The Discussion Book: 50 Great Ways to Get People Talking [Paperback]

Do you need a resource that you can pull out of your pocket to liven up meetings, trainings, professional development, and teaching? The fifty easily applied techniques in this timely manual spur creativity, stimulate energy, keep groups focused, and increase participation. Whether you're teaching classes, facilitating employee training, leading organizational or community meetings, furthering staff and professional development, guiding town halls, or working with congregations, The Discussion Book is your go-to guide for improving any group process.

Each of the concrete techniques and exercises is clearly described with guidance on selection and implementation, as well as advice on which pitfalls to avoid. All of the techniques:

• Offer new ways to engage people and energize groups
• Get employees, students, colleagues, constituents, and community members to participate more fully in deliberative decision-making
• Encourage creativity and openness to new perspectives
• Increase collaboration and build cohesive teams
• Keep groups focused on important topics and hard-to-address issues

Derived from the authors' decades of experience using these exercises with schools, colleges, corporations, the military, social movements, health care organizations, prisons, unions, non-profits, and elsewhere, The Discussion Book will help you guide discussions that matter.

Preface ix

User Guide xiii

Acknowledgments xix

The Authors xxi

Introduction 1

1 Circle of Voices 9

2 Chalk Talk 13

3 Circular Response 19

4 Newsprint Dialogue 25

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