How to Prepare for a Discussion

Preparing for a meeting makes it more likely that your discussion will run smoothly and less likely that your discussion will wander off point, contain awkward pauses, or be taken over by disruptive club members. Meeting preparation need not (and should not) be a great burden and can be done in an hour or less. The goal of preparation is not to become an expert on a topic, but to become sufficiently familiar with a topic that you can introduce key issues and smoothly manage the flow of conversation. Below is the system of meeting preparation I developed (after much trial and error) when I led discussions at the University of Chicago:

1. Choose an appropriate topic and text. Do not underestimate the importance of this. If your topic is too broad or your text is too large, the discussion will be unfocused. If your topic is too narrow or your text is too short, the group will run out of things to discuss. I’ve found that eight to twelve pages of Ayn Rand’s non-fiction or Peikoff’s Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand is a good length for a one-hour discussion meeting. If you’re discussing a topic rather than a text, I find it helpful to use the online version of Harry Binswanger’s The Ayn Rand Lexicon for background material. Entries with at least one printed page of quotes provide sufficient material for this type of meeting.
2. Quickly read any literature you will be discussing in the meeting. Don’t take any notes yet. Just get a general idea of the main points and issues involved.
3. Write down the article’s main points and any other key points your group should explore. Do this immediately after reading the article. Spend fifteen minutes or less on this step.
4. Read the article again thoroughly, making note of important passages. Underline, highlight, or write down at least five key passages that you want the group to focus on. If you write your key passages on a separate sheet of paper, make sure you also note their locations in the text (e.g., page or paragraph number) so you will be able to direct other club members to it during discussion.
5. Arrange your talking points in a coherent sequential order. Organize your points according to the order in which they are likely to arise in discussion. If your discussion is based on an article, you will probably arrange points in the order in which the article presents them. If you are discussing a topic without an article, you will probably arrange points from fundamental to derivative.
6. Prepare an introductory statement. Begin discussion by stating the topic, briefly reviewing the article’s main points or the topic’s main issues, and providing an initial point for discussion.

Meeting preparation will probably take anywhere from forty-five minutes to one hour, though the process may take longer the first few times you do it. Good luck with your meeting, and let the OCN team know if you need and additional help.

Maria McRaven is a former president of the University of Chicago Objectivist Club.