Art of Hosting techniques

circle, people “join” the process and become active participants. Process: 1. People sit down in a circle; 2. The facilitator takes a speaking totem (only a participant, who hold it is allowed to speak) and briefly introduces himself/ herself, explaining the purpose of the meeting and his/ her expectations of the meeting; 3. Then he/ she passes the speaking totem to the person sitting next to him/ her with the same questions (except for the “purpose of the meeting”), and the action goes in a circle; 4. When the speaking totem comes back to the facilitator, he/ she thanks everyone, moving on to the presentation of further activities and the purpose of the meeting.

Appreciative inquiry is a technique designated for delving into the situation by reducing the impact of prejudice. During the process, participants change the perspective of the situation from “what is going on” to “how it could be”.

Photo: Ričardas Rickevičius, Šilainiai Gardens, Kaunas

Process:

1. People are divided into pairs; 2. The first person chooses a topic related to the purpose of the meeting; 3. The second person starts asking questions and writes down the answers in the following sequence: What are you grateful for in this situation? -> What would you change/ improve? -> What should be done for the situation to improve? -> What steps are necessary to implement this?; 4. The second person tells the first person what he/ she has heard (using information from his/ her notes); 5. Then they switch roles; 6. Everyone gets back to the circle and shares their impressions and insights, while the facilitator of the meeting records them; 7. The facilitator summarizes the information and presents it to everyone. World café is a technique designated for understanding the approach of the community and their ideas on specific subjects more effectively

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and deeper. During the process, participants hear out the opinions of others and share their opinions. This is how all the participants engage in an inclusive dialogue.

Process:

1. Participants are divided into more than 2 groups of more than 2 people; 2. People sitting in groups have one common place (a large sheet of paper) to mark their thoughts and ideas; 3. The facilitator presents the first question; 4. People discuss in groups for a set period of time (which is recommended to take no more than 15 minutes); 5. One person remains in his place and is the host of that space; 6. He briefly presents participants having newly joined the discussion what they talked about in the previous group; 7. The facilitator presents a new question (related to the previous one); 8. New groups continue the discussion for the same set period of time; 9. When there are no more relevant issues to discuss, the host of

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