Our guest speaker was almost blocked, but we turned it into a teachable moment!

My campus club invited a historian with debated opinions. The college threatened to cancel due to expected protests. I reached out to other student groups for a pre-event discussion. This eased tensions and the talk went ahead smoothly! What strategies have worked for you in such cases?

3 comments

3 Comments

wendys362mo ago

How did you get the other groups to agree to talk first?

noahjenkins2mo ago

Oh that part's tricky. I read somewhere that you have to find some common ground first, even if it's small, and build from there.

adamellis2mo ago

Honestly @wendys36 I used to think you had to have the whole plan figured out before anyone would listen. But last year I saw it work by just starting with one tiny thing everyone hated, like the broken printer in the shared office. Fixing that small shared problem built just enough trust to get people in a room. Then you can slowly bring up the bigger stuff. It feels backwards but starting with a complaint everyone agrees on is way easier than asking them to agree on a solution right away.