candidate.

The very first book that I wrote and published, “How to Get Elected” is intended to help Independent Candidates in a way that is almost identical to the support that your Endorsed Candidates are likely to need right now.

You will find the whole book split up into pages and available to read FREE HERE. (The FREE version is much easier to access from a PC, where the page titles are listed in order, on the right-hand side of the screen).

Alternatively, you can buy and download a copy of How to get Elected for Kindle from Amazon HERE.

How to Get Elected is a self-help or ‘How to’ guide that covers all the things a Candidate needs to be aware of or to consider, with a lot of additional thoughts, experience and tips thrown in.

Like Officially NONE OF THE ABOVE, the way to get the very best value from the book, How to Get Elected, is to read it all the way through, without missing anything out.

How to Get Elected will fill in all the gaps that need to be crossed by Candidates, before other support and help may become available.

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Whilst there is no genuine substitute for meeting with other members of your local Community face to face, if you don’t have the time or don’t feel able to be involved in absolutely everything that the others involved with your local Community Meeting do, it will be both easy and helpful for you and your Community Meeting, if you support them by following whatever they are doing online.

Not everyone uses social media. But we are now in a time where the majority of People do. Of those that do, only a fraction will openly support or engage with articles, blogs and posts, even though they will have been of interest or made them think in some way.

The simple act of following or liking the social media pages and platforms of your local Community Meeting will be a massive help to build momentum, IF being able to be able to Vote for Candidates who are real and genuinely offer the option of NONE OF THE ABOVE, is all that you really want to achieve.

Because of the way that online technology such as search engines, algorithms and the AI or Artificial Intelligence that already operates many of these ‘platform’ sites on the Internet work, something as simple as a like or follow will immediately tell them that your interest in what your Community Meeting is doing, is real.

As a direct result, they will very quickly begin to ask other People like you, if your Community Meeting is something that would be of interest to them too.

This could make a massive difference for the cost of what could be no more than a couple of clicks.

Remember:

Community Meetings will bring members of the local Community together to select the People that the Community will support to become their Public Representatives.

This is not in itself a political act.

By liking or following your Community Meeting, you are simply sharing with anyone who knows or is interested in you, that you are taking seriously how the decisions affecting everyone locally are made, and that you are concerned enough that you believe it necessary to support the process and method that will deliver genuine change.

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Another very easy way to support your Community Meeting is to talk about what local People are doing with Officially NONE OF THE ABOVE to anyone you see or have regular conversation with.

Word of mouth is a very powerful and influential tool. It also demonstrates just how important and helpful genuine and direct interaction with real People can actually be. It focuses on what Community Meetings are genuinely all about.

You don’t have to sell Community Meetings in the sense of eulogising or championing them to other People, unless you actually want to and feel comfortable doing so.

If you are open with people you know, about why Community Meetings are of interest to you and you share the facts about Officially NONE OF THE ABOVE, as they genuinely are and what we are aiming to achieve together, the benefits of your local Community Meeting will very quickly sell themselves.

Please Remember:

If it helps to keep the conversation short, just tell People about Officially NONE OF THE ABOVE and suggest that they also read the Book.

Otherwise, if you have a little more time and feel able, share the Usernames and links to the social media platforms that you have for your Community Meeting, once its developing and running, you can then leave it to People to take a look and then decide for themselves.

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