Organising an interactive forum
Organising an interactive forum
This page describes the "how" of interactive fora. For the "what" and "why", please see the activities - interactive fora page of this site.
This resource file has been produced to help faculties organize an Interactive Forum for their groups. Interactive forums have been developed to provide a comfortable situation in which non-Christians can ask their questions and be provoked in their thinking about the Christian faith. They work best in the context of ongoing relationships with Christians and serve to stimulate further thought and conversation.
Basic Requirements
To run an interactive forum you require a panel, a facilitator and an audience:
- The Panel
An EU panel usually consists of three people:
- Andrew Katay (senior EU staffworker)
- faculty-specific panelist (e.g. a Christian economist, scientist, historian, etc...)
- One other (a staffworker or other experienced Christian)
The panel's job is to answer questions from the floor in a crisp and compelling way. It may be that different panel members field particular types of questions.
- The Facilitator
The facilitator's job is to provide energy for the occasion. He/she is more than just a chairperson. They help the audience participate by introducing the forum and the panel, directing questions from the audience to the panelists, encouraging further questions on issues arising from the panelists' answers, cracking jokes etc.
- The Audience
The audience is made up of EU'ers with their non-Christian friends and others who may have seen advertising and dropped in. It is best if there is at lest as many non-Christians there as Christians. The forum should therefore be held in a place that is non-threatening and accessible to non-Christians
EU has held successful forums with anywhere between 20 and 70 people in the audience.
Making an Interactive Forum Happen
It is a good idea to have a small team who will be responsible for organising and running the forum. The main responsibilities of such a team are to:
- Organize the panel and facilitator
- Fix a date and time
- Ask the EU secretary to book a suitable room
- Set up the room
- Advertise the forum
- Organizing the panel and Facilitator
The first step is to decide on the make up of the panel. Andrew Katay (a senior EU staffworker) is an experienced and skilled panel member and we suggest he be used in every EU forum where possible. The next person to decide on is the faculty-specific panel member. For example, a science forum would try to find a person who is a Christian and a scientist and who has thought through the issues of science and religion. The third panelist should be a mature Christian - equipped to defend Christianity. They should balance the other two panelists in age and gender.
It is best to liaise with the EU staff team, via your faculty staffworkers, in the selection of a forum panel and facilitator as the team has accumulated much wisdom on what works best.
As part of the asking process it is good to make sure panelists and facilitators are available for a briefing session sometime before the forum
- Fix a Date.
The date and time of the forum will depend to some extent on the availability of the panel and the facilitator. However, you need to also make sure that the date and time is suitable for people in your faculty. Check there are no major faculty events likely to clash with the forum.
- Find and Book a Location.
It is important to have a room that is readily accessible for people in your faculty and suitable for a forum type event. In general, a flat lecture/tutorial room with movable furniture is best. Its size should be appropriate for the number of people you are expecting. In 1998, the usual size for a forum was 20-30 people.
You should book the room a couple of weeks in advance so that you can put it on your advertising. All union and university rooms at Sydney University should be booked via the EU Secretary.
- Setting Up.
The room needs to be set up in a way that makes it easy to get to seats and which encourages audience participation. A shallow semi-circle 4 or 5 rows deep is probably best. Make sure the audience can see the panel without too much distraction and that there is adequate lighting in the room. The entrance should be behind the seats to enable people to come and go easily.
- Advertising.
When a time and a place have been set, the team must decide on an advertising theme and organize for posters/leaflets etc. to be designed and printed. Themes could be faculty specific to raise interest among the target group.
These seem to be events that people often come to "off the street" as a result of seeing the advertising. So clear, eye-catching and thought provoking advertising is a plus.
Somewhere on the advertising it should describe what the event is, e.g. "a forum for asking questions and airing opinions about the Christian faith in a lively and interesting atmosphere."
Faculty Small groups are an obviously strategic place to advertise the forum as well as praying for friends and encouraging members to invite them. Other advertising ideas include posters on faculty notice boards, fliers distributed at the footbridges, table drops in lecture rooms or student union eateries, notices in The Daily Bull and lecture theater announcements.
On the day of the forum the location may need to be signposted somehow, especially if it is bit out of the way, e.g. rooms on Wentworth level 5.
How a Forum Runs
When the audience is seated (it may be an idea to have an usher/welcomer at the door), the facilitator gets up and explains what will happen at the meeting and starts to anticipate questions which may arise. He/She introduces the panel; perhaps asking for a word of testimony connected to the theme of the forum which may provoke questions.
The facilitator then opens the forum up to the audience to ask questions. One person at a time asks questions of the panel, who then answer. For questions not directed to any particular panelist, the facilitator will direct them. The facilitator may also draw other panelists in to answer a question.
Often answers to one question will provoke other questions, so the discussion gains its own momentum. It is best if Christians stay out of the way and let the non-Christians ask and the panelists answer (even if you think you could do better!). Hopefully the outcome is a lively and stimulating discussion, which leaves visitors with issues to take up with their Christian friends.
