The purpose of this meeting is to prepare and plan for the Visioning Meeting. Community Partner Team members will participate in this meeting. It is extremely important to make sure that the meeting date is scheduled so that all team members can attend. They will learn some important concepts and practice steps they’ll need to take as “small-group leaders” for their assigned group at the Visioning Meeting. The team will also develop a task/action plan covering the logistics and promotional activities for the Visioning Meeting.

The team leader should open the meeting with a discussion of the concepts, purpose and expected results of the Visioning Meeting so that the group fully understands what should be accomplished. Before conducting Meeting No. 2, the team leader should review the Visioning Meeting description that follows, as well as the additional information in this chapter, and convey that to the entire group.

The Visioning Meeting is a bold step in community involvement and empowerment. It uses a modified version of a process referred to as the Nominal Group Technique. In the pilot projects, active participation by the community in the Visioning Meeting led to increased seat belt usage in that community. Many rural communities across the country have used the process to solve problems and elicit input. It works, and it will work in your community, if your team follows the directions.

The Community Visioning Meeting allows members of the general public to voice concerns about local vehicle occupant safety issues. This qualitative assessment is a modified version of the Nominal Group Technique. Gathered from a cross section of the community, these views should be taken seriously by the Community Partner Team. In fact, this meeting creates a vision of what the community will find acceptable, and what it will support, during the 30-day campaign. Later in the process, the Community Partner Team analyzes this qualitative information, matches it with quantitative data and available resources, and decides how best to move forward in the process.

The results of the meeting tell us three things. First, you’ll learn what the community believes about occupant safety, including the reasons people should practice good occupant safety habits as well as the reasons they do not. Good occupant safety habits should be encouraged and reinforced while the reasons for not practicing good occupant safety should be addressed and counterbalanced. You’ll also learn what activities the community would be most effecting in promoting vehicle occupant safety. This includes activities related to all community sectors represented in the Community Partner Teams.

It is critical that the Community Partner be well prepared and trained in conducting the Visioning Meeting. The team leader will run a mock Visioning Meeting with the team to practice the Nominal Group Technique process. The group will address the following question: “What should the slogan be for the Community Partner Team’s 30-day campaign?” The slogan adopted at the mock meeting should be incorporated into all promotional materials for the campaign.

During the actual Visioning Meeting, each Community Partner Team sector leader will facilitate a small-group process with invited citizens from their particular sector. You’ll find a Visioning Meeting Script and Crib Sheet in the Tools section of this chapter; provide copies to team members so they can follow along as you go through the mock meeting. Make note in the script when you see “small-group leader” because that refers to Community Partner Team sector leaders, each of whom will be serving as a small-group leader.

The group should discuss the logistics for the Visioning Meeting, including the tasks outlined below. The group must decide who will be responsible for what task and when that task will be completed.

For most people, evening meetings work best. The meeting lasts an hour or perhaps an hour and a half. Remember to check local community events’ calendars and local sports schedules to avoid conflicts with major events in your area.

A large meeting room, such as a school cafeteria or community center, is required for the Visioning Meeting. The room should accommodate 60 to 80 people. Tables and chairs should be set up in small-groups around the room. A public address system for the group leader also may be required. The room should look like the diagram included in the Tools section of this chapter.

Each table should be clearly identified with a sign indicating the sector name or the Community Partner Team member name. When making arrangements for the room, make certain it has plenty of wall space and that using masking tape on the walls is allowed so that flip charts can be attached to the wall; this will facilitate group discussion.

Place supplies at each table, such as magic-markers, flip charts, pencils, blank index cards, voting cards (see sample at end of chapter), brainstorming rule (see layout at end of chapter), and one-inch sticker dots in strips of five. At each place setting place three index cards, a pencil, a vote card, brainstorming rules, and one strip of five sticker dots.

Place a table at the entrance to the meeting room. A few volunteers should be recruited to act as greeters. Participants should be greeted, asked to sign in and make a nametag, and then directed to the table where the Community Partner Team member who invited them is sitting. If someone was not invited, but came as result of general mass media outreach, ask them to sit with the sector they feel most comfortable with. Have a map of the seating and table arrangement for the greeters to refer to as people enter the room.

The meeting leader can be either the Community Partner Team leader or another appropriate person with suitable experience in chairing this type of meeting.

This meeting requires constant attention to keep to a schedule. One person should be designated as the timekeeper and given the authority to start and stop activities based on the agenda time frame. This person also can be the meeting leader.

Coffee, soft drinks and perhaps some light snacks should be provided during the break.

In addition to the meeting logistics, you and your team will need to devise a plan that includes whom to invite and how to publicize the meeting to ensure good attendance and representation by each of the community sectors. It is important that the meeting be well attended if the results are to be taken seriously by the Community Partner Team and current sector leaders. Experience has shown that relying solely on the media to promote and publicize the meeting will result in poor attendance. To ensure good attendance you need to take a personal approach to the publicity effort. Follow the tips provided in the Tools section of this chapter to assist you in publicizing the Community Visioning Meeting.