What is an All-Candidates Meeting?

All candidates meetings are an opportunity for political candidates and residents to connect before an election. Residents have a chance to evaluate the candidates, political platforms, and ask questions about current issues.

Why should your Club host one

• They foster an interest in civic engagement and political
• They are a public service and central to the democratic
• They can give your Club a visible voice in your
• They provide an opportunity for politicians to connect with the voting public.

Getting started

• Determine where, when and who else is sponsoring community debates.
• Consider collaborating with other local organizations.
• Assemble a committee or working group. Include members who are good at publicity, interested in current issues and are active in your community.
• Develop a budget. Include costs of printing, publicity, venue fees, refreshments
• Choose a venue, date and time.
• Select two alternate dates for your meeting – a few weeks before Election Day is ideal for maximum This will help you when securing the participation of the candidates. A weekday evening or during the day on a Saturday are ideal times to organize the meeting
• Determine the duration; most all-candidates meetings are no more than 2
• Secure an accessible, appropriate sized venue.
• Contact all candidates and their managers. Follow up in writing with details, format, and type of campaign materials that can be distributed

Develop your Meeting Format and Questions

• Prepare a slate of short, concise, non-partisan questions to augment questions from the floor
• Your event can also be organized as a more informal meet and greet, allowing candidates and residents to mingle and ask/respond to questions on a more individual basis.
• Your meeting could also be organized around a specific theme (e.g. women), or aim to cover number of key issue areas including the economy, foreign policy, the environment, human rights and

Select a Moderator, Time Keeper and Bouncer

• Select a firm moderator who is a good public speaker, is politically aware, politically neutral and has a public profile.
• Appoint a timekeeper who can be firm. Use a stopwatch and timecards of 1 minute and 30 seconds to flash at candidates. Responses from candidates should be kept to 1 minutes
• Designate a “bouncer”. It may become necessary to ask some members of the audience to leave. Do decide this protocol before the meeting.

Publicize the Event

• Posters: include date, place, time and candidates’ and moderator’s names. Include CFUW’s logo and a contact person from your Club.  Send to schools, libraries, community groups, contact lists, social media.
• Set up a Facebook event page.
• Prepare CFUW materials to advertise your Club and have someone to host table at entrance.
• Send a press release to the local paper, online media and TV community calendars before media deadlines.

Set-Up on the Day of the Meeting

• Arrange tables and chairs so that audience can get to microphones on the floor.
• Do a sound check to make sure all equipment is Try to have one microphone for each speaker, and multiple (e.g. 2-4) in the aisles.

Program for the Meeting

• Give candidates a table to display election materials outside the Do not allow election posters from candidates on property other than at designated tables.
• Greet candidates and the moderator and lead them to assigned seats on stage.
• Begin on time and end on Maximum two hours.
• Begin with a welcome by CFUW president or designated member, outline the purpose of the event, and give a very brief introduction to CFUW (e.g. aims and objectives of the organization, scholarships awarded locally).
• Moderator introduces themselves and states their neutrality, review the evening’s format, the order of questions, timelines, and outline procedure for audience questions, time limit for individual questions.
• Allow one-minute opening statement by each
• Have moderator ask prioritized questions addressed to all candidates, giving them one minute each to answer.
• For questions from the audience, alternate questions from microphones, one minute for answer from candidates addressed, followed by 30 seconds for other candidates to rebut if
• At the end of the event, moderator hands over the meeting to CFUW:
  • Thank the candidates, moderator, volunteers and residents for their participation.
  • Remind audience to fill out evaluation sheets

Evaluate and Acknowledge

• Send thank you notes and small token gifts to the moderator and volunteers, thank you notes to the candidates
• Remember you will never please everyone and some comments will be by committed party

Thank you to Marianne Waraich-Singh, CFUW Director of Education 2007 for preparing the document, edited 2017 by Elizabeth Haynes, CFUW Windsor, and Anne Douglas and Teri Shaw, CFUW Oakville.

Want a printed copy? Access the PDF Organizing an All Candidates Meeting, 2018.