Adding a Salon to your IPC

© Can Stock Photo / DGLimages

A salon? Well, maybe not a hair salon, but something immensely more interesting. The salon we’re talking about is defined in Wikipedia as “a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine the taste and increase the knowledge of the participants through conversation.”. (refer to Wikipedia for Salon (gathering)).  This type of event is well suited to an IPC, and requires some set up to carry off successfully. 

In IPC parlance, a salon can be a cocktail party with focused conversation, or just a focused conversation.  Salons are best suited to the social, professional and field -type IPCs (Refer to blog entry here), but not so much to a hobby type IPC. You can also choose to host a salon that is closer to the historical salon, but be warned that will take more time and diligence on your part to set-up and execute.

If you choose to host a salon, it should have a topic for the evening. You should have a main space for the topic conversation, and a host who can talk in depth about the topic. In my experience, it’s best to allow conversation to flow from there to other subjects, if appropriate to the evening’s overall topic. If conversation lags or wanders off course, then the host can interject with the evening’s topic and restart the conversation. The aim of the salon is to educate and refine the participant’s knowledge of the featured topic.

Add a little pizazz to your IPC with a salon!

Articles about Salons:

Edge, "Salon Culture: Network of Ideas" 

Benet Davetian, "The History and Meaning of Salons" 

Four Seasons Magazine, "Trending Now: Modern Salons from London to Dubai"  

Elephant Journal, "How to Host a 21st Century Salon" 

7X7, "Salon Gatherings Make a Comeback"

GOOD, "Talk of the Town: How to Host a Successful Salon"