Small Group Sessions
Goal: Create Connections
Background
We seek to advance forest-friendly economic development and the rule of law in the Amazon by educating prospective investors and donors and fostering connections. Our events have “Open Sessions” to which all conference participants are invited and “Small Group Sessions” which are limited to more strategic audiences.
(For those seeking greater details about the Amazon, the AIC Call and Podcast series features the experiences of dozens of Amazon experts and practitioners. The series can serve as a resource for those who want to explore any given Amazon issue more deeply.)
The goal of our “Small Group Sessions” is to improve connectivity between those on the ground in the Amazon and those who can help financially and otherwise. Toward this end, we recommend the following process for these small group sessions.
Note that session participants may fall into one of three camps of subject matter familiarity: Less Experienced, Intermediate, and More Experienced.
The Process
a. Preparation – Prior to the session, speakers and moderators will synchronize on the session design. For some sessions, participants will receive a background document listing publications, websites, names, biographies, Linkedin profiles, and other details on select session participants. (Investment and philanthropy participants often chose not to share their information.) For other sessions, no background details will be shared.
b. Framing – At the start of the session, the moderator will welcome everyone and help frame the conversation by offering:
1) A one minute explanation of how our purpose is to “create connections and facilitating networking, more than lectures.” For appropriate sessions, the moderator can also say, “We have an audience that can help us bring new money into the sector. That happens more through learning and relationship development than through debates among experts.”
2) A one minute background explanation of the session topic. An example could be, “We’re here to learn about the X market. It grew by Y% last year. We want to understand the stakeholders involved, the ways that impact is measured, and how new investment and philanthropy can make a difference.”
c. Intros – A handful of non-speaker participants can be invited to give 1 minute introductions of themselves with biographical details (profession, family, residence) and a one sentence explanation of why they joined the session. This process helps to ground the audience and creates space for late arrivals before the formal proceedings start. A sample response might be, “My name is John. I’m a banker and a Dad from New York City. I am here to learn why I should donate to the Amazon forest instead of some other important cause.”
e. Anchors – Speakers will be given 5 minutes (or less, depending on the number of speakers) to introduce themselves and cite their areas of experience and how they can be of further help to those present. Sharing links of websites, articles, and other references will be encouraged. These “featured speakers” may serve as anchors for the session.
e. Targeted Questions – After introductions and additional comments by featured anchor speakers, the moderator will ask any “Less Experienced” participants in the audience to ask novice-type topic-related questions. An simple example might be, “What is the difference between a carbon credit and a carbon offset?” Answers can come from any participant, but questions and answers together should be limited to 5 minutes, or less, in order to make time available for other participants. After 2 or 3 introductory questions (depending on time) from “Less Experienced” participants, the moderator should invite others to ask questions. The dynamic repeats as time permits. Here’s an example: if a session has 3 anchor speakers (5 minutes each) and the starting intros take less than 5 minutes, then there should be nearly 40 minutes available for targeted questions. That could be 8 volleys of questions and answers.
f. Collective Action (optional) – At 5 to 10 minutes before the end, the moderator can ask, “What can we do together? What can we share with other Summit participants?” Answers might include: start a newsletter, share a list of links, convene a new event, promote a campaign, all of the above, or something else. The moderator should take notes to possibly share with the wider AIC summit group as a post-event link online.
Do Not Be Rigid: These ideas serve as a framework for conversation and are not meant to limit healthy natural debate and discovery of important topics.
