Guidelines for session hosts at the Luminous Green Workshop (31st JUL 2008)
If you think you may be hosting a session, here are some hints and tips to help make your time as graceful and effective as possible.
At the beginning:
Begin by welcoming people and giving them a few moments to briefly introduce themselves, if there is time ask what their interest is in this particular session. (At least make sure that people know each others name)
Reiterate your topic and let everyone know what you mean by this..it may not be self evident. (You may want to briefly state why you choose this topic)
Describe your role and the nature of your session: are you presenting information? Are you facilitating a conversation? Are you asking for information?
During your session:
Ensure everyone has the opportunity to participate and be especially attentive to language differences
if jargon, slang or acronyms are used check whether everyone knows the meaning
if the discussion is too fast paced you might want to slow it down and allocate some time for people who haven’t spoken to speak if they want
summarize and reflect to help people catch up, and keep the conversation focused.
Remind people to share the time if need be and ensure you are doing the same.
If the conversation gets stuck in disagreement or debate, acknowledge differences and delve underneath to explore underlying assumptions, differing perspectives beliefs, values, etc.
Sometimes it helps to pause and notice what is happening in the process and ask people to reflect on how this may be indicative of roles/ issues playing out in the wider environment.
At the end: