The Traveling Table YouTube Series and In-Person Social Experiment
While traveling during my sabbatical last year, I was also intentionally studying how we would come out of the pandemic and what shifts we’d see as we did. I paid attention to what people were saying and how they were feeling, and what I found is that people really want to be in the world with each other and connect in more meaningful ways. The problem is that many people aren’t sure how to do that, especially after years of isolation and distancing that made it hard to have meaningful connections.
I knew I wanted to create a space to facilitate that connection. As I started traveling with this table I built and bringing people together over a meal and having discussions, I realized the table eventually needed a place to exist – a grounding place to come home to between travels.
That’s why I’m so excited to launch this traveling table Youtube series. This dinner series is designed to challenge stereotypes, build empathy, and deepen understanding between people from different backgrounds. At each dinner, I bring together a group of people that I believe should know each other for one reason or another. We connect over a meal and have conversations that go beyond the small talk with the intent of lasting connection, and in doing that, we start to find ways to learn how to talk about important and challenging things. I’ve seen it happen over and over again at these dinners, and now, I want to make it accessible to you.
Why a Youtube Series?
The thing is, the table only fits around 7-8 people, and while this is a great size group to have the kinds of impactful conversations I’m hoping for, I wanted to find a way to help bring more into the experience. The video element is a way to engage those who might not be quite ready to connect in this way or those that are curious to see how it all works, or those who want to facilitate their own experiences but are not sure where or how to do it.
By filming and releasing our dinner series conversations, I hope that more people can be encouraged and empowered to embrace the beauty of the unknown. I’ve found that there’s a lot of beauty and a special element of surprise when people come together around the table with the sole intention of connection. I’ve seen it first hand–when we let people surprise us, a lot of joy takes place. It's also when innovation and creativity happen, and I want more people to experience this.
Video is a great tool to bring people in to benefit from this dinner experience, even if they can’t quite join us themselves. This experiment is truly one-of-a-kind, and I want to reach as many people as possible.
How Coaching and Consulting Play a Role
Everything I've ever done from a coaching and consulting perspective has always been about the whole person and the whole person experience. When I consult with companies on building better teams, I help them pull back the curtain and look at the whole person, not just the skills that fit into the job description. I help leaders identify where they have underutilized people based on who they are and uncover new ways to create space for them to show up more fully. Ultimately, this produces better outcomes and results, creates a better team dynamic, and often results in more loyalty and contribution from their people.
When I coach individuals in their careers, I help them find the thing that they can show up fully to and feel good about what they're contributing in multiple different areas. This table series is a way for me to use these skills to curate a space where people can come, show up as they are, meet others as their full selves, enjoy dinner, and pull back the layers to really connect with each other and learn.
In addition to the video series, I will continue curating non-filmed dinners, specifically for leaders to expand their minds, gain a new perspective, and develop and enhance empathy for experiences outside their own to facilitate better team experiences. Anyone who joins one of these experiences is able to participate in a dinner experience with a group of folks–leaders, and non-leaders alike–that are hand selected by me to join them. The hope is to foster an environment that can expand their minds, perspectives, and opportunities as they grow in their leadership.
The Goal of Creating Space to Connect
I believe people will always connect over sharing food together because it’s an act that is inherently human. Many people find themselves more comfortable at a dinner table to show up authentically and explore conversation. The whole goal of creating this table series is to remove as many fears as possible, inspire curiosity, and create a space of safety and inclusivity.
These dinners are the perfect place to work at removing predetermined biases about people so that we can have conversations in a more productive way. When you’re passing and sharing food with the person across from you, it’s a little easier to have a real conversation than when you’re sitting at a boardroom table.
My hope is to see these dinners give way to new connections and encouraging and inspiring conversations–and hard conversations as well. When we engage in the harder, “hot topic” conversations while seeing each other as whole people, we can make real progress together instead of letting them cause division. These conversations can be so incredibly powerful when we come open-minded, ready to connect, collaborate, and learn from those with different perspectives.
The hope is for each person to show up to this conversation not as their job, not as their title, not as a job seeker, but as themselves because I want each person to truly get to know the others at the table. The best part about all of this is that there is so much potential, and I don't know exactly what will happen. But I do know something amazing will happen when we all show up in this way, ready to grow personally and professionally.
So, if this experiment resonates with you at all, I would greatly appreciate your support. You can help by sharing the campaign page with your network, signing up to participate in a filmed or non-filmed curated experience, or giving to the fundraiser. Any dollar amount helps, and thank you in advance for your support!