program. i m so glad you re here. thank you for having me, joshua. it s great to be here. i am really digging the book. i cannot wait to keep working my way through this. thank you. you see i have post-its. i see it. i m very impressed, you ve been doing your homework. it feels like it s one of those things everybody has a story about. the meeting that takes too long, the birthday party, more guac, please. there are so many issues with the way we get together. how is covid, specifically covid, shifted the way you look at the ways we gather? you know, i wrote the art of gathering more than three years ago. i had no idea that gathering would be something that seemingly overnight 16 months ago became illegal, became dangerous, became abolished temporarily. and when i wrote the art of gathering in 2018, i wrote it, in part, because even then, well
peoples plans. probably yours as well. major companies are you thinking the dates about returning to. office the lollapalooza concert was back in chicago. concert goers were met with a big change. organizers are now requiring masks in indoor spaces. our get togethers may never be the same after this pandemic. that kind of makes this the perfect time to rethink how we gather, and whether to make changes. priya parker specializes in sharpening the ways we show up and connect. in her book, the art of gathering, how we meet and why it matters. she wrote this, quote priya parker joins us now. welcome to the program. so glad you are here.
let s move on. the highly contagious delta variant has upended many people s plans, i know it has mine. companies are rethinking returning to the office. the lollapalooza was canceled. now they are requiring masks in indoor spaces. you know, our get togethers may never be the same after this pandemic. that kind of makes this a perfect time to rethink how we gather and whether to make changes. prea parker specializes in sharpening the ways we show of and connect. in her book, the art of gathering, how we meet and why it matters she wrote, quote, gatherings crackle and flourish when real thought goes into them, when often invisible structure is baked into them, and when a host has the curiosity, willingness and generosity of spirit to try. unquote. prea parker joins us now. miss parker, welcome to the
before, you know, we had to rethink how we gather, a lot of the ways we gather was not really working. we were on auto pilot meetings where you re like texting under the table, or weddings where you can t wait to, you know, leave a little early. and i m a conflict resolution facilitator and i wrote this book, in part, to show how when we actually think about why we re gathering we re not stuck on auto pilot to the forms we think we have to do. and covid has basically upended the ways that we gather. first and foremost, we no longer take it for granted. for sure. we don t take it for granted that how we get together, when we get together, why we come together. and last march, basically overnight we all had to pause, the majority of us had to pause and basically think about how do we still meaningfully connect? how do we still get married? how do we still have a staff meeting when we can t physically
pause and have this conversation, to ask three questions. first, when we couldn t gather and meet in the same ways, what did we long for? when you were meeting with your team, what were you so frustrated you were like, i wish we could just be in-person, i wish i could put this on a flip chart, i wish i could fight with you this way, and really seed that. the second is what didn t anyone miss, and let s not do that again. and then the third is what did we invent during the pandemic we actually want to bring with us? gotcha. and i m offering these free conversations every wednesday to really help people re-imagine gathering, reentry, and to have this once in a generation opportunity to actually think about when and why and how do we gather. the book is called the art of gathering, how we meet and why it matters. i cannot wait to put more post-its in this book. prea parker, pleasure spending time with you. thank you so much. coming up, simone biles says