A unique software and decision making platform for collaborative thinking and decision making

Ethelo Hosts

John RichardsonVision and Execution

Kent MewhortTechnology development

Justin SimpsonBoard member

Darryl BrousseauSales and marketing

John DowlerWeb support

Kathryn ThomsonPublic engagement

www.ethelodecisions.com

What we’ll cover today

• Ethelo’s story• Ethelo background, premises• The platform• Your questions• Small group break outs• How to set up an Ethelo decision• Ethelo’s invitation to NCDD members

Ethelo—collaborative deliberation and collective intention

What makes Ethelo unique?

Ethelo can help you to…

Extend/amplify the dialogue and deliberation process Make the group’s collective intention visible to itself , to

decision makers Analyze many and highly complex combinations of options

and issues –Ethelo produces the set of options that will have the most support by the most number of people.

Create a fair, transparent, more democratic decision or plan of action

Where Ethelo excels…

• Large numbers of people• Complex/controversial issues • Helping people see trade-offs—weigh their values against

competing values•

Key questions to determine a well supported decision

• Is this a fair process? • Is there a fair distribution of influence?• How much resistance within the group will there be to the

decision?• How involved are stakeholders in framing the issues and

the options involved?• Are the benefits, the pitfalls and the consequences of

each option clearly understood?

The case of the contentious condo dispute

Break out groups:

Based on what we’ve heard so far, what are some of the opportunities and possibilities Ethelo offers our field of practice? Do you see ways you could use this tool in your own work with groups?

What are some of the challenges you see in this technology? Concerns? Questions?

Ethelo is for anyone who will benefit from group participation in and support for a particular decision…

• Multi-party decisions• Stakeholder groups• Union groups• Governments• Developers

• Contract negotiations• Board meetings• Market testing• Focus groups• Public consultations

Current clients include:

• Property management companies

• Official community planning

• Credit union member engagement

Ethelo steps:• BREAK a decision into sub-issues

• RANK the importance of each issue

• RATE their support for the different options for each issue

How to set up your decision

We’d love to hear your feedback• What are some of the challenges you experience in

helping a small or large group to a decision that is robust, fair, well supported? 

• What are some aspects of this tool that you would like more info on?  How might you use it in the work you do?

• What applications can you think of for this kind of collaborative decision making software?

• Who else should we be talking to?

NCDD Beta partner invitation

Help us shape and improve Ethelo:• make suggestions• report bugs, • ask for new features, • share tips and tricks, • or join the BETA Community’s chats and discussions.

Ethelo will be free for the duration of the BETA program and when it ends you will be entitled to a special discount off a paid subscription, as a thank you for your participation.

Ethelo supports better deliberation and better decisions

• Uses the principle of deliberation—naming and framing issues in ways that are meaningful, accessible and relevant to all stakeholders

• De-polarizes contentious issues• Gives decision makers a clear path forward• Analyzes vast amounts of complex data • Provides a more granular, more nuanced analysis of

issues

Ethelo offers a decision making process that is

• Inclusive and fair

• Scalable

• Transparent

• Flexible

The Ethelo process…

• Brings diverse stakeholders together to identify the question they need to answer together.

• Identifies the issues, associated options and underlying values

• Allows people to rank importance of each issue and weight their support for each option.

Ethelo uses a friendly platform…

Majority vote vs Ethelo