Tool
Talk Better Together
This quick and easy activity can help any group build relationships.
Talk Better Together
The core of interfaith leadership is organizing people to voice their values, engage with others, and act together on an important community issue. Talk Better Together brings diverse voices together to discuss the kind of change they want to see in the world and what inspires them to act on those issues. This dialogue style is ideal for medium and large groups to get to know each other better.
Getting Started
Start the event with a short introduction to the activity. Explain how this particular event supports the goal of learning and engaging with each other.
Materials and People Needed:
- PowerPoint presentation, posters, or whiteboard with questions
- Microphone
- Sign-In Sheet
- Two event leaders to organize the circle, explain the activity, and read the questions
Setting Expectations
Essential Partners offers an excellent guide for communication agreements and facilitating dialogue. To learn more about best practices, reference their helpful guide.
Here are the most important things to establish as you begin this activity.
Before asking participants to partner up, tell them: “You might be asked to talk about topics that might not usually come up with people who they may not know very well. We’ll ask about things like interests, stories, and values. None of the topics are meant to be overly sensitive, but it might be feel a little awkward. That’s completely okay. We’ve identified some best practices for effective communication.”
Then, offer the following set of guidelines for this activity:
- Allow people to pass or pass for now if they prefer not to answer.
- While the lessons may leave, the stories must stay. Honor confidentiality by not repeating things said in this space.
- Use I-statements and speak for yourself as opposed to for your entire group or tradition.
- We will have different viewpoints. They all must be expressed thoughtfully and respectfully.
- Listen with resilience (hang in there when something is hard to hear).
- Share the airtime—make space for everybody to contribute.
- Don’t interrupt except to indicate that you cannot hear a speaker.
- Turn devices on silent.
- Remember the importance of the other person’s faith or ethical tradition in their own life.
- Don’t expect others to know everything about your own tradition
You might also consider putting these guidelines on a whiteboard or in another visible place within the room.
The Format
Ask everyone to partner up with someone they don’t know. Once everyone has a partner, ask them to decide amongst themselves who will be a “1” and who will be a “2.” Then, tell participants to form two concentric circles—1s in the inner circle and 2s in the outer circle. Ask the first question, and give the pairs 3-4 minutes to discuss. Then, rotate the 2s to the right every five minutes, asking a new question each time. (This exercise can also be conducted simply by having people pair up and then having people switch to find new partners every five minutes or so.)
The questions will start simply (What is your favorite movie? Where was the last place you traveled to?). As the questions progress, they should become more focused on the personal background and beliefs participants hold and how those personal experiences motivate them to work together for the common good.
Example Question Series
- What’s your favorite movie and why?
- Why did you come here today?
- Does the issue of [action issue] matter to your community? Does or has this issue impacted you personally?
- Where do you find meaning?
- Is there anything in your religious, philosophical, or personal background that inspires you to take action on the issue of [action issue]?
- What are concrete ways you can act on these values to help address [action issue] in your community?
Finishing Up
Now break the circles up and ask the participants to talk to someone they didn’t talk to in the circle about something they learned, something they found inspiring, or even just to finish a conversation from a previous question. Encourage participants to stick around and continue their conversations. To further the conversation even more, consider providing food, music, or other activities that will encourage the participants to stick around and hang out.
At the end of the event, make sure to include contact information for your group (email, Facebook page, and any other social media), info on future events you have planned, and other relevant information your group would like to share.