The other day I went to an event organised by Theodore Zeldin CBE and the Oxford Muse Foundation (see also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Zeldin). His big thing is to improve people’s relations by improving the way we talk with each other. The event was held in Regent’s Park and in order to join in you had to agree to meet and converse with a complete stranger. I loved the idea of being given conversation topics, love the park and really enjoy meeting strangers, so I was up for a good afternoon.
Arriving at the event reminded me of the great outdoor teaching afternoons we had at my school. Small groups of people sitting around and talking to each other with mentors walking around making sure we were all doing the right thing.
The Zeldin event had a bit of that sense of school for me too. Upon arrival you were given a list of questions that would form the basis of your one-to-one conversation. This was a good idea. The questions were interesting and thought provoking but not too much like intruding on someone else’s privacy when asked. We quickly formed a small group of five and started on the fist few questions.
That is when Zeldin walked up to us and quickly figured that we were in fact not engrossed in one-to-one conversations. He put this right by pairing one of us up with another stranger he found nearby, leaving us by pointing out what the purpose of the event was. We did as we were told, but the sense of spontaneity was gone.
For me personally the event would have been perfect if people had just been encouraged to use the questions provided, benefit from the safe environment, and get into conversation with one or more people they had not met before. The organisers being strict about the rules of engagement made it less interesting for me. When left alone, people were going with the flow and talking in groups and to each other. This, in my view, increased everybody’s sense of inclusion, interest and fun.
Theodore Zeldin thought up a lovely event by facilitating exactly that.
