Tips and Tricks for Facilitating Community Building Circles Remotely
We can all agree that community building circles are best done in person, where we can easily note non-verbal cues, “read the room” as we answer prompts, and physically touch the talking piece. That being said, it is entirely possible to hold engaging, warm, and relational community building circles online. When we facilitate remote community building circles, we first root ourselves in restorative values. Next, we make sure we are logistically prepared and technologically informed. And finally, we draw from all the elements and components of an in-person circle, modifying them to match our virtual audience.
Want to experience a remote community building circle? Join our next one on August 11, at 9:00am est. RSVP here to join for free.
Rooting ourselves in Restorative Values
When we plan an online community building circle, we always remind ourselves of the values we want to guide our time in circle. They inform our planning before, and our approach during, the circle. That’s because we’re not just having a virtual meeting; we’re striving to create a space where people who are far away from each other can still connect. Our goal is for people to feel uplifted at the end of the circle, rather than drained. The values we look to are drawn from Humanistic Psychology:
Genuineness – engaging with honesty, openness and sincerity
Positive regard for all individuals – valuing self and others for who we are
Empathy – striving to understand the experiences of others
Optimistic perspectives on personal development – believing that people can learn and change for the better
Accountability – acknowledging individual and community responsibility
Preparing for a Virtual Community Building Circle: Logistics and Technology
Create documents or slides to keep the circle on track. We always create a participant list, an agenda, and a slideshow if applicable for an online circle. It’s great to have the participant list copied on our clipboard (see below, where we use names as the talking piece), and the agenda printed out to avoid switching back and forth on our screens.
Practice the technology. We spend a few minutes testing out the Zoom link, checking the chat functionality, and sharing the screen before the meeting starts. If there are any issues, we resolve them before people show up. Otherwise, time spent dealing with technology prevents us from connecting with each other, and can add stress to what is supposed to be a low-stakes, pleasant time.
Make sure participants have their correct name on their screen. This helps the facilitators and other participants start to get to know each other. Names are a vital first introduction, and “participant 1” or “Daddy’s Zoom” is distracting; it prevents us from engaging authentically with each other. If your workplace or school is used to having people state their pronouns, you may consider encouraging participants to add their pronouns to their display name as well.
Invite participants to turn on their videos. Being able to see everyone’s face enhances trust and communication among circle participants. While we certainly don’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable, we have found that gentle encouragement can help participants feel safe turning on their cameras.
Consider dividing larger groups into smaller breakout rooms for virtual circles. If you have multiple facilitators, consider using breakout rooms. They allow for smaller groups, which can feel more personal and give each participant more time to share.
Draw from the elements and components of in-person circles, modifying as needed.
Talking Piece: Use the participants’ names as the talking piece.Names are personal, and using people’s names out loud helps to build relationships and helps people feel seen. Best practices include:
Determine the order ahead of time (we go alphabetically by first name, but feel free to do whatever makes sense for your group).
At the start of the circle, read through the names in order, paste the pre-written list in the chat, and ask participants to note who is before and after them.
Explain that the names will become the talking piece. After someone has finished their comments for the round, they will indicate they are finished by saying the name of the next person, i.e.“I pass the talking piece to Beth.” Then that person says their comment and passes it to the next person by saying their name.
Model this by having a facilitator start the circle, then name the next person when finished.
Check-in: Use simple, non-threatening prompts for check-in rounds. Some examples include:
Something that brings you joy
Something you are doing to relieve stress
Share a TV show/YouTube channel/book you’ve enjoyed this week
Give everyone a minute to find something from their surroundings to share with the group, i.e. something red, something soft, something useful, or something squishy
Guidelines: Always state the Circle guidelines before beginning the rounds. Guidelines are essential to creating the structure and safety necessary to encourage people to participate in the circle. Most often we use five standard guidelines:
Respect the talking piece (one person speaks at a time, no interrupting)
Be present
Speak from the heart and speak for yourself
Share the air; time is our shared resource
Honor confidentiality and privacy (no recording, for example)
If you’ll be meeting regularly, you may want to create customized guidelines with your students and/or colleagues that work for your specific group. The process of creating the guidelines together is a great way of building community and helping people feel included and respected from the beginning. A good way to start this process is to ask participants, What do you need to be able to participate fully in the circle? With this information you can construct your guidelines.
Round Questions: Choose prompts that relate to the circle theme and goals. Part of our preparation is to consider what we want to achieve with this circle. Perhaps it is general community building, stress management, current events or addressing a certain dynamic within an organization or classroom, etc. Once we have a theme for a circle, we create prompts for the Rounds that will give coherence and direction to the overall conversation. Typically, we start with a light check-in question and then progress towards questions that are more central to the purpose of the circle.
Checkout and Closing: An abrupt ending can feel jarring, and leaves participants feeling unsatisfied (the opposite of how we want them to feel!). We always reserve 5+ minutes at the end of our circles for a checkout and closing. This transition allows the circle to feel complete. A checkout can be as simple as a one word or silent round:
How are you feeling now, at the end of our circle?
What is one word you are taking away from this circle?
Give a thumbs up, to the side, or down to show how you are feeling now
Quotes make great closings! When we are planning a circle, we carefully choose a quote that sums up the theme of our circle. You can paste it into the chat, as well. Then, we thank everyone for coming, and for their participation, and we say goodbye.
Speaking of online community building circles, we offer them for free from time to time! Our next one will be on August 11, at 9:00am est. RSVP here to join.
Resources: There are a lot of great resources online to support remote community building: games, quotes, even round question ideas.
Check out our Remote Circle Planning Sheet, which we created to help teachers design effective remote circles. It will be familiar to those of you who have attended our workshops and trainings.
For more general information about circle planning and other restorative practices and circle planning, download our Restorative Practices Guide.
