January 2019 Book of the month: The Art of Gathering

January has come and gone and we have finished our first book of the month for 2019! We chose The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker because we had heard SO many great things about it. Now that we have read it and reviewed it (watch here- don’t mind the technical difficulties, we are FB live amateurs) we can tell you for sure- it was great. We give it a 10 out of 10, meaning, we would highly recommend it especially if you are in a hospitality, run gatherings, eat dinner with other people, breath air or are in the event business.

Big takeaways for us were:

• That we needed to be more purposeful when curating our events from the invite to the exit.
• Well placed and aimed controversy can be good for a group discussion and bringing a diverse group together.
• Professional facilitators are a lot like community managers in the coworking industry.
• If you are going to hold people hostage at a gathering- it must have a purpose.
• Collaboration over competition is always better but let purpose be your bouncer. (Do you see the purpose theme here?)
• Hospitality and gatherings are a true art.
• As your guests prepare to leave your gathering make sure you leave them with a strong closer. Something that will stick with them when they think of the gathering or event in the future.
• There are probably some antiquated rituals of ours that still work but could be updated to make our gatherings more remarkable.
• RSVPing is a lost art that needs to be brought back.

Alright- enough from us. We would love to hear your thoughts on this book or recommendations of others. Feel free to email us at [email protected]!

Up Next? February’s book of the month is Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson. Join us in reading it and on the 22nd we will hop on fb live and discuss it again.