Town Hall Overhaul: It's a challenge to engage with your constituents when everyone's shouting.

• Author: Schooler, Larry
• Position: CITIZENSHIP ENGAGEMENT - Column

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase "town hall meeting"?

If it involves explaining some controversial legislation, I'm guessing you feel some combination of anxiety and dread.

You may have stood before angry constituents in a packed gymnasium, trying to answer questions or respond to their concerns, only to be drowned out by the crowd's reactions. In those situations, some legislators have questioned their physical safety and wondered whether the presence of uniformed or undercover security personnel would help or hurt.

Attendees come in the hope of sharing their views, of getting questions answered or even of influencing policy decisions; often, they leave disappointed on all counts. Some legislators may hesitate to share their perspectives if they fear a crowd will turn on them, and some constituents may feel the same way, resulting in incomplete and even inaccurate information about constituents' views.

If legislators want to serve their constituencies and support legislation that resonates with their own beliefs, the current iteration of the town hall meeting isn't quite doing the trick. Many legislators feel that at these events they hear only from those with enough self-confidence to speak in front of a large, sometimes angry group, those willing to risk the ire of the crowd if they ask a question or voice a concern that isn't popular with those who showed up.

Here are three ways you can hear from more constituents in more productive ways.

1. Know Who You Represent.

   Legislators certainly know the boundaries of their districts, but effective public engagement means "mapping" districts in different ways: learning where your constituents assemble, what events they attend, what organizations they support, what sources of information they rely on.

   Constituents, for example, benefit when legislators regularly visit a specific media outlet--a weekly radio show, for example--for a conversation driven by voter concerns. A trusted and neutral third party (the host) can foster mutual respect by keeping the conversation on track and safe for all points of view to be expressed.

   Face-to-face meetings or encounters at popular hotspots, like farmers markets or cultural events, can give legislators a better understanding of what the public is thinking. For one thing, attendance at these events exposes the legislator to a broader array of constituents than those who self-select to show up at a massive town hall meeting with a single microphone...