sociogram: an exercise in which participants arrange their bodies to show something about themselves or to stimulate a new awareness. For example, participants are asked to range themselves along a line that shows how long they've been active with a particular cause. See also "spectrum." Read more...
"I learned that when it comes to disability in hearing, speech, and thought, the facilitator needs to intervene to enable everyone to participate fully." --facilitator
"Anything that shuts down or chills dialogue such as a dominating debator or power plays involving privilege can be countered when the facilitator intervenes to probe, provoke, to defend the space and to re-open it." --facilitator
We tried two different ways of handling group dialogues: themed, and un-themed. Both types of dialogues were successful as long as facilitators put thought into how to structure the conversation ahead of time; stayed present with what was being said to allow conflict, insight, and synergy to build; and brought the session to a close actively.
That said, we had the greatest success when we created a series of themed dialogues which we publicized ahead of time. The themes we chose were: "Image and Accountability"; (with a focus on activists' appearance and image in the public mind; to whom are we accountable in deciding how to present ourselves?); "Surviving the Movement," (with a focus on the relationship between activism and mental/emotional health) "Allies in Anti-Oppression Work"; and "Tactics." We also incorporated the theme of "Mutual Aid" into each of the group dialogues.
Because the group format disallowed the intimacy and depth of one-on-one dialogues, we found several elements to be important in creating as much intimacy and depth as possible:
Welcome, including project overview, confidentiality, and logistics Introductions, often involving a creative, "right brain" light-hearted way of revealing oneself through a drawing, story, etc.
First round: Throwing out a provocative question, making sure everyone speaks to it
Second round: Addressing a related question in a more complicated or challenging way, eliciting stories and examples
Third round: Encouraging active disagreement, allowing more back-and- forth, raising the energy; chaos ok.
"Peak" phase of dialogue Moving towards closure: Making sure everyone has expressed their key points and didn't hold back out of fear; urging quiet ones to speak
Closure: Acknowledging disagreements, elicit "learnings and noticings" by asking what was surprising, inspiring, provocative or new.
Evaluation, Next Steps: feedback on facilitation and other aspects of the dialogue experience; announcements, info. sharing, networking.
Variations on this general format included:
Pair exercises or small group exercises: especially in the first third of the time together as a group, these enabled more people to express themselves more fully, get to know each other better, and built confidence for expressing risky or "dangerous" perspectives in the larger group.
Workshop format: including some more highly structured "workshoppy" exercises along with time for dialogue. This worked well for the theme "Allies in Anti-Oppression Work," a topic that required definition of terms and sharing of experiences in order to successfully focus participants on doing their own work honestly. The workshop format also helped to deal with situations where a conflict among participants might otherwise have been "too hot to handle."
Globalize Liberation weaves together the experiences and insights of community organizers, direct action movements, and global justice struggles from North America, Europe, and Latin America. Thirty-three essays provide food for thought, examples of effective action, and practical tools for everyone to use.
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