The World Cafe

Last week i had a chance to attend a workshop on Risk Management. It was very great and more interactive. I had a nice time to identify risks using some practical games.

In this workshop, I was introduced to the wonderful conversational process called The World Cafe (TWC). If you can change the conversation, you can change the future.

The crisp info is that there will be five tables and each table will have 5 members. One person in each table will be treated as a host. His responsibility is to collate the discussion on the given topic. After timeout, the host will stay on the table and others will be moved to the next table. Now the host will invite new set of peoples and identify the new host. The old host will explain already discussed matters and the discussion will continue. This process will continue till each group has sit on all tables at least once.

At the end of this cycle, each table will have wonderful data collated. I think this process is a great process to get the opinions from the group of people in terms of preparing a proposal, or making some decision. I am seriously thinking of using this in the future.

Some info from http://www.theworldcafe.com/what.htm:

World Café as a conversational process based on a set of integrated design principles that reveal a deeper living network pattern through which we co-evolve our collective future.

As a conversational process, the World Café is an innovative yet simple methodology for hosting conversations about questions that matter. These conversations link and build on each other as people move between groups, cross-pollinate ideas, and discover new insights into the questions or issues that are most important in their life, work, or community. As a process, the World Café can evoke and make visible the collective intelligence of any group, thus increasing people’s capacity for effective action in pursuit of common aims.

The integrated design principles have been distilled over the years as a guide to intentionally harnessing the power of conversation for business and social value. When used in combination, they provide useful guidance for anyone seeking creative ways to foster authentic dialogue in which the goal is thinking together and creating actionable knowledge.

As a living network pattern, the World Café refers to a living network of conversations that is continually co-evolving as we explore questions that matter with our family, friends, colleagues, and community. The metaphor of the "World as Café" helps us notice these invisible webs of dialogue and personal relationships that enable us to learn, create shared purpose, and shape life-affirming futures together.