The new mini-salon format

We have a new format that we’d like to try: ‘mini-salons,’ lighter-weight events requiring less preparation and time commitment that we can hold more frequently than the usual evening-long affairs. For those of you who enjoy the traditional long format, don’t worry, because we’ll still be holding those from time to time.

The main difference between a mini-salon and one of our usual events is that the discussion will be in response to readings rather than presentation. We’ve found over time that there is a staggering ratio of topics that we all would like to discuss by comparison to the number of people who are willing and able to present. To us, this looked like too great an opportunity to miss. The beauty of discussing world affairs is that there is an entire class of professionals who dedicate their lives to analyzing it in depth. We realized that it could be equally educational to simply take advantage of the bounty available in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the Economist, the Financial Times, Al Jazeera, the BBC and all the other media outlets where high-quality reporting on international issues can be found. The benefit of centering the discussion around journalism and commentary is that it connects us with the broader public debate, helping us understand not just what we ourselves believe about the issue but also what positions are being advocated by prominent voices. And, on a practical level, published material allows the club to be more sustainable, as it give us a source of inspiration for conversation that isn’t hand-made by a member of our group.

Here’s our vision of how the mini-salons will work. The differences: they’ll be smaller in size (between four and ten people), they’ll be shorter in time (scheduled for just two hours instead of six), they’ll be scheduled around rather than during meals (so that nobody has to cook or clean), and there will be no need for a moderator. The similarities: they’ll still be held in one of our members’ apartments, they’ll still provide deeply engaging conversation and they’ll still center on the many global changes that are happening in our beautifully complex world. For example, a mini-salon might run as follows:

Rajni has recently read a series of articles about the Russians claiming disputed arctic seabed as their own. She imagines the repercussions as important and far-reaching, and would like to discuss this topic with her fellow Club of Romers. She suggests the topic to the the organizers, attaching several short articles that provide a good background on the topic. The organizers agree that this would be a good topic and send out an email invitation with the topic, the location (at a host’s apartment who’s volunteered previously), the date and time (e.g. 5-7pm on a Saturday), and request for RSVP. As responses come in, the organizers allot the ten slots on a first-come-first serve basis and email out the pre-readings. When the group gathers, Rajni takes a few minutes at the beginning to frame the issue, touching on questions such as: what’s happened, why it’s important, who the players are or what’s at stake. She then turns over conversation to the group, who delve in to the issue in whatever ways they find most interesting.

The old format will still remain, for the simple reason that our group is blessed with many people who have studied some aspect of world affairs in depth or have had profound personal experience that bears on global concerns. We’ll continue to hold full-length salons, but we’ll do them at the presenter’s behest: when a presenter approaches us with the desire to speak to the group on a subject they consider compelling, we’ll put together the usual six-hour Saturday evening event with a pot luck dinner.

We welcome your comments and questions – and especially your suggestions for topics you’d like to discuss!