Ground Rules for Periodic Table Events

We encourage you to turn off your phone or silence notifications during our time together, and to check your to-do’s at the door.

We are each our own best expert. Your experience is yours and please honor and respect that others’ experiences are theirs.
Avoid advice-giving unless someone requests it. No fixing, saving, advising, or correcting each other.

Be patient and respectful with speaking turns and speaking times.
Notice that you’re talking more than others? Step back and give other voices a chance to be heard. Silence can be powerful together, and we welcome what silence has to say as much as speech.

Licensed social worker and researcher Brené Brown states that "We need to dispel the myth that empathy is 'walking in someone else's shoes.' Rather than walking in your shoes, I need to learn how to listen to the story you tell about what it's like in your shoes and believe you even when it doesn't match my experiences."
We know how powerful the words "me, too" can be, but be careful to avoid what researcher and civil rights leader john a. powell calls saming—trying to relate to something you can’t.

What happens at the table stays at the table! No sharing quotes or identifying details beyond the table without explicit permission from other participants.