The World Café Model: Conversations that Matter Welcome to the “World Café.”

At the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum we work with a variety of audiences who represent the leadership of our country: law enforcement

The military

The justice system

Teachers --- each of whom will touch 1,000 lives during their careers.

Our challenge has been to get them to engage in a conversation when each audience is so different. The Panel Discussion: no quicker way to lose the audience. Note Alan Alda look-alike on the right. They talk; we listen.

Because the audience become passive participants Because the audience become passive participants. We also call this ‘class discussion.’ The girl in red has just about had her limit. Participants

We want to engage the audience to become contributors who work together to create meaning.

Where do we do our best talking? With food and drink at a café. Other cultures have always recognized this: small groups + food = conversation

Café-style conversations Overview

Conversation is work! Assumption #1: Conversation is not wasting time.

Assumption 2: The café must be free of suspicion. Advocacy

Assumption 3: We must trust each other to be open to insights and discoveries. Mid-Atlantic Regional Summit (Exploring the Future of Holocaust Education), Pittsburgh, 2007 ! Dialogue

Create a welcoming environment Step 1: Small, round tables, candy, colorful markers, flip chart paper, sticky notes. Create a welcoming environment

Begin with small table groups Step 2: We begin at small tables. One person is designated as ‘ table host.’ Others number off one through three. Mid-Atlantic Regional Summit (Exploring the Future of Holocaust Education), Pittsburgh, 2007. Note the flip chart pages posted on the wall. We want to track creative doodling. Begin with small table groups

? ? ? Pose an authentic question Step 3: We don’t know the answers to authentic questions --- the dialogue takes us on a journey toward meaning. Questions should generate light, not heat. Pose an authentic question

As you share ideas . . . Draw Doodle Take notes Throughout: Use the table cloth for your doodles. If you find you’re waving your hands around while you talk, put a marker between your fingers and draw, doodle, note. No ‘air doodling.’ Draw Doodle Take notes

LISTEN for connections patterns new ideas deeper questions Throughout: You never know what will emerge, but you have to listen. new ideas

Step 4: Go to a new table to discover new ideas, questions, insights Table hosts stay put and summarize the insights for the next group. Cross-Pollinate

Carry insights to the next table When you change groups, carry the ideas from your previous table. Don’t bring your own baggage/agenda. Also mention “talking stones.” (If one person dominates the talk, then have an object --- I use the Remember stones --- that a person must hold to be allowed to talk. Carry insights to the next table

Step 5: You can change two or three times, depending on the time constraints. Repeat the process

Assemble our collective wisdom Step 6: After several rounds we gather as one and put our thoughts together. There are any number of ways to do this: use post-it notes to record ‘big ideas’ and put them on a separate sheet of flip chart paper; all-group discussion (with recorder); gallery walk of the doodle sheets; etc.

to create meaning. And share our discoveries/surprises. So it is clear to the participants that this is their conversation. If the initial session is conducted well, you will have established a high level of trust.