[governance] speed dialogue (speed geeking)

[Tracey Naughton]

The concept of 'speed' in group process / debate / discussion:

I am not sure what the intended meaning was in this context but the  
general concept of 'speed ...[process]' emerged in participatory  
process parlance a few years ago. It's based on the concept of 'speed  
dating' where the exchange is fast, compact and salient. It can be  
used to good effect in the right situations. It is important to have  
a good facilitator to manage the process. I have used it in  
situations where you want to have a discussion and make decisions but  
you need all the participants to have an understanding of a number of  
inter-related ideas, projects, research results etc. so you don't  
have to spend time bringing the whole group up to speed on current  
updates and angles on your overall topic context.

It's a good mechanism for information sharing and for bringing a  
diverse group of people closer to having a shared understanding of  
the basics or recent developments etc around the topic you are  
dealing with. The effect is to give people a conference quantity of  
key information without them sitting through three days of papers and  
forgetting most of the content anyway.

Here is the outline of how it works - you can adapt it of course:

You set up information stations around a room where one person is  
located to speak / demonstrate / present on a topic, and idea, a  
relevant research project - things that are relevant to the overall  
topic at hand. These speed station attendants (speed geeks) have  
prepared themselves to present, in a way they choose, the key  
features of their topic, recent research etc. They only have 5-10  
minutes. You need to determine the overall structure depending on how  
many speed geeking stations you are having and the time available.

The speed geeks need to be the most knowledgeable people on the  
subject for that station and be good communicators too. The  
facilitator will have worked with them beforehand on content and  
process. A strong team of speed geeks is key to the success of speed  
geeking.

The overall group is split into smaller groups and they travel from  
one speed geek station to the next. They stay at each one for the  
5-10 minutes you have allocated for the exercise and then at the  
facilitators signal, the groups move on to the next station. Within  
an hour you can easily have a large group of people taking in  6 - 8  
key ingredients to lay the basis for a well informed discussion.

Happy speed geeking

Tracey Naughton




Tracey Naughton
Country Director, Pact Mongolia
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Tracey at pact.mn

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cell:			+976 9911 5717
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skype:		tracey_naughton
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