The Topic Bazaar

The Fall 2007 RoundTable will feature a (bizarre?) innovation - the "Topic Bazaar."

In Houston, Brian noticed that the roundtable sessions went something like this:

1. Topic introduced
2. People around the table began commenting on the topic
3. Very quickly and naturally an informal "expert board" formed - those around the table with experience in the topic
4. If Brian wanted to discuss matters specific to our church, or more extensively than the rest of the group, he would make a mental note of the experts so he could talk with them on a break

We wanted to create a way to facilitate step #4 - the more in-depth conversations on individual topics after the roundtable sessions. So we're introducing an innovation to the upcoming RoundTable: the Topic Bazaar! On Thursday afternoon, after the roundtable sessions are complete, we will have a large open room where multiple topics will be discussed simultaneously. Attendees interested in a particular topic will gather in small clusters scattered throughout the room. The topics and locations will be indicated by signs on tall poles. Possible topics would be things like: "Church Management Systems", "Virtualization", "Security", "Budgeting", etc. Attendees will be able to join a conversation around a topic as long as they like and then move on to another topic. A moderator/expert (could be a vendor) will stay with each topic sign to keep the conversation going.