The Art of Gathering

  1. What‘s the purpose?
    (Sharp, bold, meaningful,disputable)

A category is not a purpose

Dose it take a stand?

Specificity (who is it for, what is it about)

Uniqueness (what makes it different, this one meeting?)

Ask ´why?´ until you hit a value of belief

Obstacles

Multifunctional (too many purposes)

Modesty/ Insecurity (who am I to...)

Make purpose your ´bouncer´ - what goes in, what stays out?

  1. Closing Doors
    Inclusion/ Exclusion

What's the desired outcome?

Who?

The purpuse of your gathering determines who should be there (and who not)

Protect the purpose of the meeting

Protect the other guests

Who helps fulfil the purpose?

Who threatens the purpose?

Who is irrelevant to the purpose, but you feel obliged to invite them? (the Bobs)

Invite them! that‘s easy...

Don‘t invite them! also easy...

Don’t invite them! Bobs take away attention and time from your purpose

Question to ask: Who is this meeting for first ?

Good exclusion actvates diversity, people dare to show themselves

How many?

Specificity

Invite people with ´skin in the game´

Define the game as specifically as possible, then look for the right people

Housing Project

Diskussion Groups

Groups of 6

Conducive to intimacy

High levels of sharing

Discussions through Storytelling

Groups of 12 - 15

Groups of 30

Groups of up to 150

Tides of Humanity

Still small enough for trust and intimacy

A single moderator is enough

Diversity of opinion

Constructive unfamiliarity

All people can still sit round a table and talk

Starts to feel like a party

Buzz, crackle of energy

Sense of possibility

Single conversation just about possible
with experienced moderator and skillfull setup

Group can still feel itself as a group (beyond that, it becomes an audience )