Bring creative writing into your workplace! Write Around Portland’s acclaimed model works incredibly well for teams. For years, we have been proud to offer companies and organizations access to writing in community. From building trust to facilitating belonging and inclusion, our workshop model is flexible enough to accommodate many different outcomes in the workplace.

What is a Workplace Roundtable?

Workplace Roundtables follow the Write Around Portland model, a proven program designed to celebrate strengths, honor creativity and individuality, and knit groups together.

All roundtables include:

Freewriting

Team members will write to a specific time limit with the goal to keep their pen moving the entire time.

Sharing and Feedback

Participants will share some of their work and to give positive feedback to others.

Facilitation, not Education

Roundtables don’t provide instruction in writing. Instead, we will guide participants through a series of prompts designed to inspire new thinking, build trust, and spark creativity.

Respect and Newfound Confidence

Our model centers participants by emphasizing folks’ strengths and letting the group discover new insights. Your team will walk away understanding each other better — and finding new confidence in their own creative expression!

Customized for your Team

Select from a previously-built curriculum or opt to have us fully customize a roundtable to meet your needs!

Discussion

Team roundtables also include a short piece of reading (prose or poetry) followed by a discussion. If you’d like to have us discuss a specific article, we can accommodate that!

Select a Roundtable for Your Needs Choose a prebuilt roundtable -- or customize your own!

Roundtables for Leaders and HR Professionals

Fostering Trust in New Teams
Morale Motivator
Stress Relief
Custom Roundtable

Roundtables for Equity and Inclusion Strategists

BIPOC Belonging
LGBTQ+ Belonging
Understanding Across Difference

Equity and inclusion work isn’t just about what you’re doing as a organization – it’s also about your employees themselves! This workshop will help spotlight staff members’ experiences and traditional ways of knowing to unearth assumptions and stories that need to be challenged or revisited. When we truly listen to each other, amazing things can happen!
Custom Roundtable

Testimonials

“Creativity and innovation are core to our business. Write Around Portland’s workshop gave our employees a great way to generate new ideas, get inspired, and connect with each other.”

Pamela

Senior Creative Director

“I sat next to someone I’ve worked with pretty much my whole 23 years and I learned something new. Amazing! And not surprising, just the power of respect, writing and community.”

Lauren

Director of Customer Experience

Pricing

Pre-Built Roundtable

$1,000

2 Hours

Up to 18 participants

Select any prebuilt roundtable

Available virtually or in-person

Dedicated Write Around facilitator

Hourlong preparation call with Write Around staff member

Custom Roundtable

$5,000

2 Hours

Up to 18 participants

Program is fully customized to your needs

Available virtually or in-person

Dedicated Write Around facilitator

Unlimited preparation time with Write Around staff member

Add-Ons

Additional Participants: +$1,000

Roundtables are designed for 18 or fewer participants. For each additional group of 18, we will add another facilitator and the associated fee.

In-Person Roundtable: +$500

Discounts

Nonprofit Discount

Nonprofits receive 25% off any workplace roundtable! If you’re a nonprofit that’s been an agency partner in the last five years, you’ll receive 50% off any workplace roundtable.

Ready to Get Started? Have Questions?

Email Chris at cmcdonald@writearound.org

Your Primary Facilitator Chris McDonald, Write Around Portland Executive Director

Chris McDonald (he/him) facilitates team roundtables at workplaces throughout the Portland Metro area. He has worked in the nonprofit sector since 2009, and has facilitated workshops for Write Around Portland since 2013. He has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Oregon State University and a Bachelor’s degree in English and Creative Writing from the University of California Davis. He has taught writing, remedial writing, creative writing, and business writing at Oregon State University and Chemeketa Community College. Chris writes under the name Chris Yamashita and has been published in Weave, Your Impossible Voice, and Compose Journal, and he won the diFilipis-Rosselli award for writers of color.

Organizations we’ve worked with

AHA

Easterseals

Home Forward

Metropolitan Family Service

Oregon Labor Candidate School

PGE

…and more!

Ready to Get Started?

Email Chris at cmcdonald@writearound.org!