Making the most of the salons

Yesterday we gave some tips for how to successfully get a salon going. Today we're offering tips for how to make the most of the salon.

1) Listen, and take notes. The note taking is particularly important if you are doing a series of salons because it will make it much easier to notice a pattern of complaints or issues across the groups. You don't have to do the note-taking during the salon itself, though. If you're more comfortable waiting until afterward to write down your observations, then do that.
2) Start the group off on talking about what they like about their community. Knowing what works, and why it works, is an important part of being able to figure out what doesn't and why. It's also helpful in figuring out the community's priorities. If the project you want to work on is a low priority for the community that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, but it does mean you'll have a different set of challenges you'll need to prepare for.
3) Help the people at the salon get comfortable with each other and the situation. Be welcoming, facilitate introductions, give people the opportunity to share a little information about who they are, why they're there, and their relationship with the community. This will make it easier for them to share thoughts and opinions later.
4) Just because somebody is timid or quiet doesn't mean they don't have something to say. Sometimes speaking in front of strangers is intimidating for people, but you don't want to lose their insight because of that. Try to actively involve the quiet people. Keeping one or two individuals from dominating the conversation can help with that, but so can reaching out to the quieter people and directing questions at them. If you get the sense that they don't want to talk, don't force them too, though.
5) Give out an email address or other way to contact you with followup thoughts. Now that you've established a relationship with these people you'll want to cultivate it.

That's five tips we consider important for a beginner, but there are hundreds more out there. Share any you have from similar experiences in the comments below.