What the The Art of Gathering Taught Me About Convening Focus Groups
Every gathering has the potential to be great. And anyone can learn how to “gather well.”
This is the premise of Priya Parker’s 2018 book, The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters. As someone who plans a lot of gatherings in my personal life, I recently picked up a copy hoping to gain some insight into how I could be a better host for my friends and family. As I read, however, I immediately began to see overlaps with our work as audience researchers, particularly in regards to one commonly-used qualitative research method: focus groups.
Focus groups bring people together to share their thoughts, opinions, and concerns about an experience or product. When done well, they draw out rich, deep insights into the meaning people make (or don’t) from their experiences.
While we do put a lot of thought and care into every focus group, at the end of the day, some are more successful than others. What would happen if we applied some of Parker’s teachings more intentionally any time we convene focus groups?
With this question in mind, I compiled a list of ideas that stuck out most to me from The Art of Gathering for audience researchers to consider when bringing people together for a focus group.
Gather with purpose - Purpose should guide every gathering, including a focus group. "Think of what you want to be different because you gathered, and work backward from that outcome,” says Parker. This gives you a north star for planning a meaningful gathering. The more focused and specific your purpose, Parker claims, “the more passion it arouses.” Isn’t that what we, as researchers, want from any focus group—for it to ignite some passion and energy amongst participants so they feel excited, and not hesitant, to share their thoughts with us?
Remember the 90% rule - According to Parker, this is the idea that 90% of what makes a gathering successful is put in place beforehand. Don’t just hope everything for your focus group will fall into place. Plan every detail that is within your control ahead of time. How will you reach out to participants to invite them to participate? Who will do so? What questions will you ask? What kind of incentive will you provide? Will you follow up with participants after the fact, and if so, when and to what end? Lay the groundwork early, and you’ll thank yourself later.
The invitation matters - To the above point, how you ask people to participate in your focus group sets its tone. Invitations are a signal to people about what your gathering is, what it’s not, and what it’s asking of them. So, Parkers suggests being as explicit as possible in your invitation (and again at the start of the focus group) about what type of dynamic you want, and what you don’t want. Want people to bring their half-baked, creative ideas? To avoid puffery and get real with their critiques? Tell them.
Get creative with names - Naming your event, and doing so with purpose, Parker argues, is also a powerful way to prime participants for their role and expected level of expectation. How might the vibe of your focus group change if you called it an “Idea Lab” or another name that made it feel like a cool, unique program instead? Admittedly, most researchers (myself included) struggle with this, so it’s a fun challenge to think about how a simple name change might totally shift participants’ moods.
Welcome people intentionally - One of my favorite points Parker makes regarding gathering is the importance of “ushering,” or using the time between participants’ arrival and the official start of the gathering as a “doorway” moment that can help people transition smoothly into your gathering. In focus groups, this might mean taking the first few minutes before you start asking questions to help people mentally switch gears from whatever they were doing or experiencing right before they joined.
Don’t start with logistics - Especially with remote focus groups, once all participants arrive we often begin talking about the logistics: when to unmute, how to use the chat, how long the focus group will last… While logistics are important, Parker says that beginning with them is a missed opportunity to “sear the gathering’s purpose into the minds of your guests.” She suggests taking a leaf out of Saturday Night Live’s book: find a way to “cold open,” thereby immersing participants from the start in the new environment, and saving logistics for a little later.
Connection doesn’t happen on its own - “A talented gatherer doesn’t hope for disparate people to become a group. She makes them a group.” While boldly stated, Parker’s primary point here is that taking the time to help people “see and be seen by one another” can make a world of difference in how your gathering goes. This is certainly the case for focus groups. Asking participants to introduce themselves by responding to a clever icebreaker can help them feel more comfortable sharing their thoughts and experiences—which are often deeply personal—in front of total strangers. Further, explicitly laying out any commonalities participants share (Is everyone a teacher? Parent? Resident of the same neighborhood?) can also help jumpstart connections.
Practice generous authority - Last, but not least, Parker reminds us to always practice “generous authority.” This is the idea that hosts should do everything they can (including risking being disliked) to help the gathering go well and achieve outcomes that are worthwhile to the host and guests. Practicing generous authority is not a call to domineer or rule with an iron fist, but rather, “finding the courage to be authoritative in service of [the above goals].” In a focus group, this might mean protecting participants and the focus groups’ purpose (to gather feedback on a particular subject) by taking care to calmly yet confidently reel in anyone who begins to dominate the conversation, veer unhelpfully off-topic, or alienate other participants.
This list is by no means exhaustive nor does it capture the breadth and depth of everything Parker covers in her book. Still, I hope it can serve as a starting point for rethinking how we organize and manage focus groups, whether remote or in-person. As Parker says, “Gatherings crackle and flourish when real thought goes into them, when (often invisible) structure is baked into them, and when a host has the curiosity, willingness, and generosity of spirit to try.” I couldn’t agree more.