Dare to Connect Favorite 

We were aiming to raise awareness and empathy around the theme of loneliness and disconnection, by engaging with passers by on a personal level and helping them to think about what they could do to make others feel less disconnected.

We did this by creating visual stimuli to arouse people’s curiosity (quotes, a model), and then a welcoming atmosphere where people could freely engage with the topic (lamps, decoration, biscuits). We engaged them through smiling and open questions in order to draw them in, and then used active listening and dialogue talk to allow them to share experiences and ideas in a safe environment. We then collected stories, and quotes, matched up people’s needs with what others felt they could offer in response, and encouraged them to think about how they can fight loneliness and promote connectivity. They could then make this concrete by filling in a speech bubble, writing on our needs/offers board, and taking a connectivity toolkit.

Team: Jean, John, Tania, Eszti, Filomena, Steve