What are some tips for using the fishbowl technique to facilitate a group discussion?

1 Define the purpose

Before you start the fishbowl, you need to have a clear and specific purpose for the discussion. What is the main topic or question that you want to explore? What are the goals and outcomes that you expect from the conversation? How will the discussion contribute to the learning or development of the participants? Having a clear purpose will help you to design the fishbowl format, select the participants, and guide the discussion.

2 Choose the participants

Depending on your purpose and audience, you can choose different ways to select the participants for the fishbowl circle. You can either invite or nominate specific people who have relevant expertise, experience, or perspectives on the topic, or you can allow volunteers or random selection. You can also decide how many participants you want in the fishbowl, and how long they will stay there. A typical fishbowl has four to six participants, and lasts for 15 to 30 minutes. You can also have a rotating fishbowl, where one or more participants leave and join the circle at regular intervals.

3 Set the rules

Before you start the fishbowl, it is important to explain the rules and expectations to the participants. These rules should cover how the participants in the fishbowl will interact with each other, how observers will provide feedback or join the conversation, and how you will moderate the discussion. Generally, only the participants should speak unless an observer is invited or requests to join. It is also important for participants to listen actively, respect different opinions, and avoid dominating the conversation. Observers should pay attention, take notes, and prepare questions or comments for the feedback session. Lastly, the moderator should introduce the topic, monitor time, ask questions, and summarize main points.

4 Facilitate the discussion

As the facilitator, your role is to ensure that the discussion is productive, respectful, and engaging. To achieve this, you can ask open-ended questions that stimulate reflection, analysis, or debate. Additionally, it's important to encourage participation from all the members of the fishbowl and invite observers to join if they have something to contribute. You should also challenge assumptions, clarify concepts, provide examples or evidence, acknowledge different perspectives, find common ground or highlight disagreements. Lastly, summarizing the key points, themes, or insights from the discussion is essential.

5 Solicit feedback

After the discussion is over, you should solicit feedback from both the participants and the observers. You can ask them to share their thoughts, feelings, or learnings from the fishbowl. Additionally, you can evaluate the process, content, and outcomes of the discussion by asking open-ended questions such as "What did you learn from the fishbowl?" or "How did the fishbowl help you to understand the topic better?". Furthermore, a rating scale or survey can measure satisfaction, effectiveness, and impact. To further illustrate the feedback, you can create a visual representation like a word cloud, a mind map, or a bullet list. The fishbowl technique is an effective tool for facilitating group discussions due to its ability to promote deeper conversations and reflections from observers. By following these tips, you can create a meaningful and engaging learning experience for your group.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?