A resource for the guide
The open
space.
It is the seventh block of the session. Its first use is whatever is urgent and important that has come up for one of the women. If nobody brings anything urgent, it is used to learn together.
And that is where it falls apart: the block exists, but nothing says what belongs inside it. A group with no format ends up talking about anything, or going back to advice.
Whatever is urgent has its own format —a live accompaniment, in front of everyone— and it is the first thing to look at. If there is nothing urgent, there are three more formats, each with its own rules. They are not interchangeable: choosing the wrong one is the most common way to lose the block.
First: whatever is urgent, if there is any
When something has happened to one of the women that cannot wait until next month, the block is hers and the planned format falls away. It is not a second prepared case: there was no meeting, no sheets filled in, no time to prepare anything.
It is done as a live accompaniment. Everyone decides together, in the moment, who accompanies. Two chairs are set facing each other and the two of them speak only to each other, as if the others were not there, while the circle listens and does not step in. It takes 45 minutes, in six steps.
The four skills of the woman accompanying, the questions and the six steps with their timings are in their own resource.
And if nobody brings anything urgent: the three formats
Which one to choose
Topic discussion
When there is a subject everyone cares about and what each woman brings is her own experience.
Idea storm
When one woman needs options, not experiences: she is stuck on what to do.
Invited expert
When what is missing is information that someone has and the others do not.
The rule that holds for all three
Urgent wins. You plan the format knowing it can fall away, and the woman who prepared it does not take it personally: it simply moves to the next month.
Where it comes from
The three formats come from the practice of conversation groups, where they have been used for decades under similar names. Money in Her Voice adapted them to its own block and set the rules above. They have no single documented author.
Updated