#THE FISH BOWL FREE#

#THE FISH BOWL FREE#

When this happens, an existing member of the fishbowl must voluntarily leave the fishbowl and free a chair. In an open fishbowl, any member of the audience can, at any time, occupy the empty chair and join the fishbowl. The audience outside the fishbowl listen in on the discussion. The moderator introduces the topic and the participants start discussing the topic. In a closed fishbowl, all chairs are filled. In an open fishbowl, one chair is left empty. A few participants are selected to fill the fishbowl, while the rest of the group sit on the chairs outside the fishbowl. The remaining chairs are arranged in concentric circles outside the fishbowl. Knowledge Sharing Toolkit: Fish bowl.A number of chairs (traditionally five) are arranged in an inner circle. UNHR Toolkit: Fishbowl: The art of active listening. Providing the participants with an overview document of the lessons learned and a list of key resources can be helpful after the exercise has ended.

Participants must be allowed to develop their own conclusions and express themselves freely. During the debriefing, review key points, interesting comments and the group’s feelings regarding particular issues.

Once the topics or the time allocated have been covered, the facilitator should summarize the discussion and open the floor for a debriefing, after removing the inner circle of chairs.

Participants are allowed to switch between the inner and outer circle to either contribute or observe.

They can prepare questions and comments so that they are ready to move into the inner circle.

The facilitator should make sure the outer circle always observes silently.

Explain the process, the objectives and the issue that will be discussed.

After a general introduction on the fish bowl technique, a selection of experts (or participants with experience) on the selected theme is invited to the inner circle.

Flip charts to write key issues can be helpful.

Try to enable easy access to inner and outer circle.

A few chairs in an inner circle, surrounded by larger circle(s) of chairs.

Source: Open fish bowl sketch by Marcel van Hove The fishbowl is almost always part of a larger process of dialogue and deliberation. An open fish bowl enables the dynamic participation of the entire group.Īlthough largely self-organizing once the discussion gets underway, the fishbowl process usually has a facilitator or moderator. More often, one or more chairs are open to “visitors” from the outer circle who want to ask questions or make comments. Sometimes the discussion is a “closed conversation” among a specific group. When the people in the middle are public officials or other decision-makers, this technique can help bring transparency to the decision-making process and increase trust and understanding about complex issues. It can be used as an alternative for traditional debates or panel discussions and offers a highly dynamic setting to discuss controversial issues and share expertise. The fish bowl tool enables the facilitation of large group dialogue by focusing on a small group discussion in an inner circle while the rest of the group listens and observes from the outer circle. Facilitating large group discussions on controversial issues and sharing the expertise of group members.Ĭommitment stage, especially useful if the topic asks for one conversation instead of break-outs.