You will have begun to gather with purpose when you learn to exclude with purpose. And once you have that purpose in mind, you will suddenly find it easier to make all the decisions that a gathering requires. Having a purpose simply means knowing why you’re gathering and doing your participants the honor of being convened for a reason. It was almost becoming a routine- that great enemy of meaningful gathering. So widespread is this desire not to impose that a growing number of people report not wanting any funeral at all when they die. In countries descending into authoritarianism, one of the first things to go is the right to assemble. In democracies, the freedom to assemble is one of the foundational rights granted to every individual. “Crucible moments”- challenging moments in our lives that shape us in some deep way and shift our lens of the world

“Law of two feet”- if you are some place and not learning, you should use your two feet to get yourself in a new situation “Chateau Principle”- people are affected by their environment, and you should host your gathering in a place and context that serves your purpose “Table moment”- when a group gets so large that they no longer fit around “Ichi-go ichi-e”- Japanese for “one meeting, one moment in your life that will never happen again”Īll meetings should be organized around a desired outcome…or else the meaning will get diluted with process “Tightness of fit”- when an organizer does something to increase cohesion (e.g., naming a group with multiple adjectives) Studies show that audiences disproportionately remember the first 5 percent, the last 5 percent, and a climactic moment of a talk.Ī 2001 Johns Hopkins study found that when members of a medical team introduced themselves and shared concerns ahead of time, the likelihood of complications and deaths fell by 35 percent. What if school administrative meetings were called SIS meetings: Share Out / Inform / Solve? What if every meeting began with a two minute share out from each person? What if we chose student learning locations based on function and density (students per square foot)? What if faculty meetings rotated locations depending on purpose? What if all meetings had a purpose statement or explicit desired outcomes?

What if every meeting with parents was titled with “Partnership” and the stated outcome was to support the child? What is the right frequency for gathering together as a whole school? What is the purpose of Parent/Teacher Conferences?

The art of gathering priya parker