©2005 – 2006 Adrian Segar
Heres a great way to start any workshop or conference with
up to a hundred participants. Try a roundtable. Heres how:
–
Set up a circle of chairs, one for each attendee.
–
When everyones seated, go around the circle and have each person
answer these questions:
o
How did I get here? [1]
o
What would I like to have happen?[2]
o
What experience do I have that others may find useful?
–
Use a timekeeper to keep people to less than a minute or two, and
have a couple of scribes noting topics and themes on flip charts.
An early roundtable does three things well:
–
It provides everyone with the opportunity to safely share their
connections to the workshop or conference topic as well as their relevant
experience.
–
It gives each attendee valuable information on other attendees,
making it easy to start fruitful conversations.
–
It reveals common topics of interest, which can then be explored
during the event.
I have been using roundtables for fifteen years, and find
that they quickly provide a group sense of connection and involvement. To my
surprise I found, from evaluations, that people consistently rate roundtables
more useful than an events pre-planned sessions.
If you are interested in using a roundtable, here are some
additional tips:
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Encourage everyone at your event to attend the roundtable.
–
If possible, avoid multiple circles or irregular seating
arrangements. In a circle, everyone can see the person who is speaking. Other
seating arrangements are less intimate.
–
Give your timekeeper a signaling device, like a chime, to
indicate times up.
–
Allow at least a minute for each person to speak. For forty
people or less, allow two minutes. For seventy people or less allow ninety
seconds. A short five minute break in the middle can be helpful, but is not
necessary.
–
Consider providing a thirty second warning if you fear people
will ramble.
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Wall mount copies of the three questions on flip chart paper
around the circle to help keep answers focused.
–
Take the scribed topic lists and display them where people will
mingle during the rest of your event.
Try a roundtable at your next
event and see how it works for you. Id love to hear about your experience.
Adrian Segar adrian@segar.com
Learn more about Adrian and the AYE Conference at
http://www.ayeconference.com/wiki/scribble.cgi?read=AdrianSegar