Host a Supper Club for Women
SOMETHING POWERFUL HAPPENS WHEN WOMEN SIT AND TALK
Supper Clubs for Women aren’t a luxury, they’re a necessity. By gathering together around a table, we create the opportunity to cultivate, collaborate, encourage, and build. To share new perspectives, and to learn from one another.
Evelyn & Bobbie is committed to hosting more Supper Clubs for Women, and we’d like to encourage you to host your own. Here are the tools to help you do it — including a printable PDF of the most inspiring questions that came out of our very first gathering.
Whatever you choose for the focus of your personal Supper Club for Women — fellow creatives, other moms, or leaders you admire — choose a direction and a date, then get the ball rolling.
1. Invite six to eight women
We found this to be the perfect group size to encourage discussion, and ensure several points of view. We invited a few women that we were already acquainted with, and then asked each of them to recruit a pal of their own. Some of us knew one or two of the others seated at the table, but most of us were veritable strangers. Mix things up! You’ll be surprised by the end of the evening just how much you might have in common, even with the women you thought you might not.
2. Set the stage
We already do so much for others in our day-to-day lives. This "club" is about supporting and celebrating each other, and taking care of ourselves. If at all possible, order a meal and have it delivered or catered. When you aren’t overly absorbed by entertaining, you and your guests will have more opportunity to interact. Set the table with flowers, candles, music — whatever feels the most comfortable and personal. This is about authenticity, not perfection.
3. Get the conversation started
Conversation cards are you most powerful tool. Trust us, you’ll want (and need) even the most enjoyable small talk to wane, and the depth of more intimate conversations to grow. We’ve developed a printable starter pack of conversation cards just for you, based on the most intriguing and successful conversations from our first Supper Club. Use them both formally and informally to start more meaningful dialog.
Advice from one first-time host, to another - By Crea McKeen
When hosting your first Supper Club, stay open. It’s okay to observe your judgements, but then let them go. Be vulnerable, and be honest. The more open you are with your guests, the more they’ll feel safe enough to open up.
It helps to prepare an opening statement/script to welcome your guests, once they’ve arrived and are settled. Your message, however you decide to frame it, is a great way to set the tone for the evening. Once your guests know how you’d like the party to commence, they’ll be able to relax and engage in more natural conversations.
Toward the end of the evening, you might try guiding your guests toward topics that are explicitly empowering. Like, “As Women, what is the most important work we have to do together?” During our first Supper Club, we followed those questions up with group brainstorming. Asking one another to consider just how their responses might look or be implemented in real life.
Don't forget: take a group photo to commemorate the night. Send it out to your guests the following week, with a "thank you" note to let them know how much their presence was felt. Sharing your guests’ contact information (with permission), is also a great way for them to reconnect with each other, especially if they felt a particular affinity with someone at the Supper.
Here are a few comments from our guests that made us deep-down happy:
We encourage you to host your own Supper Club for Women and reach out to us; let us know if we can help.
We exist to support you!
DOWNLOAD THE EVELYN & BOBBIE CONVERSATION KIT
