Conversation Topics

Our team members have diverse perspectives. We create Conversation Guides with the goal of making them welcoming to people across the political and cultural spectrum. We offer topic guides for over 100 different topics. Browse all our topics below, or browse by category in the left menu (desktop only).

Rapid Response Work

2020 Election

A disturbing number of people suggest the upcoming election cannot be trusted. Some even believe violence would be justified if the election doesn’t go the way they want. The U.S. is the oldest democratic republic in the world, but democracy can’t function when we are unable to talk through our differences. If the American experiment is to survive, we must begin the work of domestic peace building.

2020 Election Resources

COVID Resources

Living Room Conversations offers these resources to help you stay connected during a time when physical isolation is necessary for individual and community health. We hope the Conversations will help you connect with others and cope with the sense of loss many of us are feeling. Most of all, we hope to join with you in creating and maintaining relationships that generate understanding and enable collaborative problem-solving for our country and around the world.
COVID-19 Resources

Talking About Race

The motto of Living Room Conversations is respect, relate, connect. We know that in the pursuit of racial equity, individual conversations are not the final stop in the journey. Conversations can help us better understand individual bias and racism, as well as consider how racism is part of our systems and institutions. We have created this resource page in response to increased demand and desire to have conversations about race.

Racial Equity Resources

Topics A-Z

Browse all our Conversation Guides below from A-Z. Click the links to explore each Conversation Guide. You can also download a PDF of the conversation for your own use. 

Create your own topic

We have over eighty topics, but maybe you can’t find one that appeals to you? You can build your own topic with these easy guidelines. 

Tips to create your own :

Write an opening paragraph to frame the conversation. Make it welcoming to people who hold differing beliefs. (Our conversation materials are reviewed by a diverse group of partners with the intent to have the paragraph be clear and free of red flags that might put off readers you would like to welcome.) 
 
Keep the questions for round 1 the same. These questions help us get to acquainted with one another and discover our common humanity.
 
The “secret sauce” for Living Room Conversations are the open-ended questions in round 2. Here are some tips for developing your own great questions:
  • Work with your cohost to come up with several questions that satisfy you both.
  • Be curious. What would you ask if you didn’t have an opinion or position?
  • Examine what your own position is on the topic. Notice if you are framing questions that favor your viewpoint or disallow other viewpoints.
  • How did you develop your own perspective? What question would bring that out?
  • Beware of including trigger words in your questions, like climate change, anti-___, rights and control. 
Keep the questions for round 3 the same. They are designed to allow you and your guests to appreciate each other and declare any future action.
 
Do you want to provide links to any background materials for people who want to do a bit of research ahead of time? We often link to www.allsides.com materials to be transparent about bias.  

Need Support? Contact Us!

We'd love to support you in creating a new topic. Drop us a note and let us assist.

examples of Custom Conversations

Living Room Conversations has produced several custom conversations in partnership with civic and educational organizations. They are free to use; you can check them out below. 

Community Energy Conversations

Community Energy Conversations creates an engaging and worthwhile activity for any community organization or set of interested individuals to bring community members together and encourage action for positive change. Click here to explore.

Campus Conversations

Campus Conversations is an adaptation of Living Room Conversations specifically for college students. The conversation is taken one step further by converting the conversations students hold into action. Click here to explore.