I love this. I design conferences and gatherings for a living, and home dinners are one of my favourite formats.
A few things I've seen make them work:
1. Encourage conversations where people ask each other for help, as opposed to just a topic. "What's something important you're trying to get done in your work where other people might be able to help you?" This encourages conversations that are actually useful, as opposed to interesting. It also encourages a kind of vulnerability that I think builds social relationships well.
2. Have a whole bunch of people sitting at one big, long table for the whole thing. Smaller tables are better, and opportunities to get up and move around are good. You want people to have opportunities to interact with lots of different people and not be stuck next to the same two people for two hours.
3. Think about who you invite, how you invite them, and whether they might benefit from each other. Sometimes it's good to be exclusive. You might want something for newcomers, or you might want to include some people who are advanced in the field. You might want something intentionally designed to mix them up with each other, but being conscious of this is helpful.
If you ever want to think about how to design dinners to make them effective, hit me up. I'd be glad to chat.
I love this. I design conferences and gatherings for a living, and home dinners are one of my favourite formats.
A few things I've seen make them work:
1. Encourage conversations where people ask each other for help, as opposed to just a topic. "What's something important you're trying to get done in your work where other people might be able to help you?" This encourages conversations that are actually useful, as opposed to interesting. It also encourages a kind of vulnerability that I think builds social relationships well.
2. Have a whole bunch of people sitting at one big, long table for the whole thing. Smaller tables are better, and opportunities to get up and move around are good. You want people to have opportunities to interact with lots of different people and not be stuck next to the same two people for two hours.
3. Think about who you invite, how you invite them, and whether they might benefit from each other. Sometimes it's good to be exclusive. You might want something for newcomers, or you might want to include some people who are advanced in the field. You might want something intentionally designed to mix them up with each other, but being conscious of this is helpful.
If you ever want to think about how to design dinners to make them effective, hit me up. I'd be glad to chat.