How does Penny U work?

Well, now that the fall series of Penny U events is over, it finally occurs to me to say something about the form they’ve taken. Better late than never, I guess. Edward and I are beginning to plan another series in the spring, February–April, so we’ll have more chances to keep trying new things.

Although speakers who present at Town Hall often inspire us, the premise of Penny U conversations is that everyone with interest who takes the initiative to attend has valuable knowledge and experience to share. So rather than being another opportunity to sit back and listen, Penny U aims to draw on the information and ideas in the room. Each evening’s discussion is prompted by a topic and series of questions, and most of our time is spent in small group discussions, usually among 4 or 5 people. Everyone’s views have a place.

Toward the end, we move back into a large group but have stopped asking someone from each group to report on their table’s conversation. Our experience is that the high energy generated by the small group conversations goes completely flat during a report-out session, sort of like air going out of a balloon. Instead, someone at each table agrees to take notes, and I volunteer to write them up and put them here for all to read. Last time, when we came back together after small groups, we asked for questions that arose in the conversations that everyone should think about. (Another post will follow soon with notes from December 8’s conversation.)

We consider Penny U’s form pliable and, so far, have adapted it each time as we learn more about what seems to work. We’re eager for ideas from participants for making Penny U more meaningful, and we’re already sorting out how to respond to some good ideas we’ve gotten already.