Conversations that Build Community
Alaska Humanities Forum Workshop
By Sundance Visser
At the end of August, I attended a training for group facilitators held by the Alaska Humanities Forum (AHF) called “Leading Conversations that Build Community.” This two-day in-person workshop led participants through a model group discussion and shared concrete tools for planning and facilitating meaningful conversations. On the second day, participants co-designed and facilitated their own 20-minute conversation and acted as audience members for the other participant-led conversations, practicing giving and receiving feedback.
Working through this entire process with strangers in a non-work setting was a valuable practice for me, especially in my 2023 role as AFPC’s Alaska Food Hub Working Group facilitator. My natural state is a quiet observer, happily working in the background to keep everyone cared for and organized, so I am grateful for this training!
Picture of Conversation Arc
This conversation arc is the model used in the workshop. It begins with sharing the purpose of the conversation, answering “Why us? Why now?”. Then introduce the group expectations, conversation guidelines, and agenda. Breaking the large group down into a pair-sharing activity can help people connect and reach those with learning styles more suited to smaller groups. Next, AHF recommends sharing a springboard, which is a short, tangible resource such as a video, poem, or image, and it’s a powerful tool for difficult conversations. Choose something adjacent to the main topic to give a bit of space for participants to get there themselves. The shared experience of exploring a springboard can connect, protect, and equalize participants. Participants can choose to share ideas related to the springboard instead of personal experiences, and folks can disagree with ideas presented there without directly criticizing the facilitator’s or other participants’ ideas and experiences.
The tricky part, workshop participants soon realized, is pivoting quickly back to the main purpose of the group. Carefully scaffolding questions, staying aware of participant dynamics including all voices, leaning into tension instead of avoiding it, using participants’ names, staying respectful of everyone’s time, and numerous other practices can help keep the group focused and moving through this step. Finally, save time for closing. This can be a decision-making time or a time to revisit the guiding purpose and question.
Outline for Active Facilitation
This model can be adapted for long-term working groups. Imagine each conversation as a small hill under one long arc. Moving a group through this process is the “easy” part, as well as the most visible. About 10% of the time and energy is spent in the actual meetings, and to my delight, 90% is behind the scenes. Effective facilitators spend more time clarifying the purpose, crafting well-designed questions, and planning an agenda while being open and flexible, following the group where it needs to go.
The Alaska Humanities Forum offers this training throughout the year. Other upcoming workshops and events are shared on their website. I found this workshop to be valuable personally and professionally, and I encourage you all to check it out!
We will be expanding our work in 2024 and having conversations with community members across Alaska especially with our Regional Food Business Center planning. My vision is that this training will help our full team be able to have fruitful conversations that will help us collectively shape the future of Alaska’s food system for the better.
