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What's a Samoan Circle?

As Walt Galloway describes it:

At our thirtieth reunion, we held an informal session on activism using a technique that Chip Hauss learned from Bernie Mayer which he called a Samoan Circle but which Les Leopold uses and calls a Fishbowl.

Whatever you call it, four chairs are set back to back, facing outward in the middle of a room. Four volunteers/guinea pigs sit in them. Everyone else sits in the chairs around the outside circle.

The goal is to get everyone a chance to talk and to use whatever is discussed as the springboard for further conversation. Les and I see it as the first of a series of discussions that will continue over the rest of the reunion weekend and beyond. There is no way of knowing where they will go; however, it is possible that some group or other will come up with things.

The facilitator starts with a topic which we can decide pretty much at the last moment – national, Oberlin related, whatever.  “Audacious Aging” has been suggested.

The four people seated in the middle start the discussion in statements lasting two minutes or less. We time it using a gong or some more up to date thing like a cell phone with an alarm.

As the muse leads them, someone from the audience stands in front of the chair of the first, second, third, etc. has finished and takes the speaker’s place and when the circle comes back, says his/her thing.

That continues until everyone who wants to participate has had a chance to do so.  Then:
     We can continue the process with more rounds of participation keeping the circle format.
          --or—
     The facilitators can suggest breaking into smaller groups on the basis of the issues that surface.
In either event the facilitators and others wrap the session up in some way that invites interest for participants to keep the discussion going during the rest of the weekend and beyond.

Thank you! Sounds interesting.