Hosting Sessions
This chapter is about how you want to host your group. This is entirely up to you, but the process is best co-designed and co-created with participants.
How to design the process
Principles
Start with describing the intention(s) of the gathering, and use that as a guide for designing of the process.
Be prepared to be surprised : Don't plan too tight, leave some space for conversation and emergence. Prepare & plan well and then be prepared to let go of your plan.
Think about the flow of the gathering: if you use different steps/methods, potentially even facilitated by different people: how do they connect, how does one piece lead into the next? Explain how every step fits into the process (what is the intention, what is the outcome...).
Create possibility to practice the tools offered in the course and to experience the essence of the material.
Some patterns
Like every story, a gathering has a beginning, a middle and an end.
Here are some patterns that you might want to integrate. We know from experience that this enhances the quality of the process.
Beginning
Welcome
Framing:
who are your hosts?
where are we in our journey, what happened before?
what is the intention of today, what is the agenda?
Check-in: The intention of a check-in is to bring everyone's attention and intention into the room and to the purpose of the meeting. It allows people to arrive and leave behind what happened before (traffic, stress and so on). It helps to use a 'guiding question' for the check-in, it will deepen the place where people speak from. "How do you arrive today?", "What has changed for you since we last met?", "What is your intention for today?" In a small group, you can sit in circle and invite every participant to speak. In large group, you can invite them to check-in in groups of 3 or 5 and then speak one sentence in the whole group.
Middle
You may want to loosely structure your time based on three movements:
Observe, observe, observe: what are we learning/noticing/seeing? For example with a world café-style dialogue.
Retreat and reflect– perhaps with some reflective journaling or mindfulness practice;
Moving forward – what do you want to do next?
End
Whatever the process of the meeting is, make sure that there is a moment to close together. Ingredients:
Check-out: a practice that aims at sharing individual and collective learning. Create a moment where every or some of the participants can speak their insights/impression of the meeting, or their next steps.
Some news and updates
Next steps
(see Tools for more info).
Creating a safe space:
Cultivate an atmosphere of non-judgment and curiosity: Each person’s experience & exploration is valid.
Build trust and confidence: make an agreement in the first session to respect confidentiality, so that people can safely engage with the learning environment.
Encourage co-ownership, for people to feel responsible for the space, and for their own learning experience. This might include sharing practical tasks, such as setting up the room or providing refreshments, as well as ensuring that you don't find yourself unwittingly responsible for fulfilling every unmet need or being seen as the group's 'teacher'.
Practical tips:
A bell: Remember to bring a 'soundmaker', like a bell, or chimes. It helps to bring the attention of people back to the plenary when they are engaged in small group dialogue. Another ‘gentle option’ is to make the agreement that if you see the host raising his/her hand, you also raise yours until everyone does so. This gesture means: ‘please silence’ so something plenary can be shared.
Timekeeping: Assign one member of the team to do timekeeping. (And again, change roles!)
Informal conversation: some groups might open their doors for example 30 minutes before the meetings and invite people to bring some snacks/drinks. It allows for some informal social time to connect and to get to know each other better/in a different way. Or you can create that opportunity after the meeting.
Facilitation resources: Chris Corrigan collected all his resources in one place:https://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot/facilitation-resources/
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