How to organize a Money Moment?

Why?

• Money plays a decisive role in many choices we make, but rarely do we talk about it in public. Income has become a privatised topic, something ‘for yourself’. Yet money is a defining element in many of our relationships with others.
• Sharing those individual considerations and experiences can be very interesting and even healing. You get to see unexpected similarities with others, as well as surprising differences. It also helps deconstruct fixed ideas about money: it is, in a way, a political act.

What for?

We consider a Money Moment successful if participants experience a fruitful conversation and go home with new insights about their perspective on money. It’s an informal dialogue rather than a focused meeting or brainstorming session that aims for a concrete outcome or collective decision. You can, however, bring specific questions into this conversation, such as: ‘what would it take for you to share money with others?’ In this regard, a Money Moment can also test ideas or possibilities for a particular financial initiative. Still, a Money Moment is at its best when it keeps an open spirit

With whom?

You can organize a Money Moment both for people who already know each other (e.g. a group of artists collaborating on one project), as for strangers – within or outside the arts. Most important is that participants know what to expect and are willing to talk openly about their finances. So you can determine your ‘target audience’ yourself: who do you want to have this conversation with? An open call can yield a nice, unexpected composition, while with direct personal invitations you can bring together specific profiles. A combination is also possible. Keep the number of attendees to a maximum of ten. Otherwise, the intended intimate character gets lost and certain people might take on a rather silent role.

Where?

We recommend a cosy and not too formal environment, where you welcome participants in a circle or around a table, with something to drink or eat. It’s nice if the context has something personal.

How long?

It’s not a good idea to complete a Money Moment within one hour. Foresee at least two hours, and with ten participants it’s best to make it even longer. As we experienced, a lot can pop up. Time pressure limits the kind of open conversation a Money Moment aspires to.

How?

A few attention points will help create a safe and pleasant environment for everyone and give the conversation a clear direction:

• Provide a conversation facilitator: someone to give the conversation some structure, keep the conversation going and oversee an equal distribution of speaking time.
• In the middle of the circle, someone can write down on a big paper some key terms or questions from the conversation, as a common reference point for everyone.
• If you want to share that report with others afterwards, clarify your plans right away and ask everyone’s permission. We believe it’s important to anonymise all statements and give those involved the chance to proofread everything before publication. During the conversation itself, we advise against audio recording: a dictaphone on the table can block the dialogue.
• Install some conversation rules at the outset, such as:
  • Please, be open about your own experience and situation, rather than just talking about money in general terms. Personal sharings increase the value of this conversation. At the same time, everyone is free to set limits on this for themselves.
  • What is said in this room stays in this room. Respect what others share in confidence. Do not pass it on to others.
  • Be aware of the speaking space you occupy, and leave enough space for others. Do not interrupt people.
  • If you want to ask a short question for clarification, you can use a simple sign to do so (such as making a C with your hand, from ‘clarification’).
  • Optionally: you can also use the other Occupy hand signals.

We suggest a clear conversation structure, in a number of phases that you clarify in advance:

1. Welcome: The facilitator welcomes everyone: what is the purpose of this conversation, what will it look like?
2. Presentation round: Everyone gets 2 minutes to introduce themselves (e.g. name and professional occupation) and answer an extra content question, such as: ‘How would you briefly describe your income situation?’ or ‘On a scale of 1 to 5, where do you place yourself in terms of financial stability, and why?’
3. Thematic round: one by one, everyone gets 5 minutes to share something specific about their own view on money, in order to gather engaging discussion material. This can be done from one or more questions:
   1. What has been keeping you busy lately, when it comes to your finances?
   2. How do you think your financial situation differs from others?
   3. What is your view on money, and how do you live by it?
   4. What feelings does the topic of money evoke in you? How do you explain them?

The discussion facilitator sees to it that no discussion starts before everyone has had their turn, and notes some recurring themes on the flap.

• Open conversation: The group talks openly about some recurring themes from the previous two rounds. The facilitator can put some topics on the table, or ask the group: ‘What has been striking, what do you find interesting to talk through, what are fascinating questions after hearing others’ stories?’
• (Optional) closing ritual: With Common Income, we ended each Money Moment with the same exercise, because participants had in fact contributed to our research and we also had a budget for their involvement. On the table was an amount of money in cash. We asked everyone: ‘How much would you like to receive for your participation?’ We gave the choice between 0 €, 35 €, 70 € or 105 € (i.e. 1, 2 or 3 volunteer allowances). This closing ritual makes the conversation very concrete again. Ask everyone to be honest. Emphasise that they do not have to justify their choice, but are allowed to do so. If necessary, provide some blank volunteer reimbursement forms, so you skip following-up on this afterwards.
• Check-out round: Each participant shares in 2 sentences what he/she/they thought of this Money Moment and what he/she/they take away from it.

Common Income organised a series of public Money Moments in 2022 to sharpen the tool with public insights. During Common Income’s Money Moments, we broke the taboo on money. For two hours, we shared our needs, doubts and ideas about income in a circle with a dozen artists and cultural workers.

Read all about the public Money Moments: let’s talk money!

Good luck!