The Art of Gathering
- 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?
- 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 )