Host Your Own Living Room Conversation

Do you have friends, relatives, neighbors, students, or faith community members who you want to find a way to connect with? Living Room Conversations offers “do-it-yourself” guides to help you have meaningful, friendly and even joyful online Living Room Conversations! Host your own online Living Room Conversations following these seven simple steps.

  1. HOSTING: Decide if you will host alone or co-host with another person. If you want a co-host (recommended but not required), invite a friend or family member who you would like to connect with. You can even use our sample invitation!
    Or if you already know five people that you believe would enjoy the connections or that you would want to hear from, you may decide to host by yourself. 
    If you or your co-host are curious about what an online/video Living Room Conversation is like, you can register for one of our online events here or view some of our video clips here: https://livingroom.s052.wptstaging.space/watch-and-listen

  2. TOPIC: Pick the topic with your co-host, if you have one. Some topics particularly resonant at this time are listed on this page: https://livingroom.s052.wptstaging.space/coronavirus-resources

    Or pick any of over 100 topics with several questions from here:https://livingroom.s052.wptstaging.space/topics

  3. SCHEDULE: Pick your date and time. Typical conversations are 90 minutes, but people can shorten them to 30 minutes (just Round II) or an hour if they wish. The guides can be adapted to meet your needs.
  4. INVITE: Identify who you will each invite. In Living Room Conversations we appreciate hearing different perspectives.  Who would you like to hear from? Reach out to them personally.  Here is a sample invite.  If you need to find more participants, you can always visit our Facebook Living Room Conversations Community and ask there.

  5. GET VIDEO LINK: Use your own video conferencing tool or request a Zoom line (up to 90 minutes).   Click on the time you want in the list of Zoom line availability here and you will receive an email with your Zoom link and call-in numbers. Then you can share this link with those who already agreed to attend as well as email new participants.

  6. PREPARE: Review these seven steps with your co-host and talk about who will handle which parts of the guide. Video conversations are very much like in person conversations. The hosts and participants should follow the conversation guide.  Hosts should plan how much time to spend in each round to end on time. Hosts can gently guide the conversation in any way that feels helpful.

  7. CONNECT AND ENJOY: Have a great conversation! After it ends, be sure to fill out a Conversation Report to let us know how it went, who attended, and give us any feedback about how to improve this Do-It-Yourself process.

Sample Invitation
(for co-hosts)

Dear ________

I’ve decided I want to co-host  a Living Room Conversation!  These are structured conversations that create a space for six people to connect and increase understanding.  Hosts choose a topic and then invite guests that they would like to hear from. The purpose is not to debate any issue but rather to be open and curious about all perspectives and see what we learn from one another.  It is a valuable way to connect at a time when many of us are practicing physical distancing. Might you consider being my co-host?  

This is how it works:

  1. We pick a topic we are both interested in.  At this time I’m thinking one of the conversations from the coronavirus resource page.    https://livingroom.s052.wptstaging.space/coronavirus-resources/
  2. Then we pick a time that is good for us.  
  3. You invite 2 friends that you’d like to have join the conversation and I invite 2 friends.
  4. I ask for a Zoom line for our conversation (unless you have one already)  and we share it with our guests.
  5. We have a great conversation!

And if you just want to try one out first you can certainly sign up for a conversation on the website.   That is a slightly different kind of adventure.  You never know who is going to show up! People from anywhere in the country can attend.  

I hope we can have a conversation some day soon!  Want to talk about this?

Sample Invitation
(for participants)

Dear ________

How are you? [customize introduction]

I’ve decided to host a video Living Room Conversation on [TOPIC link]

Date and start and end time

 It would be great if  you could join the conversation!  [You might say why you are inviting them- based on their values, personality, or other reason why you thought of them.]

Living Room Conversations are structured conversations that create a space for four to six people to connect and increase understanding.  The purpose is not to debate any issue but rather to be open and curious about all perspectives and see what we learn from one another. It is a valuable way to connect at a time when many of us are practicing physical distancing.  

Happy to talk with you about this conversation on the phone if you like.

I hope you are well and look forward to talking soon!