The first deep share licenses the room to go deep.

technique — attributed to Xavier Mufraggi

At smaller YPO gatherings, Mufraggi opens by asking participants to reveal things they might not even tell their spouses. The example he gives is my mother is bipolar. The moment one person says that, the next person goes deeper. Within thirty minutes, complete strangers have shared things it took them years to tell their best friends. The mechanism is the same Bulencea and Raasted call herd competence. The first speaker sets the level. The implication for forum design is that the opening contributor matters more than the agenda. An experienced participator can set the tone explicitly, and the room follows.

For peer forum facilitators and small-group convening leaders building trust-dependent communities. The technique requires having a participant who is willing to model the depth the format asks for.

vulnerability, forum-dynamics, opening-moves, tone-setting