Welcome to the World Café Shaping our Futures through Conversations that Matter 14 October 2010

Welcome to the World Café Shaping our Futures through Conversations that Matter 14 October 2010

Today’s Program • World Café in the Global Context • World Café Experience Dinner • World Café Design Guidelines • World Café Application

The World Café Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter Translated into 10 languages including Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese & Chinese Selected in January 2010 by Prime Minister of Japan as 1 of 28 books that will be essential to Japan’s future

The capacity to see the world of the “other” sounds simple, but it is not. Yet it is the core of creating a new human history together. The World Café and this book serve as an inspiration to help make that possible. Lic. Esteban Moctezuma Barragan, Mexico’s Former Minister of Social Development

What is the World Cafe? • The World Café is a simple yet powerful method for large and small groups of people to: • foster collaborative dialogue • share and create new knowledge • build community • inspire collective action

Café Outcomes • Communication Across Silos • Broad Engagement on Strategic Initiatives • Create Shared Direction, Momentum for Action • Cross Pollinate Learning, Generate New Insight • Build Community and Trust • Uncovering Deeper Issues

CAFE ETIQUETTE Listento understand. Focuson what matters Contributeyour thinking Speakyour mind and heart Linkand connect ideas Listen togetherfor insights and deeper questions. Doodle–on your tablecloths Have Fun!

How does a Cafe Conversation Work? • ■ 3 Rounds of Conversation at 3 Different Tables • Different Question for Each Round • Use Talking Piece • Look for Themes & Connections • Relax & Enjoy! • ■Harvest Collective Insight & Learning • ■ Connect to Next Steps

Café Round 1: Say hello  Share a story of a conversation that made a real difference for you What happened? What made the conversation possible? What happened after? What made it meaningful for you?

5 Minutes to Go...

Café Travelling Instructions… • One person stays as host • Others move to different tables • Host welcomes new people • Wait for next question

Café Round 2: Begin by sharing one idea, theme or insight from your last round Then, share a story of a conversation that made a real difference for someone else What happened? What made the conversation possible? How did you know it was meaningful? What happened after?

Café Travelling Instructions… • One person stays as host • Others move to different tables • Host welcomes new people • Wait for next question

Café Round 3: Share one nugget from your last round What themes, connections and insights are you seeing from your first two rounds? What are you learning about what makes a conversation “matter”?

Harvesting our Collective Wisdom Themes, connections, insights… New questions or ideas…

Dinner

World Café DESIGN PRINCIPLES (powerful when used together!)

The knowledge and wisdom we need is already present and accessible Collective insight evolves from… Noticing new possibilities Honoring unique contributions Listening into the center Connecting ideas Intelligence emerges as the system connects to itself in creative ways CAFÉ ASSUMPTIONS

World Cafe Assumptions • Outcomes are better when they are informed by: • Diversity of Perspectives • Cross Pollination of Ideas • Attention to Meta Level Themes & Patterns • Questions that Matter to People

When Designing a Café, Consider… • What is my Purpose and Intention? • How can I invite people so that my Purpose and Intention come through? • Who needs to be in the room? • Who will you partner with? • to design the Café questions • to “make it happen” • What are the questions that matter?

The Importance of Questions Questions are intrinsically related to action, they spark and direct attention, perception, energy and effort… Creativity requires asking genuine questions, those to which an answer is not already known. Questions function as open-handed invitations to creativity, calling forth that which doesn’t yet exist. -Marilee Goldberg Adams The Art of the Question

The World Café www.theworldcafe.com samantha@theworldcafe.com All images used in this presentation are part of the World Café Community Creative Commons

Conversation as a Core Process We see a movement from the traditional view that talk and action are separate to an understanding of conversation as a core process for creating our world

World Cafe Assumptions • Outcomes are better when they are informed by: • Diversity of Perspectives • Cross Pollination of Ideas • Attention to Meta Level Themes & Patterns • Questions that Matter to People • And…We have the Capacity, Creativity and Wisdom to Address our most Challenging Issues! • Connection + Conversation bring Intelligence to Life!

Endorsements Understanding the World Café’s fascinating model of a living social system is essential for the understandingof life and leadership in human organizations. Fritjof Capra, author of Web of Life and The Hidden Connections

Endorsements The challenge of leadership in these times of breathtaking speed and exhausting complexity is to find creative ways to embrace the future, and let of the past. World Café dialogue provides us the opportunity to do just that. Paul Borawski, ED and Chief Strategic Offer, America Society for Quality

Welcome to the World Café Shaping our Futures through Conversations that Matter 14 October 2010