Session V

Topic: Questions

Introduction: Questions are important in the shaping of a workshop dialogue conversation because questions guide and direct the conversation. A strong question is made by the following qualities: is simple and clear, creates thoughts, creates energy, focuses, and creates new possibilities. In World Café dialogue it is better not to have yes/no questions but something more open-ended. For supplemental reading, see Resources.

Objectives: By the end of this session, you will

• Learn what makes a good question
• Understand the role of questions in learning

Notes for Animators

Abdikarim and Anita Animator, and their planning team, thought about what kind of questions to ask. They knew that if they focused on the problems too long, people would stay discouraged and the meeting might end badly. They knew they needed to discuss the problems, but after they took time for that they wanted to change the direction. They tried to think of an open-ended question, for example, what could a good community also be? The people had many ideas and suggestions to this question. The energy in the room was very different now from the talk about problems. The planning team decided to spend more time at their next meeting coming up with good questions that would carry the conversation further.

Journal Question: Give an example of a good question. Experiment with yes/no questions and open-ended ones. Practice writing them in your journal.

Materials needed: See Pictures

Reflection: We have looked at the kinds of questions people ask. It's an important topic for workshop planning and takes some practice to get right.

 

Handout (PDF)

Next Session: Contribution