开云体育

Hi Allen

Thanks for sharing Evelyn's post. I love reading other people's reflections, especially about power dynamics.

As I read it I wondered if you are making an assumption that everyone is that everyone in the meeting is involved in one conversation. I think it's hard with a group of more than about four people to have an equitable conversation - whether it's face-to-face or online.

Here are some of my other thoughts I had:

• We find that breakout rooms with people in small conversations are just great for everyone having a voice. A host from a core group can be in each group to gather all the insights. And/or the small groups can work on a specific part of a virtual board to brainstorm, plan, share ideas etc. Then the whole group can go round and visit what each other has been working on.
• One of our most gratifying practices is to invite people into shared google doc (or other shared space for jotting notes) where they can think aloud in real (or real-ish) time. That way we get what otherwise might be silent thoughts. We pause every now and then in a meeting to let people write their insights, reflections, or ongoing questions into the document. Then we reflect all together on what strikes us about these notes and reflections. You get a much richer array of perspectives that way.
• We don't start from an assumption that people are there to "share info and experience" or even "to communicate with each other". We assume (and monitor) why people are there... it's often because they want to problem solve, plan, advocate, feel like they are with other like-minded people, test out an idea etc ... Then we design activities where people can do just that.

I wrote a post recently "". It is about a workshop, but it's also gives an idea of how we organize community meetings. Just in case it sparks some new ideas!

Bev


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