Hi, all, Today is the official publication date of The Art of Focused Conversation, Second Edition! It is available on Amazon.com <http://amazon.com/>, or if you are in Canada you can get it directly from the publisher at newsociety.com. To celebrate, I created a focused conversation that you might like to use after the American presidential debate, which also is happening today. Possible Focused Conversation on the American Presidential Debate With yourself or others who are interested in exploring the debate experience Assumption: People want to move beyond their gut-level responses to something useful. Rational Aim: To think through impact and implications of the debate to personal action Experiential Aim: To move beyond gut-level reactions to more thoughtful response Context: Let’s work through our responses to this debate. O. What words or phrases did you actually hear one of the candidates say? (quote them) What images stood out for you? (describe what you actually saw) R. What part of this debate was exciting or compelling for you? What part of this debate was frightening or depressing? What part made you want to turn it off? I. What is something you learned from this debate? About the candidates and their intentions? About yourself? What are you pondering now? What did you discover about your own values or perspective through this debate? D. How would you summarize how this debate affected your thinking? Closing: Thank you. Jo Nelson jo.r.nelson@gmail.com