Your First Meeting: Tips for a great first book club

You’ve read the book. You’ve highlighted moving passages and made notes in the margins. You’ve downloaded and printed out the book’s reader’s guide/discussion questions. The food is all set (the best book clubs always include some element of eating). All that’s left is to let the magic happen.

The date arrives
Start with greeting everyone who arrives, making sure to leave enough time for socializing. If members haven’t met each other before, it’s a good idea for everyone to go around and say something about themselves, such as why they’re looking forward to this book club, and what was the book that most influenced them in childhood. In fact, this is a good idea even if you’ve all known each other for years.

Now it’s time to have the discussion. Most books have discussion guides put out by the publisher, but it’s also good to have some generic discussion questions ready to go (see my post "Book club questions that work with any book" for a helpful list). It can help if there’s one person who acts as moderator. Here are some things for moderators to keep in mind:

• Connect the comments. If, while in the process of answering question 3, someone alludes to something that’s going on in question 5, don’t be afraid to skip around and let the conversation flow to the questions that come up naturally. You can choose to go back to question 4, but only if it makes sense. As you move through the questions, think about how the answers relate back to previous themes and ideas that you’ve discussed, and make those connections out loud — this will help build momentum.

• Try to involve everyone. This means sometimes directing questions towards the soft-spoken members of the group. No need to put anyone on the spot, but everyone’s perspective is important. Sometimes it takes just the right question, with the right timing, to draw someone out of their shell (while giving the louder members of the group some time to be contemplative).

• Keep on task. With groups of people, you always run the risk of setting out on tangents. It’s okay to let this happen a little, but you’re all there to discuss the book, so gently bring the conversation back to the book in an effort to be respectful of everyone’s time. There’s plenty of time for talking about vacations when book club has ended.

• Be aware of head versus heart responses. Some authors are incredibly adept at making our hearts leap in our chest (for good and bad reasons). Others know what it takes to engage your intellect. Think about what’s going on with the strong responses you get from the group — it is coming from above or below the neck? 

• Read aloud from the book. Ask everyone to read their favorite passage(s). Hearing the writing spoken out loud brings a certain gravitas to the book. 
  

Congratulations! You're well on your way to a rewarding, stimulating, likely laugh-inducing book club that will give back to you in ways you never could have imagined. Want even more tips on how to make your book club awesome? Download my Kindle ebook, "How to Start A Book Club That Changes the World" for details.

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