Since the Renaissance, discussing books has been a great way to gather together with friends and colleagues alike to have enlightened, focused, yet fun dialog. Leading these discussions and clubs can be challenging as well as rewarding with the right facilitator at the reins.
Instructions
1. Decide how you would want your book club to operate. You may want to all have a discussion over one common book or each introduce a separate book at the same meeting. Taking a poll amongst those who are in the club may be best to include the interests of all involved.
2. Have an itinerary ready and some room to be flexible if the need arises. Participants in the club will come more prepared if they know what is expected of them or at least the sequence of events. Having some room for flexibility is wise just in case you want to go overtime for something that may become interesting to the entire group.
3. Communicate early and often. Make sure when interacting or communicating with the members of the club or desired recruits you give them information in time to react and prepare. At the time of the function, be sure to greet the members as soon as they arrive to create an atmosphere that is comfortable to communicate in. This will ensure also that those attending know the host and those in charge.
4. Stay on task and keep to the itinerary as much as possible. Although staying on schedule to the second may not be possible at all times, it is your job as a facilitator to intentionally set the tone, which sometimes means deciphering the mood of the club and changing it to transition into some other topic. Some planned tasks may be cut short if popularly uninteresting or finished quickly.
5. Encourage involvement. When holding a book club meeting, passing around some responsibility to other members is refreshing and brings a different point of view. You may want to have some of the members be in charge of things such as refreshments or even decorating to the theme of some to the books being discussed in order to spice things up.
6. Give a bonus when able. Doing things like offering unexpected refreshments or book-markers is a great way to earn some gravy points as a facilitator as well. This will keep the members looking forward to the next time you host.
