In a recent Stewardship Council meeting welcoming new members Daisuke Yamaguchi (whose company translated the first World Cafe book into Japanese – see the essay he wrote for the World Cafe’s 20th Anniversary) and Sabine Soeder (whose grace and graphic facilitation so beautifully embodies the spirit of World Cafe), we were talking about “ba”, the Japanese concept (developed beautifully by Professor Ikujiro Nonaka) of the generative relational field that supports knowledge creation.

We were talking about it as part of the “hospitable space” we as World Cafe hosts strive to create as the container for World Cafe “magic” – sometimes known as collective wisdom – to emerge.

As “ba” speaks to both physical space and the more subtle realms, truly creating hospitable space for World Cafe means not only caring for the logistics of the World Cafe process but it also provides a real understanding of the design principals that give the form its depth and meaning. This deeper look is the focus of the World Cafe Hosting Fundamentals course we offer each year in partnership with Fielding Graduate University, and it is what makes it so valuable to World Cafe hosts whether you are just starting out or have years of experience.