Art of Hosting
Oct 22-24, 2025

hosting conversations that matter.

Please find below the resources that we used during our time together. Please save these documents to your computer’s desktop or print off for ease of access.

RESOURCE: Enjoy this concise guide to hosting World Café which covers the basics of the World Café process.

DOWNLOAD: PARTICIPANT DRIVEN BREAKOUTS TEMPLATE

Day One

Discovery

“This is your invitation to be observant. Why is this important to me? Translate it for yourself. ”

— Tim Merry, The Outside

Check-In: “If I were BOLD, what intention would I set for myself over the next few days?”

Themes: Open + Present, Connect with others, Bring it back to your own context + make a difference, and finding voice and making connections.

Two Loops of Systems Change

Where are you on the loops?

Take The Outside’s “Two Loops” online course!

Diverge/Converge

HOSTING vs FACILITATION:
Creating the conditions for people to get the work done together.

Too much chaos results in wasted energy and little progress. Too much order can stifle creativity and a nimble responsiveness to dynamic situations or opportunities.

Day Two

DEPTH

“The success of any intervention depends on the inner condition of the intervener.”

— Bill O'Brien

Blind Walking Info HERE.

Generative Listening

Levels of Listening

Downloading: You listen but it does not change / impact you at all. You are not really engaged.

Debate: You are listening to rebut what someone is saying or listening for what you want to say.

Dialogue / Empathic: You are listening to try to understand the other person’s point of view.

Generative: I listen to you so well that something new is generated. You are creating a space to allow someone to talk themselves into something new. Requires quiet on behalf of the listener.

DOWNLOAD: GENERATIVE LISTENING METHODOLOGY

OPEN SPACE TECHNOLOGY

“What conversation could I host now that would accelerate my work in meaningful ways (as a host, as a leader)?”

Click on images above to enlarge.

Shared Work

FREE ONE-MONTH ACCESS TO THE SHARED WORK COURSE (value of $249USD). **Good until November 24, 2025.

Access Code: xxxx

Day Three

DESIGN

“Don’t make the perfect, the enemy of the good.”

— Tuesday Rivera, The Outside

Chaordic Stepping Stones

DESIGN LAB

This is an opportunity to build your own agenda and make this session relevant to you.

A Design Lab is a space for action oriented conversation where participants are invited to bring their concrete questions, projects, initiatives and/or whatever they need help to manifest in the world. The more concrete the topic, the greater benefit. This is a convergent process.

As a conversational process, a Design Lab is a collective methodology for hosting conversations about concrete projects to amplify and accelerate their learning and impact.

THANK YOU FOR JOINING US!

“Do not depend on the hope of results. You may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself. You gradually struggle less and less for an idea and more and more for specific people. In the end, it is the reality of personal relationship that saves everything.” - Thomas Merton

BLOG: “The big bang of equity + systems change,” by Tuesday Ryan-Hart & Tim Merry
As society’s peripheral vision expands to acknowledge the innate value, presence, and contributions of more people, those with a legacy of privilege can see what marginalized communities have always seen—that ‘everything is fine’ applies to a shrinking minority. Everything is, quite plainly, not fine.

ARTICLE: “Self-Inquiry for Social Change Leaders,” by Katherine Milligan & Jeffrey C. Walker
How the internal work of self-inquiry can meaningfully shift our perceptions and behaviors in ways that positively impact the outer world, and how leaders of social change are incorporating the practice into their work and lives.

Brené Brown, Embracing Vulnerability (5:55)

FIND THE OUTSIDE PODCAST: Outside Conversations with Francis Kangata + Tim Merry - How following your joy makes a community
Tuesday is joined by Tim Merry and Francis Kangata, co-founders of Mahone Bay United, where they talk about the founding and purpose of Mahone Bay United, the positive impacts that football can have on players, families and the larger community, their working relationship, what’s next for the Club, and the opportunities and challenges of making change in community. This one has all the feels, friends.

ARTICLE: “Difficult days pave the way,” by Tim Merry & Tuesday Ryan-Hart
The best ideas, most honest truths, and most unexpected alliances are forged in fire" ... but that doesn't make it comfortable or easy! Check out The Outside's latest article for some reflection, inspiration and motivation to stay the course.

Parker J. Palmer, renowned author, speaker and activist, discusses his Theory of Social Movements. What makes a Rosa Parks? What makes a Vaclav Havel? What makes a Nelson Mandela?

FIND THE OUTSIDE PODCAST: “Personal Practice”
Tim and Tuesday talk about the difference between being clear and having a *feeling* of clarity—even through confusion. How can we train ourselves to stay open and keep moving forward in rooms electric with uncertainty? What can we do to ensure our energy as leaders is a renewable resource?

FIND THE OUTSIDE PODCAST: Outside Conversations with Pascal Porchet - On the vulnerabilities of change
Tuesday and Tim are joined by friend and colleague, Pascal Porchet, Chief of Staff for the International Committee of the Red Cross’ (ICRC) Global Operations. Tune in to hear how he navigates massive organizational transformation and the management of 15,000 staff world wide. This is a remarkable window into the life of a senior leader who engages with organizational top-down and bottom-up pressures, launching local interventions within the context of the global geopolitical landscape. Listen in to hear about Pascal's personal journey of transformation and his top tips for leading large scale change.

FIND THE OUTSIDE PODCAST: Outside Conversations with Adam Kahane - On Facilitating Breakthrough

Tuesday and Tim are joined by long-time friend, mentor, author, and thought leader, Adam Kahane, Director of Reos Partners, where he talks about the inspiration and reasons for writing his most recent book, *Facilitating Breakthrough: How to Remove Obstacles, Bridge Differences, and Move Forward Together*.

FIND THE OUTSIDE PODCAST: Outside Conversations with Margaret Wheatley - On The Warrior’s Songline
Tuesday and Tim are joined by friend and mentor, Margaret (Meg) Wheatley, co-founder and president of The Berkana Institute, where she talks about the journey of her new work - a multi-sensory experience - *The Warrior’s Songline*, the natural world, and the recognition that memories, history, and information that we need are in the land.

FIND THE OUTSIDE PODCAST: Problem? Fix It.
Tim and Tuesday talk about the fix-it phenomenon we all share: on seeing a problem, we rush to fix it. But when we rush to solutions, we’re likely to repeat the very problems that gave us the challenge in the first place. How can we cultivate a new pattern of pause and examination?

BOOK RECOMMENDATION: “Walk Out Walk On,” by Margaret Wheatley & Deborah Frieze.
In *Walk Out Walk On*, authors Meg Wheatley and Deborah Frieze invite you on a learning journey to seven communities around the world to meet people (including our own Tuesday Ryan-Hart) who have walked out of limiting beliefs and assumptions and walked on to create healthy and resilient communities. These Walk Outs Who Walk On use their ingenuity and caring to figure out how to work with what they have to create what they need.

FIND THE OUTSIDE PODCAST: “Power”
Tim and Tuesday contemplate what exactly we mean by the concept of power — intergroup, structural or systemic. How can we best share it, and invite more people to pick it up? How can we wield the power we have with integrity?

LISTEN to the ART OF HOSTING Playlist!!!

FIND THE OUTSIDE PODCAST: Outside Conversations with Deanna James - Doing philanthropy differently
Tuesday and Tim are joined by Deanna James, President of the St. Croix Foundation, where they talk about philanthropy as a system, how the St. Croix Foundation is doing philanthropy differently, and how Deanna is redirecting power in new ways to drive social change that will make impact beyond the boundaries of St. Croix.

ARTICLE: “The Lie of the Butterfly Fable and 4 Tips as Everything Dissolves,” by Tuesday Ryan-Hart
"Transformation is happening around us, between us, and within us. It may be personal, organizational, or systemic, but there is no doubt that everything is up in the air and we are floundering to catch the pieces as they fall."
In this article, Tuesday shares her personal journey of transformation and the four lessons she's learning along the way.

FIND THE OUTSIDE PODCAST: Outside Conversations with Alex McCann - On beliefs, power imbalances and leadership
Tuesday and Tim are joined by friend, past Activating Change cohort participant and Executive Director of the Organization for Nova Scotia Innovation Driven Entrepreneurship, Alexandra (Alex) McCann, where they talk about her background, dedication to create innovation-driven entrepreneurial community in Nova Scotia, sustainable development, the difference between tied and untied aid, and what it’s like to be a woman of color leading innovation in the province.

FIND THE OUTSIDE PODCAST: Outside Conversations with Toke Moeller - On the practices that allow opposites to exist
Tuesday and Tim are joined by long-time friend, and mentor, Toke Moeller, co-founder of the Art of Hosting, The Flow Game, and The Practising for Peace dojo. Toke is one of the most grounded, pragmatic and visionary leaders we know. The conversation dives deep into the practices which can serve you both personally, professionally, and collectively, the need to slow down in the face of urgency, the understanding, practicing, and seeking of wisdom, the building of capacity to build more capacity for future generations, and how you can connect to the momentum from, what Toke calls, “Life Force."

We believe in you.

Tim Merry & Tuesday Ryan Hart are THE OUTSIDE. By bringing new energy and clarity to persistent challenges, we can design and make a better world. Openness generates potential. The call of shared work invites more people to the table beyond what’s typical.

This is how significant change begins. This is what we do. The Outside is a We can do this.

Art of HostingOct 22-24, 2025