AbstractAn often‐neglected aspect of interactive policy making is the symbolic interaction between professionals and citizens, specifically the way they speak, the kind of orality that is involved. The orality of officials is text bound and texts on the environmental attain a firm position in the discourse of these officials, quite different from the orality of citizens. The characteristics of orality and literacy, from a communicative viewpoint, vary considerably. In literacy details and figures matter; in orality it is the intention of the speaker and the gist of the story that counts most. By bringing in a large amount of literacy in oral presentations, officials spoil the functions of orality, its effects on learning, its creative potential, the way how, via stories, many people can get involved or how trust is developed. Officials can conquer the orality of the people, they can cope with it in a strategic way or they can deal with it as a valuable asset in policy making. For this officials have to rethink the way they speak. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment