The Common Ground Network for Life and Choice Manual

Balanced registration.
For the conference overall. We committed to having balance between pro-choice and
pro-life viewpoints among conference attendees, knowing this would be crucial to whether some
people came, and whether we would have a bona fide search for common ground. The
conference brochure advised that balance would be assured and asked registrants to identify their
position on abortion (with a third option being “facilitator”). Publicity about the conference was
sent to organizations and publications on "both sides". Though we monitored registrations and
were prepared to hold people on a waiting list and actively recruit an underrepresented side, as it
turned out, the desired balance happened on its own for both conferences.
For individual sessions, people were required to pre-register. Again, we monitored the
balance of registrants and used a pool of pro-life and pro-choice steering committee members to
"even out" imbalances where they occurred.
Self-identification
We decided to give participants the choice of identifying themselves as pro-choice or
pro-life by putting a colored sticker on their nametag. For many people, it was very important to
"see" the balance in the room (and know they were not outnumbered), and/or to communicate
clearly where they stood. Others eschewed the labels or wore stickers of both colors.
Orientation
In order to get everyone "on the same page", all participants were required to take part in
a mandatory 30-minute orientation session during which conference goals, ground rules, and
common ground concepts were reviewed. This took place during the registration times.
Facilitation
In order to insure adherence to the ground rules, keep groups "on task", and generally
promote a fair and open process, facilitators were assigned for all small group discussions. In
recruiting volunteer facilitators, we looked for group process skills and an ability to remain