Discussion Boards
Take the conversationhome.
A board is a dozen cards on one topic. Open it on one phone or laptop, and a group of friends, a family or a team can run a real discussion on their own. No host, no sign-up, no fixed day.
Why boards exist
Good conversations don't happen by accident.
Ask a group “what do you think about X?” and one of two things happens. The room goes quiet while everyone waits for someone braver. Or one person talks for ten minutes and the evening becomes a debate nobody signed up for.
We ran into this every week. The fix turned out to be simple: don't ask for an opinion first, ask for a memory. “When did you last …?” Everyone has one, nobody can be wrong, and once people have spoken once they keep speaking.
A board is that fix, written down. Every card opens with a memory, then splits the room, then turns the question back on the person answering. And the group, not a host, decides which cards to open.
What's on a board
One question, a dozen cards, three prompts each.
Every board has the same shape, so once your group has run one, it can run any of them.
1 · The opening question
“When you're coming home late, what's the one thing you always do?”
Everyone answers in one line. It comes back at the very end, to see whose answer moved.
2 · A dozen independent cards
Each card is one tension on the topic. Any card can be opened first, last or never. Your group votes, opens four or five, and the rest keep for next time.
3 · Inside every card
- 1
The way in
A memory. One sentence. Nobody can be wrong.
- 2
The split
The room divides, and both sides are defensible.
- 3
The uncomfortable one
Turns the question back on the person answering.
One prompt on screen at a time. Whoever holds the screen reads it out.
4 · The return
The opening question, asked again. Same room, one line each. The interesting part is who answers differently.
5 · A line to take home
Every board ends on one sentence to carry out of the room. Nothing to resolve, something to notice.
How to run one
Three steps. No host needed.
What you need: three or more people, about an hour, and one screen everyone can see.
Step 1
Pick a board that fits the group
Browse by topic. Something everyone in the room has lived a little of works better than something clever.
Step 2
Open it and ask the first question
One person holds the screen and reads the opening question. Everyone answers in a single line. Write the answers down.
Step 3
Vote, open, talk, return
The group picks which cards to open. Read the prompts one at a time, let the talk run, then ask the opening question again.
Where it works
Anywhere people are already sitting together.
Dinner with friends
The food is done, nobody wants to leave, and the conversation has gone round the same three topics. Open a board instead of the TV.
A quiet evening, the two of you
Cards about money, family or the future that are easier to open when a board asked, not you.
Family, after the meal
Three generations in one room with a dozen ways in. The grandparents' cards are usually the best ones.
A team offsite
An hour that isn't an icebreaker and isn't a workshop. Pick a board on work, silence or ambition and let people be honest.
A long train or car journey
One phone, passed around. The opening question alone can carry an hour.
A reading group or a club
When the book is finished and the meeting isn't. A board on the book's theme keeps the room talking.
A few to start with
Pick one and open it tonight.
LGBTQ+ Acceptance: Are We Giving LGBTQ+ People Room to Grow?
A 60-minute session on how much room we really make for LGBTQ+ people in our families, friendships, offices and streets. Do we let them work out who…
Women's Safety: The Mental Load of Being a Woman
A 60-minute session on the quiet, everyday work of staying safe: the “reached home” text, the outfit changed for the route, the smile at a stranger…
The Worry Trap: Why Do We Worry About Things We Can't Control?
A 90-minute session on the worry we carry for things we can't change: results we're waiting on, people who don't pick up, news from far away, money…
The spirit of it
Not a debate. Not a quiz.
- Nobody has to answer anything. Passing is always fine.
- You are there to hear how differently people see the same thing, not to win.
- What is said in the room stays in the room.Our guidelines →
Want to see onerun by us first?
Every Sunday we open a board with people from very different lives. Sit in on one, then take a board home to your own group.