1. Pick a book or other media to discuss.
2. Pick a facilitator for the discussion. You can have a single facilitator for every meeting, or a rotation. (Also consider a time-keeper, note-taker, and someone who makes sure everyone has a chance to speak, let's call it the inclusivity manager.)
3. Decide on your club's rule set.
   1. What are your rules for keeping discussions productive and moving? (check this link to see some examples)
   2. What space is built in for people to process?

📝 Before you meet:

• Pick a date and time to meet. Doodle makes it easy for to find the best time for a group of people to find common available time.

  Doodle: easy scheduling

• Add a calendar event to everyone's calendars.

  • Google Calendar is free and if your club members already have Gmail accounts, there is very little to set up.

• Decide on a video platform and ensure everyone has access before your club meets. These platforms all support multiple people. Be considerate of how your club's members will be joining, will they be on their phone?

  • Google Meet, Hangouts, or Duo
  • FaceTime (if all using Apple products)
  • Houseparty
  • We do not recommend Zoom (here's why.)

• If you are watching a Netflix show or movie together, there is a Chrome browser extension called Netflix Party that wraps the video player in a chat window.

📅 Day of:

• 10 minutes: Check in with everyone, how is everyone feeling?
• 60-90 minutes: Structured Discussion
  • Have a discussion guide. This will help everyone in your club uncover themes and answer questions that they might not have on their own. If you can't find one online or in the book itself, ask people in your club to add topics to discuss before you meet.
  • Stay on topic. Make it clear ahead of time that people who wander too far off topic may be cut off.
  • Step up and step back. Be wary of letting a few individuals dominate the conversation.
  • Commit to an action that's relevant to your reading / viewing and hold each other accountable.
    • You may need to do some brainstorming and additional research to decide on an action.
• 30 minutes: Socializing and Processing
  • This will be personal to your group. One idea is to use your first meeting to work through how to approach this together. You can solicit ideas during planning as well.

📢 After:

• Follow up on action commitments and hold each other accountable. Consider assigning "accountability buddies" prior to the closing of the session to do a check in with their partner(s).
• Note how you feel and new ideas for further, sustained action.
• Share something you learned with friends and family.
• Pick another book / media, and repeat the process.