Here is what participants say happens at a Community Gabfest:

• Lots of opportunity for discussion.
• Others sharing their best practices
• Learning about what other programs are doing to increase learner engagement.
• To know that others experience the same challenges that we do. Sharing ways to enhance our programming; sharing ideas to help solve problems
• Meeting new people from the literacy field and learning about their ideas.
• Going into different breakout rooms and meeting different practitioners.
• Connecting with others in small groups

And here are some of the ways participants describe the Community Gabfests:

• The Community Gabfest gives everyone an opportunity to share, to learn and to discuss. We are guided by seasoned adult literacy professionals.
• It is great to meet, share, discuss ideas, and best practices.
• An avenue to share techniques and strategies that are working in our programs. A forum to learn together about best practices, challenges, and possibilities.
• It was a place where people could share their ideas, issues and challenges and share solutions too if needed. You also got the chance to meet people that were outside of your immediate region and you had the opportunity to expand your network in the space. There are also of really great people and agencies out there doing really great work for the community. It was nice to see just beyond your own agency or region.
• It was nice to learn about different experiences from literacy practitioners. The environment was safe and cordial to talk about your experiences with learners.
• We got to meet different literacy practitioners on Zoom and talk about what we do, resources, and learn from each other. It was a really relaxed environment and we wouldn’t normally get to do this in-person. This was a great alternative.