Blog #2

I really appreciated the handouts from ELI, especially the one with all of the feedback from past participants and facilitators. It was good to get so much perspective and so many new ideas, while also learning some key what-not-to-dos. I got an idea for my most recent Chat Café from it: writing questions on cards, putting them in the center of the circle, and, going around the table, drawing a card to read and answer. This led to some very interesting responses, as well as discussion around the table after the initial person had given their response. We discussed everything from food (everyone wants to try cuisine from other cultures!) to study habits. The cards created structure and kept it moving, but there was still natural discussion around the table. Picking the card felt more like a game than a forced conversation, especially since we had written them ourselves! This actually surprised me a little, and made me think about "genuine" conversation in a new way. I think that genuine conversation can be had in infinitely many ways, but it is characterized by being enjoyable to all the participants. I think that to foster such conversation in my groups, it's important for me to have a plan and backups to the plan to make sure the conversation never stops. However, I should never stop natural discussion that is flowing away from the original plan because this is how real conversation works. I will direct the conversation back to the original plan if the conversation slows or stops.