Town Hall is where the studio makes decisions together. Every Wednesday, 11:20–12:00. Posted agenda. Rotating learner leader. Real outcomes. Town Hall is the most concrete expression of "this studio belongs to all of us" - and it's the muscle that makes everything else in the model work.
As Town Halls hand over to learners, the guide's job changes from running the room to modelling how to be in a room you don't run. That is an active job with visible behaviors, and it is not the same as going quiet.
The script: "My job today is to be an active follower." Then do it where they can see it - notes on paper throughout, eye contact with whoever is speaking, nodding, reacting, laughing when something's funny, hand up like everyone else, and accepting not being called on.
Why it matters more than silence: half the studio is learning to lead. The other half is learning to follow, and there's one model of that in the room. A guide who withdraws teaches that not-leading means checking out. A guide who follows visibly and well teaches that a good meeting needs good followers - which is the more useful lesson and the rarer skill.
Use this as the template every week. Total: 40 minutes with a hidden 5-min buffer.
| Time | Block | Length | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11:20 – 11:23 | Welcome & expectations reminder | 3 min | Leader opens with one line: "Town Hall is where we make decisions together." |
| 11:23 – 11:26 | Roles - anyone handing one back, anyone picking one up? standing item | 3 min | Every Town Hall, including Weeks 3, 4 and 6. Without this the studio runs Week 2's assignments for a month. |
| 11:26 – 11:28 | ICEE focus from Friday optional | 2 min | Tally Keeper shares the trait we're focused on this week. |
| 11:28 – 11:45 | Main topic discussion | 17 min 19 if the ICEE slot is skipped | One major topic from the topic box. Discussion or decision. |
| 11:45 – 11:50 | Quick items / proposals | 5 min | 2–3 small items if they fit. Sign-ups, announcements, ideas to surface. |
| 11:50 – 11:55 | Decisions made today | 5 min | Notetaker reads back. Studio confirms. |
| 11:55 – 12:00 | Close + heads-up for next week | 5 min | What's on the docket next Wednesday? |
This is the standing agenda for the year. The 2-minute "ICEE focus from Friday" slot is optional and no Town Hall in the six Build the Tribe weeks uses it - the BTT Town Halls each carry one big agenda item instead (Rules of Engagement, what we're learning about leading, repair plus the song vote, reviewing schedule ownership, proposing the year's structure). Pick the ICEE slot up once BTT is over and Town Halls settle into their normal rhythm.
Opens, holds the agenda, calls on speakers, asks clarifying questions, closes.
Takes minutes, keeps time, redirects if the conversation drifts.
Brings the topic-box submissions to the Leader on Monday for agenda planning.
Quietly holds the room to listening expectations during the meeting.
A physical box (or digital form) where learners drop proposed topics across the week.
Every Thursday 11:20–12:00, all studios gather. D2 brings its Cross-Studio Ambassador. The format varies week to week and is coordinated by school leadership.
Week 1: Guide leads and narrates every move out loud - it's a demonstration, not a meeting. Week 2: First learner-led Town Hall. The guide sits down at learner height and models active followership - notes on paper, eye contact, nodding, hand up like everyone else - and speaks no more than four times. Week 3: A different learner leads. Never the same leader twice in a row; check the list before you ask. Week 4: Another new leader. Two jobs in one meeting - repair first, then the song vote. Week 5: A single leader again, running the hardest agenda so far: the studio reviewing a system it asked for, with the guide explicitly not getting a vote. Week 6: The last new leader takes it, and the studio proposes its own Town Hall structure for the year - including what the guide's role in it should be. The guide participates as one voice among many.
Two rules that make the bench real: nobody leads twice until everyone who wants to has led once, and every leader gets ten minutes of one-to-one coaching on the Monday or Tuesday beforehand - never on the morning. A leader who's been coached will hold it; a leader handed an agenda at 11:15 will drown, and the studio will conclude that learners can't run meetings.
Every Town Hall in Build the Tribe needs a leader who has not led before, and working that out from the day pages means opening four or five of them. Keep this list filled in as you go - it is the fastest way to answer "can this learner lead?" without guessing, and it is the evidence behind the rule that nobody leads twice until everyone who wants to has led once.
| Town Hall | When | Leader | Coached on |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | W1D2 · Tue | The guide - narrated demonstration, not a learner slot | – |
| #2 | W2D3 · Wed | ____________________ first learner-led | ________ |
| #3 | W3D3 · Wed | ____________________ second | ________ |
| #4 | W4D3 · Wed | ____________________ third | ________ |
| #5 | W5D3 · Wed | ____________________ fourth | ________ |
| #6 | W6D3 · Wed | ____________________ fifth · the last new leader | ________ |
Five different learners lead across the quest - Town Halls #2 to #6. The guide takes #1 as a demonstration and never takes another. Write the name in on the Monday you confirm it, not afterwards, and write the coaching date beside it: an uncoached leader is the single commonest reason a learner-led Town Hall goes badly.
School-Wide Town Halls (Thursdays) are separate and are not part of this rotation.