Hewlitt, A.; Barnard, G.; Fisher, C. 2005.

Chat show as a knowledge sharing methodology

The pitch:

The chat show is used as a metaphor to encourage experience sharing in an informal and
fun environment. It requires minimal preparation on behalf of participants so can be set up in
a workshop environment where the participants are not known to each other or the
organisers.

It’s a combination of the fish-bowl and panel discussion formats. The chat show’s open circle
layout encourages greater participation than the fish-bowl and its informal nature is less
intimidating than a panel discussion.

Participants:
- Chat show host (the livelier, the better!)
- 3-4 Guests
- General audience. Audience can be any size but smaller sized audiences can help
promote participation.

Layout:

Enough chairs to seat the general audience (+ guests) are laid out in a semi-circle, double
semi-circle if necessary. A chair for host is placed at the front with guest chairs alongside.

Process:

 (Allow for a minimum of 1 hour, maximum of 1.5 hours for the process?)
 Host opens the chat show sitting on a chair at the front, welcomes the audience and
introduces the theme of show.
 Host provide an intro which encourages the chat show metaphor (eg. “my first guest
will be well known to you, he was formerly..”) and invite your first guest to come down
from audience – encourage clapping
 Ask the guest 3 questions, probing for interesting details
 Invite next guest and repeat – the questions may be the same for all three guests or
tailored according to particular experience
 After all 3 guests, invite questions from audience
 Ask a couple of controversial questions to all three guests and encourage debate
between them
 Don’t take notes while still in chat show format, need to come out of role and reflect
on what was said (Note: not sure what was meant by the last part of the sentence.
Can you clarify)
 Video the chat show, if possible

Tips:

 With larger groups of 40-50 people, run 2-3 chat show sessions in parallel and let
participants choose the chat show that is of greatest interest to them.
 Prior to the show, find out the name of a popular local chat show. When explaining
the process, refer to it.
 Chat shows work best when the guests’ stories relate to each other but still show
different angles so the main homework prior to the show is in selecting a relevant
theme and interesting guests.
 Solicit chat show host volunteers from among the workshop participants. It helps if
they are lively and energetic – play acting works but discourage the host from
“playing dumb” which might be irritating for guests
Hewlitt, A.; Barnard, G.; Fisher, C. 2005.

 If the potential host is extremely close to or passionate about the subject matter it
may work better if they are a guest on the show rather than the host- the metaphor
can break down if the host is too controlling or talks too much
 Ensure that the host has at least 10 minutes to get to know his/her guests. Provide
the volunteer with sample questions to be asked to the guests written on cue cards.
 Encourage hosts to use facilitation skills including paraphrasing, drawing people out
and encouraging. Hosts could rephrase ideas in their own words and ask questions
such as “Can you say more about that…” or “Can you share an example of what you
mean by that…”.
 Leave time after ending the show to solicit key insights and ideas that emerged
during the show. If the group is relatively small (10-15 people), each audience
member and guest could be given the opportunity to share their thought or idea in a
‘tour du table’ format. Have a flipchart writer on hand to capture the points on a
flipchart to be documented as a workshop output.

What's good about it:

 Everyone can relate to the format - it's international, and generally seen as fun
 It's a high energy format and even works after lunch
 It’s a good way of getting people to share experience without getting into boring
presentations
 Groups can move beyond the official version - what was that really like?
 It's not as intimidating for guests who may be less comfortable in sharing their
experiences in more traditional formats such as the panel discussion.
 It requires minimal preparation
 It can be used in situations where people are not familiar with each other
 By making it a conversation, the host can steer it, keep it to the point, make cross-
references, build from one guest to the next. Unlike other workshop formats where
the etiquette is more restricted, the host can cut people off, without being rude.
 A Chat Show can be hammed up to make it theatrical, or done in a more serious
discussion format. Either can work.
 Any group size can work, from say 10 upwards. The bigger the group, the more the
host and guests are on the spot. Larger groups can break up into parallel chat show
sessions.
 Audience members can participate actively or not at all but no-one will go to sleep!

Limitations:

 Probably not good for a 'serious' issue that might need to be treated more
respectfully
 It is easy to make the audience feel excluded. The host needs to create an
environment where they feel comfortable and are given time to contribute their
experiences and/or ask questions,
 Not good for building towards a consensus or conclusions.
 A minimum of an hour is needed to do the process justice, more if you're going to
pull out insights and ideas on a flip chart
 An open and flexible space to work is also needed. A room with desks screwed in
rows to the floor won’t work!

Note:
The chat show as a knowledge sharing methodology was developed collaboratively by
Allison Hewlitt (Bellanet), Geoff Barnard and Catherine Fisher (IDS) and used during the
“Knowledge Sharing for Development: Africa Regional Program” workshop organised by
GDN in February 05. If you have feedback on the approach or stories about using it, please
contact Catherine on c.fisher@ids.ac.uk or Allison on ahewlitt@bellanet.org