Event Reflection Guide
Events may include participating in a meeting, watching a movie, political event such as a political speech or debate, viewing a picture or listening to music. Participants often fail to recognize their experiences of an event, think of their implications and make decisions. A directed reflection after an event brings the shared experiences to consciousness, allows participants to create a common understanding of their implications and each participant to decide his or her commitment.
At the beginning of the event, the leader should inform the participants that afterwards I will lead a directed reflection which will include questions about:
• about the event (objective)
• their reactions to the event (reflective)
• the implications of the event (interpretive)
• their learning and decision to act based on the event (decisional)
Objective questions refer only to what happened. They might be: What did you see? What settings? What people? What colors? What did you hear? What sounds? What words and phrases? What themes? What else did you notice?
Reflective questions refer to the participants reactions to the event: How did you feel? Where were you interested? Excited? Angry? Bored? Curious, wanting to know more? How would you have changed the event? What would you want more of? What would you want omitted? What other emotions did you have? What will you remember?
Interpretive questions refer to broader understandings of the event: Where have you experienced something similar? Where else in the world has something similar occurred? What did this inform us about what goes on in the world?
Decisional questions refer to: What you have learned? What decisions have you made about your actions? How are you different? What is your story about the event? What would you tell others about the event?
Before the event, the leader should carefully select the questions of each type to ask. After the event, the questions should be asked and short responses obtained, as is done in brainstorming. The result should be that people leave the event with a story about the event, what it revealed about the world and their decisions to act.