REPRESENTATIVE TOWN HALL MEETINGS 

—NSON in partnership with The Guild Group—

Representative Town Hall Meetings are highly specialized, well-organized public opinion research projects that provide a practical and effective method for allowing average citizens to make their views about key public issues known. 

Average citizens of any given community are often uniformed or confused about many of the most significant issues that involve them directly.  For example, people often do not understand all of the complex matters that are involved when a power plant, highway, water, or transportation system is proposed for their community.  People tend to believe what they have heard and seen on television commercials in sound bites and newspaper headlines. When people are invited to participate in discussions of issues, those who attend often disproportionately represent special interests rather than being a true cross section of the general public. Representative Town hall Meetings overcome these weaknesses and provide a superior solution for obtaining informed “public opinion.” 

A Representative Town Hall Meeting is a compelling process. In advance of the meeting, participants are provided educational materials that clearly define the issues in a balanced way and provide the foundation for an educated and fair exchange of ideas. 

Because the process is an open one, decision makers and other observers can actually watch it unfold.  They can decide for themselves if the materials are fair and balanced.  They can observe members of the public talking among themselves and asking tough questions of experts and advocates. 

Experience has shown that Town hall Meetings: 

■  Provide an open, observable process that produces results that are considered to be fair by the majority of interested parties—

■  Provide actionable, significant results within a limited time frame—

■  Develop a workable solution that can help move a project forward—

■  Provide balanced, fair representation of the entire community in the process—

■  Allow community members to get beyond spin and rhetoric to the facts about alternative solutions and the benefits and cost of implementing each solution—

■  Provide balanced consideration of all complex issues, including special interest issues, practicality, and the best interests of the entire community—

■  Allow community members to have genuine input in major projects that affect their lives and their community. 

Three distinct groups of people need to become directly involved for Representative Town Hall Meetings to function properly: 

1. A representative, balanced sample of the public to discus the issues—
2. A group of independent research professionals to assess, evaluate, and explain the various technical aspects of the proposed project—
3. A group of experts and special interest advocates to insure that a fair and balanced presentation if the issues is provided and to accurately measure the resulting opinions. 

The process of mounting and conducting a Representative Town Hall Meeting leads directly to learning what arguments and issues are most powerful for all participants, not just special interest groups, who often tend to overwhelm other public voices in community affairs. 

Representative Town Hall Meetings are most appropriate for those public projects where there is a wide range of diverse public opinion regarding the pros and cons of the proposed project. 

A key aspect of the Representative Town Hall Meeting approach to public opinion research is that all viewpoints must be adequately represented and given ample opportunity to make their positions known to all concerned. 

Contact NSON Opinion Research

 Ronald T. Nielson

President / CEO

NSON Opinion Research

731 East South Temple

Salt Lake City, Utah 84102

 RTNielson@NSONinfo.com

www.NSONinfo.com

1-801-983-6766