Better Arguments event this Saturday at the Belknap Mill

LACONIA — For millennia, humans have been tackling some of mankind’s biggest hurdles with a combination of tools and minds, figuring out how everything fits and goes together. Communicating with each other is not so different, with all sorts of helpful gadgets available to gain a better understanding of each other and yet, they can also lead us further away from one another, deepening instead of bridging the divide.

A Better Arguments Event held this coming Saturday, from 9 a.m. to noon at the Belknap Mill, hopes to bring us back to the table to talk, with some simple and effective strategies. Hosted by Sean Kavanagh, a retired CEO and Better Arguments Ambassador, participants will be asked to utilize five principles for having better discussions and for hearing each other out.

“I would like the participants to leave with a sense of having been heard and understood, and leave feeling comfortable in expressing their beliefs and at the same time having heard and understood somebody with different beliefs, and maybe change their perspective on that person. Acting as an action coach, we will also hold each other accountable, as I’m hopeful this will be the start of something that will continue,” said Kavanagh.

Anyone can apply to participate in the event by emailing a brief description on who they are and why they would like to attend, as the group will be limited to a small number of people. The Better Argument Project is a collaboration of the Aspen Institute Citizenship and American Identity Program, Allstate Insurance Company, and the Facing History and Ourselves organization.

“We need to get back to the degree where we can disagree agreeably… I started to study some of these principles and fundamentally it takes winning off the table, where it’s not a debate. It’s more about achieving an understanding. Prioritizing relationships and listening passionately are other principles that particularly interested me, resonating with me, as something I had been teaching for twenty years,” said Kavanagh.

After introductions and ice-breaker activities, participants will learn about the five principles of having better arguments and then presented with a topic to discuss and try out those new tenets. The subject for Saturday’s event is “Freedom: The balance between individual liberty and collective responsibility,” as Kavanagh hopes this will springboard a whole new perspective.

The project also hopes to engage participants to go out into their communities and actively employ these listening techniques, as gaining understanding replaces winning at all costs.

“I’m going to ask people for commitments. Are you able to go out and have a better argument and if so what would it look like. I am going to ask the group if they want to hold each other responsible, where you could have a partner who would call you in a month, and ask them, how did it go? I would also like to repeat these events, as often as people would like, as an open mind is the only thing asked from them to attend,” said Kavanagh.

There are still a few slots available for this Saturday’s event, as you can email a short personal description to sean.kavanagh@fallrisker.com.