Option B – Speed hustings
Based on a “speed dating” format, this type of hustings enables a dialogue to take place between candidates and the audience. It would take the following format:
The audience is distributed into online breakout rooms (such as those available on Zoom), with each breakout room allocated a candidate and a facilitator. Candidates can make a short introductory statement and then respond to questions from the group before moving on to the next group, after a set amount of time.
Having spoken with all of the breakout rooms, the candidates are each invited to sum up with a short statement to the whole audience at the end of the evening.
One quirk of this is that the candidates don’t get to hear what the other candidates are saying, which could result in some repetition of answers.