What about some sort of community meeting where a question needs to be settled... So, there would be a short presentation (a video??) of the question and then people in the audience get up and give their points of view...
There could be panellists of experts/vested interests on stage.
Then it goes to a vote?

The audience participation and panellists could be scripted or ad libbed or a mixture.

As it is Hallowe'en it could be a spooky problem? Or a problem they might have in 2050 (with their flying cars and jetpacks)? Or a typically New York problem (whatever they are)?