Pre-conference workshop rooms

Participants: a senior scholar + moderator + recorder (PUCE)+ 20-30

Theme: Economic realities and feminist economics and the field of __________________
(thematic area of senior scholar)

Goal: the purpose of the workshop is to engage young and senior scholars in meaningful
dialog (not Q&A) on the theme.

Structure of workshop:

10:45-10:55: Introduction round- go around the room- name and where from

10:55-11:00: Moderator explains the methodology of the workshop.

11:00-12:10: Discussion

12:10-12:15: Moderator summation

Method: Open fishbowl1

Overall description:

Fishbowl conversations are a form of dialog that was born in what is known as
unconferences, aka participant-driven meetings that try to avoid standard conference
formats such as presentations followed by Q&A sessions. A fishbowl conversation is useful
when discussing topics within large groups, as several people can join the discussion and
this allows everyone to participate.

How will it work?

👉 You start the call with everybody’s microphone muted and video on. The moderator
makes a brief introduction and then asks everybody to switch their videos off. Only the
Conversation Starters (senior scholar and two young scholars) keep their video on and
engage in an opening dialogue to discuss the fishbowl theme (3/5 minutes each).
Technical note for zoom: if you ask participants to “hide non-video participants” by clicking on the three dots of
their own image, and if everybody follows this instruction, the participants will only be able to see the current
discussants in the middle of the fishbowl!

👉 The moderator then asks all participants to provide a comment and a question to keep the
conversation going. Participants can then independently (or with the help of the moderator if

1 The classic method used in participatory conferences is as follows: four to five chairs are arranged
in a circle (that looks just like a fishbowl!), four are occupied, one is left empty. More chairs are then
arranged in concentric circles that go around the central loop in the center. There is always a
moderator and he or she introduces the topic or poses the first question to initiate the fishbowl. A few
participants thus start the fishbowl conversation, while the rest of the audience sits around and listens
in to the main discussion. Every two to ten minutes any member of the audience can join the
conversation while an existing member of the fishbowl voluntarily leaves and frees another chair. If
this doesn’t happen smoothly the moderator can invite someone to move on and rejoin later.
Participants therefore enter and leave the fishbowl generating an ongoing flow, making the
conversation very interactive. When the set time is over the moderator summarizes the discussion
and officially closes the fishbowl.
needed) switch their video on when they want to talk and follow the order of appearance.
The goal is to have a maximum of 4 or 5 people engaged in the conversation (with their
video on).

👉 When a participant starts his or her video (to enter in the conversation), someone else
should stop his or her video (to exit the conversation) to ensure there are a maximum of 4-5
people engaged (3-4 plus the moderator) actively in the conversation.

👉 Fishbowl contributions should be kept within 1 minute or so and should end with a follow
up question so that other people in the fishbowl (or willing to enter it) can pick up on that.
Participants may re-enter the fishbowl more than once, of course. The one minute guideline
is to keep the conversation flowing from fish to fish, rather than having one shark. The
objective is to have an organically growing conversation. It is fundamental that people feel
that they are the initiators and custodians of the conversation.

☝ Note: the fishbowl may be slow to start but you can trust that it always gets sparked
sooner or later and it is hard to stop the flow.