ground rules

(printable version)

The objective at ASEF “Talks on the Hill” is to have an open and frank discussion. We can check our official hats at the door and come to the meeting as individual minds, free to say what we want, express ourselves without fear of quotation or misinterpretation. It is a retreat from everyday work and an occasion for all of us to focus our attention on the subject philosphically, in some aspects, but grounded in the purpose of mutual understanding among different cultures and civilisations in Asia and Europe. Even if it is an intellectual brainstorming, the final outputs may also be envisioned for practical use. In certain cases, for instance, it may help policymakers clarify their ideas.
We hope to set a few guidelines, which we can discuss together and seriously accept as principles to follow during the two days.
1. Feel free to change your mind.
2. Please see yourself as a free spirit.
3. If you can think it, you can say it.
4. All comments in debate are unattributable.
5. Put clarity before consensus.
6. Live in the moment.
7. Avoid acronyms.
8. Let yourselves be pushed.

Below are a few words about each ground rule.

1. Feel free to change your mind.
We hope that you will feel free to change your mind at any time, without any loss of face. It is a challenge to genuinely keep an open mind, especially on those aspects of the debate where we have already formed a strong personal view. We hope that you will be ready to use this opportunity to challenge your own assumptions.
Our sense is that the growing Asia-Europe dialogue on cultures and civilizations illustrates one very fundamental point: that there is no single right answer to the questions of our differences and similarities.

2. Please see yourself as a free spirit.
We find that people are most ready to move on in their thinking when they see themselves as free spirits, not bound to defend any particular position or fight any particular corner.
As free spirits, we can use this venue to explore some difficult issues that we are genuinely unsure about. It is also as free spirits that we can best accept difference; secure in the knowledge that there is a range of possible options for moving forward, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

3. If you can think it, you can say it.
This maxim is also crucial to create a truly open agenda and avoid an atmosphere where people have little trust in the other members of the group.
At this discussion, we really do want to apply the maxim that if you can think it, you can say it! We don't want this to be one of those events where the person next to you at dinner on the last evening says “now let me tell you what I nearly said…”

4. All comments in debate are unattributable.
This principle is crucial if we are all to feel that we can be completely open in our discussions with each other. The only circumstance under which it is possible for someone to be quoted afterwards is if they give their explicit permission for something that they say to be repeated.
Apart from this, please respect the anonymity of everything that is said throughout our time together at ASEF ”Talks on the Hill.” We all need to feel that we can speak freely, without any risk of being misquoted, taken out of context, or used unfairly.

5. Put clarity before consensus.
We are sure that there will be much that we agree on during our discussions. We also suspect that there will be a number of issues on which we disagree, and we hope that we will all be relaxed about that. We believe that diversity is a strength, and that we need to be truly open to disagreement to ensure that any consensus at the end is genuine.
If at any stage there is a choice between greater clarity, or some sort of woolly consensus, we hope that we could all push for greater clarity.

6. Live in the moment.
We want you to feel able to 'go with the flow'. As part of this process, we will ask that during our discussions people try and respond to the person who has just spoken, and avoid the temptation of saying “I want to respond to what someone said a couple of hours ago, and then I have five more points.”
Please try and 'live in the moment'. We usually find this works best if we all imagine that when people speak they are passing the baton to each other in debate. To come in on debate, you need to be prepared to take the baton from the previous speaker - rather than taking out of your pocket one that you have been keeping warm!

7. Avoid acronyms.
We hope that from the outset of the discussion that we will all agree that we want to keep jargon down to a very minimum.
We also hope that we will try and avoid as many acronyms as possible. The danger with acronyms is that we can very quickly find ourselves forgetting the meaning of the words behind the letters.
That is why we want to go into our discussions expecting that the moment someone uses an acronym that doesn't command immediate recognition, others will dive in and ask them to describe the term in full. It really makes a huge difference if the first person to use a cumbersome acronym finds themselves stopped in their tracks, and asked what the letters stand for!

8. Let yourselves be pushed.
We have learnt that if brainstorming events are to be creative, they also need to be enjoyable. It is only when people are enjoying themselves that they let themselves be pushed, maybe quite a bit harder than they expected before embarking on the process.
Our ambition is that by the end of our time together we will have developed a range of ideas that could be used for action by governments, scholars or practitioners to try and overcome those divisions that stand in the way of greater understanding between Asia and Europe in advancing our shared concerns. We think that it's worth pushing ourselves pretty hard to try and achieve that goal.