The Listening Tool

The staff and the Board of Trustees have created the 150 Forward Plan in collaboration with the Chautauqua Community. It is both aspirational and pragmatic. It features idealistic values and societal challenges with equal aplomb.

Since this document was formulated some “on the run” changes have taken place that are worthy of noting. First, the President of the Institution delivered his closing 3 taps remarks that doubled-down on the idea of what the Institution is and what it isn’t. The idea is that Chautauqua is a platform for thoughtful presentations and for audience engagement through dialogue. Contrasting Chautauqua with other organizations, President Hill was emphatic that this was a place that fostered dialogue not debate. He made the point that the objective was not to bring people from the extremes of opinion together to “sell” their ideology, rather to focus on the vast middle ground of opinion represented by the majority of people.

The vision that Chautuaqua will not imitate cable news by finding speakers with the most divergent opinions who will demonstrate vindictive behavior in order to create drama for the audience makes Chautuaqua distinctive. It also makes Chautauqua more relevant in examining the challenging issues of our time. The very fact that Staff has continued to emphasize that our audiences need to respect the divergent opinions within the audience by not cheering for their side during a presentation is markedly different.

This brings forth a critical challenge. How do we create a culture of “listening” and then engaging with each other in dialogues One thing we have learned from our Chautauqua Dialogues program has been that participants frequently don’t have an organized way of listening to what they hear from the speakers. While there is probably no perfect way to listen there can be an organized way. One that leads to greater

appreciation and understanding of the speaker’s points and one that leads to an elevated level of dialogue.

Breaking down a speaker’s presentation into three categories can give us greater insight into the nature and value of the speaker’s thoughts. Imagine taking a journal with you to each presentation you plan to hear in the coming season. Each page of your journal would be divided into three sections, entitled “Experiences, Observations and Data”. As you listen to the speaker you will note their points supporting their arguments into these three sections. “Experiences” relates to those statements the speaker makes that represent their personal experience. These are the first level of truths because they relate only to the speaker’s experiences and are factual only to the extent that the speaker personally “experienced” them. Second, although observations are an integral part of the scientific process it is important to distinguish between organized and un-organized types. The organized type of observation used in scientific terms can lead to data to support an opinion. On the other hand, observations can be no more than an experience quantified. Even numerous observations don’t make something true beyond being true in some particular instances. Data, of course, is what

MY

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we all hope for. Something that approaches a truth that we can rely on, make judgments from , etc.

We know from our personal experiences that lectures we hear at Chautauqua can be transformative experiences. We never know when a speaker is going to connect the dots in a way that resonates so strongly with us that we start to think differently, act differently and choose to go down a different path in life. Recording these experiences can be used to refresh our memories of the important points of the lecture and provide a basis for later discussions.

The Listening Journals can be a CHQ Product in the form of the Exam Blue Books we all know, and we suggest they be sold at the Bookstore for $1.00 each or packs of 5 for $3.99.

The life changing power of timing. Opportunities that might transform our lives so rarely happen at the time we expect them to.