Discussion Groups / English Usage / July 2009

Think of me, I see...

Four to five chairs are arranged in an inner circle. This is the
fishbowl. The remaining chairs are arranged in concentric circles
outside the fishbowl. A few participants either volunteer or are
selected to fill the fishbowl, while the rest of the group sit on the
chairs outside the fishbowl. In an open fishbowl, one chair is left
empty. In a closed fishbowl, all chairs are filled. The moderator
introduces the topic and the participants start discussing the topic.
The audience outside the fishbowl listen in on the discussion.

In an open fishbowl, any member of the audience can, at any time,
occupy the empty chair and join the fishbowl. When this happens, an
existing member of the fishbowl must voluntarily leave the fishbowl
and free a chair. The discussion continues with participants
frequently entering and leaving the fishbowl. Depending on how large
your audience is you can have many audience members spend some time in
the fishbowl and take part in the discussion. When time runs out, the
fishbowl is closed and the moderator summarizes the discussion.

In a closed fishbowl, the initial participants speak for some time.
When time runs out, they leave the fishbowl and a new group from the
audience enters the fishbowl. This continues until many audience
members have spent some time in the fishbowl. Once the final group has
concluded, the moderator closes the fishbowl and summarizes the
discussion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishbowl_%28conversation%29