If you’ve ever been in a book club, you may have experienced any number of different scenarios for the set-up, facilitation, and orientation of discussion for your book club. But where will YOU host your book club?
One important thing to remember is: There is no ONE right way (or wrong way) to host a book club. There’s just what works for you (and your group).
Here are some ideas for places where you can locate/host your book club:
- Round-Table Discussion: In college and high school, some classrooms take advantage of a round-table style of education. In the room, desks (or chairs) are arranged in a circular orientation. It allows for a more equal exchange of opinions and also facilitates discussion. This layout also works in a home or business setting (some groups rent or borrow a back room in a bar, restaurant, or other local business to host their book club). Then, they set up chairs in the roughly round shape to ease in face-to-face discussion.
- Classroom Setting: This may be the layout you’re most familiar with (for book discussions). The traditional-classroom setting features the teacher at the front of the class, and the students sitting at desks (or chairs) facing forward. This orientation is often used when you locate your book club discussion in an unused classroom at a school or college.
- Theater-Style Lecture: You may find that your book club could be located in any number of places, including a movie theater or an unused theater building. Depending on the size of the theater, you may need a microphone. This type of setup allows you to host very large book-club discussions. You may also consider this lecture orientation if/when you combine with other local book clubs to host a speaker.
- Coffee-Shop Chat: I’m sure you remember all those coffee-shop discussions that you’ve had with fellow students in high school or college. You may still be having meetings like that now, with your friends–to discuss books (reading and writing). And, of course, those chats sometimes happen in a pub or bar, depending on your mood, the time of day, and the nature of your discussion. Take those comfortable chat sessions to the next level and include a few more book geeks in your discussions.
- Picnic/Outdoors-Style Discussion: When the weather is seasonably warm (or if you live in a location where the weather is ALWAYS nice), you can host your book-club discussion outside in any number of ways: sitting on the grass, in lawn chairs, or making use of an outdoors picnic set-up.
Wherever you end up, don’t forget to survey the members of your group. Your location doesn’t have to be set in stone. You can move it to different places, with different times and days. The idea is to find someplace where you can all have a great discussion about the book, with a minimum of outside interruption or distraction. Of course, if the location is free, that’s always a plus as well!