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Book and Brew Offers Opportunities to Learn and Socialize
In November, in just two hours members of ALVA Connection read and digested an entire book, True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership by former Medtronic CEO, Bill George. Yes, you read that correctly — in two hours! Susan Hawkins and Barbara Kilbourne facilitated the process, called book scanning, for the group.
In book scanning, individuals in a group receive and read different sections of a book and illustrate their sections with colored markers on white sheets of paper, a technique called book charting. Members then 
present their sections chronologically. The Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA) originally developed book charting for communities here and abroad. It has become a way for people to connect with each other in their own environments around topics that interest them.
Susan Hawkins, a 2010 ALVA graduate and member of ALVA Connection, loved the book charting process so much that she modified it to make it work in different settings and in multiple time frames. She wanted to offer the benefits of book scanning in less time and with the best focus for clients. Hawkins has conducted book scans for five-plus years and has used the current model for about a year. Past clients include organizational leaders, managers, Masters Degree students, the general public, and now ALVA Connection.
ALVA Connection is an organization of ALVA alumni and friends that facilitates the ongoing leadership journeys of previous and current students through social networking, education, and mentoring opportunities. Virginia Cherne and Bill Read, 2009 ALVA graduates, founded ALVA Connection as a project in the ALVA class they took. This year, ALVA Connection is using the talents of Susan Hawkins and is sponsoring a number of book scanning events.
Hawkins describes book scanning as a social event. She says, “When I read an intriguing book on my own, I want to talk with someone about it.” Book scanning is not a book club. Instead it is a time for people to come together and scan and understand a book during a two- to four-hour period, depending on their available time. It is conducive to people who want to learn key themes and messages from written material but don’t have the time to participate in book clubs or to commit to reading a whole book. Books also have to be nonfiction to avoid spoiling endings. Hawkins believes that book scanning allows people to get to know each other, to discover the author’s voice, and to be creative while absorbing book content.
Next, members of ALVA Connection will have the opportunity to read Community: The Structure of Belonging by Peter Block. Plans are underway to begin offering this fun, educational, and social event to the entire VAN network later in 2011.
