Put Yourself on the Map

Have you ever noticed the phrase at the bottom of every Living Room Conversation Guide: “This is an open source project. Please use, share and modify with attribution to ​LivingRoomConversations.org”? Have you ever wondered exactly what that means?

I’ll never forget the time I printed out a Conversation Guide to use at a conference. My plan was to run a “speed dating” Living Room Conversation experience so participants could get the feel for them. We didn’t have time for a full Conversation, so I had to make modifications. I kept wondering if that was OK. I even had my husband, who works in corporate America, look at the fine print on the Guides. “That’s crazy,” he remarked after reading the open-source statement, “they just give it all away. That just isn’t done.”

But at Living Room Conversations, it is done.

Here’s why: Igniting a movement of connection and curiosity, of renewal and bridging, means that we very much have to give it away. These Guides are not just ours, they’re yours, too. This invitation to be a co-creator is at the heart of Living Room Conversations. Being open-source means that we trust each other–that we share power and responsibility to shape our realities, our communities, our nation.

As the saying goes, “with great power comes great responsibility.” As a co-creator what we need from you, our deeply trusted community, is feedback. Input. How, when, and where are you using these Conversation Guides in your communities? 

2020 is the ten-year anniversary of Living Room Conversations. To celebrate, we are building a digital map of all Living Room Conversations across America. If you’ve found a way to use the Conversation Guides in your life, tell us about it! And know this information is essential for building the robust, thriving movement we need.