The Goldfish Bowl meeting format
Posted Wed, 28 Mar 2007 19:02:12 GMT
I really liked the Goldfish Bowl discussion format at the SPA 2007. Basically, what that is, is that a small number of chairs (three to five, depending on the size of the group) are placed in the centre of the room and only those sitting in them are allowed to speak. One of the chairs must always be empty, so if someone sits in it, someone else must leave. Obviously everyone can listen.
It makes you only sit in the chair if you really have something to say and are prepared to put some more effort in discussing it. It requires physical action if you want to speak, so nobody is tempted to just throw in ill-conceived remarks mid-conversation. It also allows for almost seamless removal of people who fall into endless rants by a thinking majority - it’s almost spooky but it kind of worked in the two sessions I atended.
Oddly enough, there was hardly any contention - as soon as someone took the empty chair, someone left. The pressure of being watched by twenty people sitting there for a long time really makes you think if you are actually contributing something to the discussion or just moaning or saying nothing.
I wonder if that can be brought into meetings in general business setting. I guess the minimum participation should be about eight people in which case three chairs in the middle should be enough.
There are also a lot of knobs for regulating the heat of discussion - there’s nothing to stop you from adding another chair, or removing one, or not providing seating place for the listeners, so that they are more inclined to sit in and talk.
