Hello friends,
🙌Many thanks for reading The Quest, your weekly round-up of tips and insights to help you design and lead exceptional online sessions that your group members will love.❤️
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OK, let’s dive right in!
Live sessions are like good stories.
They have a beginning, a middle, and an end.
In stories – and in group sessions – these are the moments that define an experience:
There are new adventures.
There is uncertainty.
There are breakthroughs.
And there are endings.
But so often in group sessions, we skip the ending.
In stories, the ending is often the part that we look forward to the most. The same goes for group sessions and events. But somehow the ending doesn’t always materialize. Art of Gathering author Priya Parker writes that in group experiences “there is a tendency to close without closing.”
Why? Because it’s easy to fall into what I call “closing pitfalls”:
- We don’t plan for a closing
- We run out of time
- We assume that it will happen on its own
- We don’t think it’s important
- We avoid it
- We don’t know how to close
We need endings.
In stories, endings help us resolve dangling threads. In group sessions closings give your group members the chance to become aware of and make meaning of new knowledge. They help your group members put their knowledge into action.
The best closings are intentional closings.
An intentional closing is when you end the session the way you want it to end, instead of leaving it to chance or circumstance. When you do, you help your group members finish with a sense of closure and inspiration.
How can you design an intentional closing?
That’s our Quest for this week.🔎
👉 Remember the Peak End Rule
👉 The Anatomy of a Closing – Priya Parker
👉10 Tried-and-tested ideas for closing your sessions well
Plus
👉A closing quote
⛰️Remember the Peak End Rule
One reason that endings are so important is because they are one of the moments that we remember most in any experience.
This is what psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Barbara Frederickson call the Peak End Rule.
They found that when we have an experience we tend to remember two things:
1/ How experiences feel when they are at their emotional peak (positive or negative).
2/ How we feel when they end.
What does that mean for designing an intentional closing?
1/ 👉Allocate time for the closing in your session plan. It’s one of the most important moments in your session. Whatever you do don’t skip the closing!
2/ 👉End your session on an emotional high. Give opportunities for group members to share insights, takeaways and emotions. Do something celebratory and fun.
🎊The Anatomy of a Closing
In the last chapter of her book The Art of Gathering, Priya Parker breaks down the two phases of a strong closing:
1/ Looking inward. Taking a moment to understand, remember, acknowledge, and reflect on what just transpired. And to bond as a group one last time.
Examples👇
Writing down key learnings, sharing insights, recognizing the strengths of the group and its members.
2/ Turning outward. Preparing to part from one another and re-take your place in the world. The second phase is defined by the question: What of this world do I want to bring back to my other worlds?
Examples👇
Visualizing the future, commitments, actions, verbal or written pledges, reading out a quote or a poem, and saying goodbye.
If you want to learn more about how to gather well, I highly recommend the book the Art of Gathering, Parker’s TED Talk, and her newsletter.
⛰️10 Tried-and-tested ideas for closing your session well
There are so many ways that you can design an intentional closing. Check out this blog post for 10 of my favourite closing ideas.
Here’s the group photo from our closing session of the Breakthrough Facilitation course last Thursday to celebrate this community of exceptional facilitators. 🎉🎉🎉
Thanks to Alumni mentor Flor for coming up with the Breakthrough Arc Zoom background. In case you are wondering, here’s How to Change Your Virtual Background Image on Zoom.
What’s your favourite way to close your session?
đź“–A Closing Quote
Finding a fitting quote to share at the end a session can add a final touch of wisdom and aspiration to a closing. Here is one of my favorites👇
We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. T.S. Eliot
What is a closing quote that would inspire your group?
đź’ŚThanks for reading The Quest
I always love hearing your feedback and suggestions. Just hit reply to share your thoughts and ideas.
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Creatively yours,
Whenever you are ready there are 2 more ways I can help you:
👉Custom coaching & team training. Book a free 15-minute zero-commitment call with me to see how I can support you and your team.
👉5-week Live Online Course. The Breakthrough Facilitation course gives you tools, personalized feedback, and a proven framework for designing and leading high-engagement live sessions. Next cohort planned for the fall of 2023.
