Most seminars take place in homes of participants and last no more than two hours.
This gives everyone a chance to mix informally before the seminars start and to have enough time to thoroughly explore the evening's topic before drawing to a close. A trained facilitator guides participants through the program, opening first with guidelines for conduct during the evening. It is always made clear to those taking part in Parent-Teen Dialogues that confidentiality is absolutely essential to the sucess of this program. People have to be able to feel that they can speak their mind within the group without fear that it will be spread beyond those confines. As a way of leading into the evening's discussion, participants sometimes view an episode from one of several television series which addresses the subject at hand.