GATHERING STRUCTURE
PRE-GATHERING CHECK-IN
Length: 10-15 Mins
Purpose:
Get people excited to join the conversation that day
Establish a personal relationship between you and the women in your group
How To:
5-8 hours before your gathering begins message or text each of your group members expressing excitement to see them tonight. If you are meeting in person re-share your address, if you are meeting virtually re-share the meeting link
Example for first gathering:
"Hi Sarah! This is Kate and I'll be hosting tonight's Holdette community gathering. I just wanted to reach out and say I'm super excited to connect tonight! Let me know if you have any questions before we get together! As a reminder, here is the (link/address) for tonight's gathering: [link/address]
Example for 2+ gathering:
Hi Sarah! Really enjoyed our conversation last month! Really looking forward to chatting tonight! Let me know if you have any questions before we all get together! Here is the (link/address) for tonight's gathering: [link/address]
WELCOME
Length: 3-5 Mins
Purpose:
Ease the transition from our day to day lives to the conversation
The act of crossing the threshold into the room
How To:
Say hello to people as they join the zoom call or arrive to the location
Ask them about their day/week/weekend
Ask them about their energy levels
Be genuinely excited about each person that arrives
VALUES
Length: 1-2 Mins
Purpose:
Set the stage for the conversation that will be taking place
Create a shared value system for the group
How To:
Read our community values and explain each one
Ask if there any other values folks would like to add
Write these additional values down so you can reference them the following month
INTRO QUESTION
Length: 5 Mins
Purpose:
Introduce the topic of the month
Get people thinking about that month's topic with a relatively light lift question
How To:
Pose the initial question and have folks share their answers
You can share the question in the chat if you are meeting virtually
CONVERSATION QUESTIONS
Length: 70 Mins
Purpose:
Prompt the group to think deeply about the topic of the month
Build relationships between group members
How To:
As the conversation comes to a lull, introduce the new conversation topic
If the group is prompting itself, you don't need to direct back to these topics
They are meant to serve as a guideline not as a script
ACTION ITEMS
Length: 7 Mins
Purpose:
Create an actionable takeaway for gathering members so they leave feeling like they know how to take the next right step in this area
How To:
Share the action prompt on slack
Wait for almost all of the community members to share their responses on slack
Ask each community member to share their response out loud
WRAP UP
Length: 2 mins
Purpose:
Give a sense of finality to the gathering
Bring people back to their day to day lives
How to:
Thank everyone for joining and say you look forward to them joining next month
Share any announcements from the Holdette team