Session Structure
10 minutes: Decide roles
5 minutes: Initial sharing by presenter
30 minutes: Go round with questions and reflections from the rest of the circle members
5 minutes: Closing and next steps
Timings are there to be supportive and make sure there’s sufficient time for each of the sections, and one voice doesn’t dominate. It works better if you respect them.
Decide Roles
Time: 10 minutes
Decide on one person to be facilitator and time keeper for today’s session. This will alternate.
Facilitator invites each participant to share a brief headline (max 1 min each) summary of a reflection / problem they would like to bring
You’ll come to a collective decision on which reflection will be focussed on today.
Initial Sharing
Time: 5 minutes
The person whose reflection is athe keyfocus questionshares in more detail. Some helpful sentence starters:
- ‘I’d like to
thinkexplore…’ - ‘I’m
atcurious whether…’ - ‘I’m uncertain about…’
- ‘I can’t decide if…’
- ‘I’m confused by…’
During this time, the veryother startparticipants oflisten yourclosely planning.(note Runningtaking thismay visioningbe processhelpful) isand aprepare greatto reflect back.
Questions & Reflection
Time: 30 minutes
Go round for each other circle member to reflect back and ask questions (max 2 minutes each). The presenter then has an opportunity to hearanswer questions or add any additional reflection before moving onto the next circle member. The reflection and questioning could include:
- A reflection on what you heard
- Questions to prompt further reflection from
athewidepresenterrange(seeofnextpeoplepageinforyourprompts)
Closing fact,
Time: will5 discoverminutes
The issues,presenter prioritieshas 3 minutes to share any last reflections and perspectives which will add depth, richness and relevancecommitments to yournext vision if you have a great mix of people there. steps.
It’s also a chance to start building relationships with organisations and groups of people you haven’t previously connected with. The process is designed to unearth different views and life experiences and to open up conversations around them, so be prepared to hear some new ideas about your community.
When thinking about who to involve, it can help to spend some time mapping who is active in your community. Transition Network has developed an exercise, called The Big List to help you do this From this you can create a list of people to invite.
Be sure to give people plenty of notice and clear information, both practically about the sessions and about what the process involves. Make it clear this is an invitation to help shape a shared vision, rather than an ask to support your particular group or projects. Ask if there is anything that might help people to participate or access requirements so that you can remove as many barriers to engaging as possible.