Episode 131: The conflict of creating interesting conversations (then having to stop them, so we can move to the next one) with Misha Glouberman
How did I find today’s guest? Through this article: How to Host a Cocktail Party on Zoom (and have better classes, conferences and meetings, too) written by Misha Glouberman, that Michael Bungay Stanier shared on LinkedIn.
As I read the article, my jaw dropped. The level of consideration around facilitating this birthday party was next level! From this one article, you could tell how much he values the finer details of hosting an event.
Misha Glouberman teaches communication skills, runs meetings and conferences for organizations, hosts live events, and speaks at conferences. His work has been described as “humanizing relationships—one event at a time."
In this episode, you’ll learn how we can get better at our conversations by zooming out, how to be collaborative when solving problems AND he also shares an incident he had as a panellist, when someone in the audience, called him out! Listen in for that story and more importantly, what Misha learnt from it.
One thing I’m still trying to navigate, is that fine line between giving your participants autonomy to create, vs. “sticking to the plan”.
Misha provides an excellent distinction on how we can decide how to progress by being transparent with the group.
About our Guest: Misha Glouberman
Misha Glouberman is the author, with Sheila Heti, of the book The Chairs Are Where the People Go, which the New Yorker named as one of its top nonfiction books of 2011 and described as "a triumph of what might be called conversational philosophy." In it, Misha relays everything he knows about communication, conferences, relationships, making friends, monogamy, playing charades and more.
His approach to conference design draws on Open Space Technology and UnConference approaches, which are highly effective at getting people talking and sharing ideas in ways that are effective and meaningful.
Misha has taught classes in improvised music and theater, worked as a database designer, and has a degree in philosophy from Harvard.
His interest in how people connect extends into his work as a performer and artist. Every month he hosts Trampoline Hall, a barroom lecture series that has been popular with the arts and literary set in Toronto and New York for well over a decade. His instructions on how to ask a good question at a public event were published in the New York Times Magazine. His Terrible Noises for Beautiful People is a series of participatory sound events for non-musicians, which has been presented in partnership with Nuit Blanche Toronto and the Long Now Foundation among others.
Here are some of the questions Leanne asked Misha during the interview:
With your background and the work that you do, have you always been interested in creating great connections? When did you discover that you want to work in this field?
If you could offer tips or suggestions for listeners on how to target relationships and build it over time?
How do you draw the line between giving autonomy vs being collaborative?
How do you get yourself ready for a workshop experience?
Resources:
Connect with Misha Glouberman on Linkedin
Lecture series hosted by Misha The Trampoline Hall
Say to Misha via Twitter and let him know you’ve listened to this episode
Visit Misha Glouberman’s website for more details
Join a community of facilitators from all over the world, on The Flipchart!
Quotes:
“When you are in a difficult conversation, zoom out - talk about the pattern, relationship, feelings and systemic issues.”
“I have two conflicting jobs as a facilitator, one is to create interesting conversation and the other one is to stop them so we can move on to the next.”
Join the Virtually Possible movement
Doors are now open!
Like this show?
Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally.
Tweet Leanne your number one takeaway from this episode!
Grab my cheat sheet:
The 5 unpredictable ways to start a Zoom meeting (that predictably work)
