YOU’RE INVITED: Our Jan GROUP LIFE Lineup 🎉
Finally throw that weekly hang, run all-hands that rock (or nudge your boss to), draw boundaries with care, and learn from some of the best hosts in town
Most New Year’s resolutions are about how to improve me. What if we saved one New Year’s resolution about how to improve we. See what I did there? ;) What if, this year, you committed to one high priority resolution that focused not on self-help, but on group help?
If you’ve been itching to try your hand at hosting a gathering, or take the first step, or figure out how to start a group that people love coming to, I made this January lineup for you.
Put these sessions in your calendar, and if you’re new here (welcome!) and if you’ve been considering becoming a GROUP LIFER, it’s a great time to start. See below!
GROUP HELP Sessions
These GROUP HELP sessions are for paid subscribers (aka GROUP LIFERS). If you want to join us (and please do!), become a GROUP LIFER here.
WHAT GROUP LIFERS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT GROUP HELP SESSIONS:
“THANK YOU! You have changed my life and how I host gatherings. And I host often! The specific guidance and teachings help me create my events, help me organize flow during an event, and hold space that invited p-eo-ple to be seen.” - Sahaja
“Thank you for great sessions throughout the past few months. It has been very powerful.” - Jen
“Priya - masterful presenter, sharer, question asker and user of chat for group interaction!!! Many thanks for a great session.” - Janet
GROUP HELP Sessions are my bi-weekly live workshops where we spend an hour sharpening one essential skill of group life. It’s my way of sharing the tools I usually teach inside organizations with anyone looking to deepen their gathering, hosting, and facilitation skills.
GROUP HELP Session | How to start a recurring gathering that people want to come to (and do)
When: Wednesday, January 14 at 12pm ET
Where: Zoom
New year, new we. People frequently tell me that they’re lonely but they don’t know where to start. They want more people in their lives, but how the heck do you start something regular and recurring and have people actually come? (Even Saturday Night Live agrees it’s really hard to start a Sunday Supper.) I’m going to share SEVEN elements that help a group find its mojo around a specific repeated gathering, and really get going. (And then we’re going to do a super special SUBSTACK LIVE on Tuesday, January 20th with someone who actually did this last year. Scroll down to see who!)
GROUP HELP Session | How to host an all-hands that doesn’t suck
When: Wednesday, January 28 at 12pm ET
Where: Zoom
When Jeff Zucker, the former CEO of CNN abruptly resigned a few years ago, a tribute from an employee of his caught my eye. It was a swan song to what this journalist considered to be his super power: how he ran his morning meeting. “I’m convinced the best show he ever produced,” S. Mitra Kalita wrote, “was one almost no one saw: his morning meeting, which took place every weekday at 9 am EST.”
Zucker understood what most leaders ignore: your all-hands is possibly the biggest lever you have to shape your people and metabolize ideas and values into the body of your organization. And yet, most leaders think of them as a bucket to fill rather than a regular and crucial culture-shaping moment and demonstration of what this place is. In this workshop, I’ll teach three key tools to transform your all-hands (or at least to take the first crucial step to turning the ship.) If you run an all-hands, or know someone who does, send them this webinar! And, even if you don’t, this webinar is part of our ongoing work edition for GROUP HELP, and you’ll learn a ton about hosting, shaping and holding large virtual meetings.
To join these GROUP HELP Sessions, make sure you’re a paid subscriber (aka GROUP LIFER). RSVP to each of the calendar invites above. We’ll send the Zoom link to join to all GROUP LIFERS on the morning of the webinars.
Substack Live Conversations
These live conversations are open to ALL. The replays will be available only to paid subscribers. Thank you for supporting this work. You can become a GROUP LIFER here.
Substack Live | THE BREAKDOWN: How she hosted a weekly Saturday dinner for a year (and you can too) with Amanda Litman
When: Tuesday, January 20, 2025 at 12pm ET
Where: Substack* (Instructions below on how to access these for newbies!)
Over the past year, Amanda Litman, author, writer and founder of Run for Something, hosted a weekly Saturday night dinner for friends for a year. What started as a way to make plans easier became a living experiment in how people show up when something is predictable, welcoming, and easy to return to. I’m thrilled Litman will be joining GROUP LIFE to talk to us about what she learned by doing this in real time, including the choices that made it sustainable, what she would change, and how anyone can start something similarly simple in their own lives.
Substack Live | On making friends as adults with Anya Kamenetz and Anand Giridharadas
When: Wednesday, January 21, 2025 at 12pm ET
Where: Substack* (Instructions below on how to access these for newbies!)
Making friends as an adult can feel strangely hard. The old containers are gone. People are busy. It seems to take so much effort! I loved this gorgeous and generous piece on friendship in her 40s by Anya Kamenetz. Come hang out with us and Anand Giridharadas as Anya shares super, specific practical things she does to have a rich, vibrant and imperfect village.
*To join any of these Substack Lives, add them to your calendar using the links above. Make sure you’re subscribed to GROUP LIFE so Substack can email you the link when we go live on the day of. If the email doesn’t show up, just head to priyaparker.substack.com and the video will be playing on Group Life. Click on the video to join us.
These conversations and workshops are some of my favorite parts of GROUP LIFE, especially in the winter months when showing up can feel harder.
I’m really looking forward to practicing together.
As always,
Priya
P.S. If you’ve been meaning to show up more this year, consider this your sign to become a GROUP LIFER ;) As a GROUP LIFER, you get access to all Substack Live replays, free additional resources and guides, and a chance to submit ideas and questions that shape upcoming GROUP HELP Sessions.
What a phenomenal winter line-up!
In an age of loneliness and self help, I want to know how to find my group whether I curate it myself or find an existing one--can you have a session dedicated to people who are group-less?