For Common Ground’s 5th anniversary in 2021, community members, neighbors, families, and organizations across the region hosted conversations about the future of our shared home through the lens of this year’s theme: “Growing Common Ground: People, Place, Shared Power.”

At its core, Common Ground is about engaging with one another respectfully and promoting the wellbeing of the broader community. These resources will help you plan and prepare for the conversation you want to have this year. Common Ground’s support infrastructure exists to help hosts plan for the unique elements of a Common Ground event.

They are meant to be a guide, not a rulebook.

Quality conversations start here

In 2018, Common Ground established a series of trainings to help hosts and volunteers have more effective conversations at their Common Ground events. In partnership with Neighbor Up, each year Common Ground hosts free two-hour facilitation trainings for hosts, participants and volunteers to share information about hosting productive conversations and provide attendees the opportunity to work on their conversation facilitation skills.

The conversation training structure is meant not only to create more effective Common Ground conversations but also to build capacity for higher quality connections and communication across our region. Find our conversation training calendarhere.

Calendar of Events

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Datainformationyou9of32 min

I'm hosting, now what?

As a Common Ground host, you create your own gathering, but you aren't on your own. To help support the conversation, Common Ground provides resources to help you build a valuable, connective conversation around the issues you are passionate about. Hosts can be any Cuyahoga, Lake, or Geauga County resident or organization that wants to bring people together for a forward-looking conversation.

When the Common Ground 2022 dates and theme is announched, hosts will have the ability to choose the day, location, and time of day that works best for them. Some hosts choose to open their conversations to the public, and some choose to only invite people they know. To support the conversation, Common Ground provides resources to help hosts create valuable, civil conversations around the theme of the event for 2022

Facilitating your conversation

The glue that holds any good conversation together is quality facilitation. Common Ground has worked with Neighbor Up, The Community Innovation Network and others to build a robust support system for conversation facilitation. A few things to consider:

Do I need Conversation Facilitators at my event?
 

If your event has 10 or fewer participants, then you may not need facilitators. However, if your conversation focuses on a challenging subject, a facilitator can help.

If your event has more than 10 participants, then you will want to consider having a facilitator to help manage the conversation. We encourage hosts to separate their participants into smaller groups at some point during their event to have more manageable conversations. A facilitator should be assigned to lead each small group conversation.

Facilitationtraining2018

Unable to join us for a Conversation Training? Just want a refresher before your event? Check out this recording of our June 30 training for a full review of everything you need to know about Common Ground 2021. 

How to Common Ground:
Elements of a Common Ground Conversation

Each Common Ground event has the same elements: Setting the Table, Check-In, Conversation, and Closing & Sharing. We outline the different elements and their roles in your conversation in this quick tutorial. Use this as a guide to help build your unique agenda using your own goals and creativity.


A Common Ground Gathering at a Glance

 

Welcome & Introductions

5 to 10 minutes

Welcome everyone. Invite each person to introduce themselves and the place they call home. If you have a large group, invite people to share at their table.

Begin the Conversation

5 to 10 minutes

Discuss Civility Rules and have attendees choose a Civility Rules value button to guide their role in the conversation.

Conversation

30 to 60 minutes

Start with one of the questions provided in the facilitation guide or use your own. Begin yourself or invite a guest to answer the question for themselves. Invite discussion. If conversation lags, go around the table and get each participant to answer.

Close Conversation

15 minutes

Ask the group how they feel about what was discussed. Ask if guests would like to continue the conversation, plan a next step, or create a project using Common Ground’s Action Planning Resources.

Share & Thank

10 minutes

Go around the “table” or circle and invite each person to share what they feel about the conversation. Thank everyone and share the post-event resources, action grants information, and survey link.

What does a conversation facilitator do?


Pre-Event:
Plan Ahead

  • Develop a plan with the host
  • Enjoy getting to know new people

Facilitators and hosts should work together to create an inviting conversation space. Develop a plan ahead of time with your host for how you will welcome people. It also helps to set your intention for the day: what do you want your guests to take away from this experience? Be the champion of that feeling throughout the conversation.


Day-Of

1. Check-in or Ice Breaker
 

  • Share your own perspective
  • Invite people to open up

Ice breakers will ideally allow guests to share their name, where they are from, and short a personal reflection. Hosts and facilitators can work together to choose a great check-in question. Some examples:

  • What's new and good today?
  • How do you feel about the conversation we are about to have?
  • What does the Common Ground theme bring to mind for you?

 
2. Holding the Conversation
 

Use a structured format or an informal approach, depending on your event's needs.

A facilitator's primary role is to guide the conversation. They are encouraged to use the sample agenda for your conversation but are also free to adjust. To ensure everyone gets time to engage in meaningful conversation, we suggest keeping group conversations small - no more than 6-8 people. If it is a large gathering, utilize the tools available through your video conferencing platform or in-person locations to break the group into these smaller conversations. If people are participating in small groups, be sure to bring everyone back together for the last 15 minutes to share across groups.

If your host prefers a more informal approach, you can offer sample questions to the group, or create self-guided conversation prompts for guests to draw from. We recommend having a closing reflection to prompt guests to share what they gained from the experience as the event wraps up.

 
4. Closing the Conversation
 

  • Help the group consider next steps

Celebrate what happened and discuss what to do next. Follow the natural course of the conversation. Next steps can include:

  • Continuing new connections
  • Connecting with others
  • Taking action

If the group has an idea of something they want to work on together, they can apply for a small Neighbor Up Action Grant or work with ioby (Link to ioby.org/cleveland) to develop a crowdfunding page.

 
5. Ending your time together
 

  • Encourage everyone to continue the connections developed
  • Share link to post-event survey and action planning information
  • Ask for feedback
  • Close on a high note

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