Awele Documentation Reap what you share

In light of everything that has been stated in this Guide, here are the keys to the success of your forum. There are two main categories:

• specific keys
  

human resources
You need to be able to count on at least two persons! A forum is above all a human adventure, and exchanges within a facilitation team help to see things more clearly as they progress.

financial resources
A forum requires investment. Know on what resources you can count and determine the ambitions of your forum in agreement with them.

precisely defined objective(s)
The objective(s) must be clear and known by all the participants. If these objectives are part of a larger process, this should also be explicit.

the choice of a method to reach this or these objective(s)
This designates the calendar, the choice of topics, the form of moderation (at the source or in progress), and all other elements that are relevant in view of the objective(s). The drafting of a paper by an international workgroup does not require the same method as the preparation of a small national meeting.

the suitable means
By means, we designate mainly the tools. Even though we recommend an electronic mailing list coupled with a Web site for most forums, in certain cases a Web site may not prove to be indispensable, for example.

• not so specific, but very important keys

The quality of the work of the forum is going to depend on the participation. Use every means possible to make sure that

the composition of the participants reflects your objectives. If you wish to have exchanges among persons from different countries or different social backgrounds, reach out to participants from all the countries, or from all the social spheres, in balanced proportions and

If you open discussions with a component that is dominant with regard to others, hoping to restore the balance later, it will be very difficult, or even impossible, to achieve such rebalancing. You therefore need, in your "call to the debate," to do everything you can to reach out to potential participants in the spirit of exchanging

because the natural human tendency is to talk to those who are similar to oneself.

Time must be present in your mind… all kinds of time: your time, the time of the forum and its deadlines, but also

such as they experience it where they live, in their everyday lives and everyday responsibilities.

When you open up communication, you cannot be sure of exactly what is going to happen. Participants are often a source of new ideas, unexpected directions. You must remain flexible, while keeping an eye on your objectives, and ready to listen to and integrate, or even to formalize the unexpected.

This Guide is a basis, an elaborate one, but just a basis. Some circumstances can require imagining new formulas.

The heart to work, of course, but also strong empathy. It is not easy to express oneself in an e-forum context, and sometimes sensitivities are heightened and can bring about misunderstandings. As facilitator, your role is to help people to express themselves and for this, you must be able to

Your involvement will hence be, to some extent, emotional.