What is a salon?

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What is a salon?  Good question.

My salons are NOT for nails and hair.

Something close from 17th century France might be the gatherings with Madame Bovary, Erasmus and Diderot.

One might compare them to panels, like this one above of Ira Glass interviewing, in a relaxed format, Richard Linklater about his film Boyhood (Shhh, I secretly intend to get Ira Glass, Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke to consult on this film!).

My salons usually take place around a round table, with candles in the center, with guests eating light appetizers, tea, wine, and maybe something sweet. 

And they tend to include participants who are, in one for or another, artists.

We spend about 4 hours of sacred time together, discussing universal topics like "home", "travel", "ethnicity", "art forms", "your superpower", "what is your thing?", "what is next for you?" and "how would you like to get closer to the people in this group?" and "final words".

The conversation does not stick only with these topics; they only provide some useful structure. But what often happens is that the conversation takes delightful tangents, twists & turns, like a spiraling fractal!

Click on the link below (the first 2 minutes will be enough) to get a good sense for my "Art of Group Communication Salons".