How to: 4 hour Concopian Salon
February 26th 2024 I hosted Concopia’s first large-scale salon with nine tables playing Concopia Cards simultaneously.
Most of the guests were new faces from many different nationalities and fields of interest whom we mixed around the tables to enhance the chance of cross-pollination between their brilliant minds and to explore the notion of Concordia: The Latin term for peaceful coexistence between individuals, groups, or nations. One of the many things Concopia strives for is to create a space for respectful divergence, emphasizing the need to have conversations that embrace our many differences in cultures, beliefs, and interests. Here are a few of photographer Carsten Snejbjerg’s snapshots from the arrivals. After receiving their color-coded name bands that also assigned their tables, I paired the guests up - each of them drawing a Concopia Card that they explored together until I rang the bell and gave my welcome speech.
This Concopian way of greeting our guests ensures that everyone feels welcomed from the very beginning and gets the chance to warm up their conversation skills before the actual game begins. It feels more secure to talk to just one person – and while deeply immersed in conversation, the early arriving guests are entertained, while we can welcome those who arrive a bit late and get the chance to rearrange the table plan if there are no-shows.
Also: for me as the hostess it feels good that I’ve been able to look everyone in the eyes before we begin.
After the welcome speech, we all ascended upstairs to the tables in the beautiful ballroom at Klub. I had arranged the table plan to mix nationalities, generations, and fields of interest around the tables.
For the first hour, we played in our favorite way where the guests listened quietly and without commenting to the person who drew the card – to allow time for attentive listening instead of constantly thinking of all the great points we are about to make ourselves. And also to make sure everybody gets the chance to speak - not just the loudest or quickest ones. Also: this way we make sure the guests are sparked by inspirations from many different cards and categories. Otherwise - since you could really really talk for hours about just one card - you might only get to talk about a few cards.
Here are the detailed instructions as you'll find in your deck of Concopia Cards:
I had asked one person at each table to be the first speaker – ensuring that the initial story would contain a great mix of personal reflections and elevated thoughts. I truly enjoy observing the focused faces, the outbursts of laughter, and the clear sense of connectivity it sparked. Here are a few of Carsten Snejbjerg's pictures that I believe truly capture the allure of the listening rounds:
As I circulated between the tables, it was touching to see all the guests listening attentively to each other, bursting into laughter, and introspectively pondering the stories Concopia Cards invited them to share. As always, I was amazed to witness how different the answers and responses to the same cards were. I absolutely love the plethora of opinions, thoughts, and associations the cards spark.
After the listening round, we went downstairs for a serving of hot mushroom soup where everyone was free to talk to whomever they wanted. Some groups chose to stay together and discuss the many stories they had just shared with one another. Other guests fell into conversation, crisscrossing the groups, which - due to colored name bands - made them look like my multicolored dress. It was truly amazing to see how most guests mingled with strangers and jumped right into interesting conversations after having opened up their hearts and ears during the first round of playing Concopia Cards.
After dinner, we treated the guests to a surprise. This is something extra that you don’t have to do when hosting a Concopia Session on your own. But for the longest time, Jan Rasmussen and I have dreamed of introducing a "living card" to our salons: a talk by a person whom we somehow associate with a card that we encourage to elaborate on. We did so for the very first time in our virtual salon on The Wonders of Nature a few weeks ago, where Erica Löfström from the University of Trondheim in Norway talked about how to reconnect with nature.
And on Monday, we invited the pianist Polina Fradkina to unfold the card "Agreeing to disagree" in a mini-masterclass on dissonance where she mixed inspirational talks and teachings with micro concerts.
For the last round, we zoomed in on No 21, Reimagining the World. Here, we used the card as a baton or talking stick, where every guest responded to the same question before the discussion was set free around the tables.
We always allow at least half an hour for the guests to linger after the event because most always have so much more to say than what they got the chance to during the formal session. And it was really touching to see how close the former strangers had gotten during a four-hour session.
