3 hours, 45 minutes
Nov. 24th, 2003 10:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
onefixedstarHints for anyone trying to persuade a council to pass a motion (or four) in support of your cause:
1. Consider your audience's background when framing your argument. Do not put forward arguments that will be difficult for your audience to believe (i.e. that one individual's personal grudge is the cause of widespread, officially-sanctioned persecution of a large group of people) when you're requesting immediate action with no chance for the council to verify the information you're providing.
2. Choose the wording of your motions carefully. Do not throw around terms like "hate propaganda" and "genocide" unless you're certain that the legal definition applies to your situation, and then be prepared to back it up.
3. When you're presenting at the end of an almost four hour meeting that's been extended three times to accomodate an hour of debate on your issue, do not answer a brief request for information with a ten minute spiel about how fantastic and worthy your cause is. Be particularly careful to avoid this if you're not even going to bother answering the original question.
A final bit of advice: Keep in mind when you're attending a meeting that began at 6:00 pm that there's a good chance that many of the members won't have eaten supper and are liable to be a bit grouchy by 9:30. Act accordingly: Stay on point.
1. Consider your audience's background when framing your argument. Do not put forward arguments that will be difficult for your audience to believe (i.e. that one individual's personal grudge is the cause of widespread, officially-sanctioned persecution of a large group of people) when you're requesting immediate action with no chance for the council to verify the information you're providing.
2. Choose the wording of your motions carefully. Do not throw around terms like "hate propaganda" and "genocide" unless you're certain that the legal definition applies to your situation, and then be prepared to back it up.
3. When you're presenting at the end of an almost four hour meeting that's been extended three times to accomodate an hour of debate on your issue, do not answer a brief request for information with a ten minute spiel about how fantastic and worthy your cause is. Be particularly careful to avoid this if you're not even going to bother answering the original question.
A final bit of advice: Keep in mind when you're attending a meeting that began at 6:00 pm that there's a good chance that many of the members won't have eaten supper and are liable to be a bit grouchy by 9:30. Act accordingly: Stay on point.
