Choose an engaging format.

What would a successful Creative Conversation look like?

Things to consider:

  • Value your time and others’—make the conversation efficient.  The model of the conversation should fit the topic and help it move along.  The goal may not be to come to agreement or conclusion but participants should feel they are coming away with something.
  • Talking heads are boring. There’s a lot to learn and lots of place to go and hear someone talk for an hour or two.  The spirit of Creative Conversations is to engage multiple voices.

Dialogue Models for CCs:

  • Panel: Typically 2-3 guests and a moderator.  Panelists are introduced or introduce themselves.  Moderator asks questions and spurs panelists to respond to each other.  Audience may ask questions throughout the conversation or in a defined Q&A period towards the end.  In some situations you may want to give audience note cards to write their questions on so that event coordinators can consolidate them and pass them to the moderator.  Examples: 03.01.10 and 10.26.09.
  • Inverse Panel: This model inverts the traditional panel ratio instead of several panelists and a single moderator there’s one featured guest and a number of moderators who represent different perspectives and ask questions and offering their points of views.  It’s similar to the TV show The View.  Example: 05.12.09 Navigating a Career in the Arts Today with Geri Thomas.
  • Break-Out Groups: This model can be used for a whole event or just a part.  A medium-to-large sized group is divided into small groups either randomly or based on specific interests.  Each group discusses the topic/s.  Usually each small group has a designated conversation leader who spurs the conversation.  A prepared list of spurring questions or quotes can be helpful for small group leaders.  Sometimes small groups come together as one large group to share the highlights of their discussion with the other small groups.   Example: 06.25.08.
  • Fishbowl: A conversation model for large groups.  Four to five participants sit in an inner circle or “fishbowl.”  The remaining participants sit concentrically around fishbowl observing. A moderator introduces a topic and the fishbowl members discuss.  In a closed fishbowl, all chairs in the inner circle are filled.  Those participants speak for a period of time then they all leave the fishbowl, a new group from the audience takes the seats in the fishbowl, and this group continues the conversation.  This is repeated a number of times until all those who want to speak have had a chance.  In an open fishbowl, one chair is left empty and any member of the audience can, at any time, occupy the empty chair and join the fishbowl. When this happens, an existing member of the fishbowl must voluntarily leave the fishbowl and free a chair. The discussion continues with participants frequently entering and leaving the fishbowl. With both open and closed fishbowls, when time runs out, the fishbowl is closed and the moderator summarizes the discussion.
  • Round Robin: Small groups of participants rotate through a series of conversations.  Each station may be on a different topic or subtopic.  Or each group may have a turn chatting with a few featured guests.  Example: 10.29.08.
  • Think Tank:  For smaller events (usually >20 people) this is a good model for working through a specific question.  There should be a couple of conversation leaders but this is really a model for peer-to-peer sharing and creativity—it’s not really a space for experts or featured guests.
  • Other:  Keynote speakers, professional development workshops, brown-bag lunches, webinars, etc.  There are lots of other conversation models out there—some tried-and-true, some new to the arts, some that you’ve got to make up.