Jan 19, 2021
I know that for me, the continuing COVID pandemic has me feeling so grateful for the time I get to spend with everyone at our online gatherings. People are asking me how (and why) these work, especially when they're online... I suppose it's a bit of a secret recipe, but one of the secrets is there isn't a recipe. That said, read on for a taste of some of the ingredients.
First of all, I know that the richness of each salon is a testament to the talent, heart and soul of everyone who attends, including my Featured Guests who take the additional time to experience their amazing content with us.
You who attend are authentic influencers who explore, share and grow. So if you're on the edge, read on... and then just jump in. You'll be glad you did. For those of you have been with us before, I look forward to serving up extra helpings of stone soup next month at our Winter Screening Salon Series, THE POWER OF EXPRESSION. (SSR alums, the salons will be 30 minutes longer to allow for longer pieces of screened content.
Continuing on with my non-recipe recipe, I present these in a series format to explore a particular theme. We meet on consecutive Tuesday evenings and there are usually four salons per series.
For each salon, we start off in Gallery View on Zoom, with each of us adding an ingredient into the mix by answering a question that I ask. Some examples:
"What is one of your sound memories?" (for the single salon, Our Music & Our Dreams)
"What is one of your tools to better listen to yourself?" (for the series, Connection & Belonging)
"What is one way that you connect to someone when you first meet them?" (for the series, Listen, Learn... Speak)
How old were you when you felt particularly isolated, unseen or perhaps seen in a way that hurt?" (For this last question, also in the Listen, Learn... Speak series, most of us went back to our teens... the age group that is the primary focus of Erahm Christopher who happened to be the Featured Guest for that series.
That question and those responses are the stone that breaks the surface of the water. As the salon unfolds, this is what causes connections and ripples to form and eventually make their way to the surface:
We view curated screened content as a group.
After that we reconvene on Gallery View with my Featured Guests for talk time about the content, the theme and how it relates to us.
It's not uncommon for us to spend more time in conversation than watching the content. That's because SSR is about building community.
We often participate in breakout sessions to allow for a different kind of connection.
The final salon of each series is a closing session. In these, there is no additional screened content. This is so that we can go deeper into the connections we've created with each other as well as with the theme.
Each salon, including the final one of a series, stands on its own. You can attend them all or just a couple. It's up to you. Of course, there is a reason the salons are sequenced as they are, so attending a full series adds to the experience.
There is so much richness to Stone Soup Ripple gatherings, and that includes the participants who bring them to life, and I take it as the highest of compliments when you return for extra helpings.
Here's to the non-recipe... and the ripples that follow,
Christine