Your conversations should be planned for 4-6 people and 90 minutes of conversation with an additional 30 minutes for pre-meeting and post-meeting settling in and exiting. The total time is 120 minutes.
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These conversation guides follow an intentional structure based on our conversation principles (right). This format allows us to build a level of relationship and trust in the group before engaging in conversation that focuses on people’s hopes and concerns regarding a particular topic. Questions in our guides are open-ended and should not be perceived as biased or leading. Questions and facilitation are all intended to evoke personal stories and narratives rather than asking people to speculate or offer opinions. |
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Below you can read more about the purpose and intention of each part of the script.
Section of Script |
Purpose |
| Pre-Meeting Greeting + Technology Acclimation |
Help participants feel welcome and confident in fully participating in the conversation. Troubleshoot any tech issues before beginning the conversation. |
| Welcome & Project Summary |
Partner shares a few sentences about their organization, the aims for this LVN collaboration to help participants understand this specific project. |
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Introduction of Purpose & Housekeeping |
This section is standardized across conversations to ensure that participants have a good understanding of who Local Voices Network is, and what our hopes are for this project. We include Conversation Guidelines at the beginning of every conversation to ensure we have mutually agreed upon norms for participation. This sets the tone for the conversation, and also serves as a tool for the facilitator to create a space where people are free to participate respectfully. These are LVN’s suggested guidelines, but if your group or organization has your own guidelines already established, it is ok to swap these out - just don’t skip this step. |
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Connecting Questions |
One of the principles of LVN conversations is that we always lead with values. This allows participants who may not know each other to begin the conversation from a space of shared values. This sets the tone for full participation in the rest of the conversation. |
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Story For Starters |
The Story for Starters should serve two purposes:
In Restorative Justice Circles, this would be known as the “relationship building round.” |
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Community Focused Conversation |
Questions in this section are really the heart of your conversation. We spend the most amount of time in this part of the conversation. We intentionally always start with a more strengths-based question before we dive into concerns or challenges. This is the most challenging part of the script to keep participants engaging from their personal experience rather than stating opinions & talking points. For this reason, questions are always framed in such a way as to invite stories, and we don’t use prompts that ask “why do you think….?” |
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Connecting across Community |
If you are doing a full length LVN Conversation, you will have the opportunity to bring in the voice of someone from another conversation. Here you will find some powerful highlights that you can choose from that are related to the topic you selected. Sharing highlights allows participants to listen to, and reflect on, the perspective of someone who they may not have met or interacted with otherwise. |
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Closing Questions |
The closing question(s) should provide a meaning-making opportunity for participants in which they are invited to think about how to take their learning forward from the conversation. |
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Wrap-up |
This language is also standardized to ensure that once people have participated, they are reminded of how their stories may be used or heard. You can also add language here for your own next steps as a partner, if relevant. |