“Whenever knowledge connects with knowledge, new combinations spontaneously take place. Ideas spark ideas, which synthesize with each other until more knowledge results. It is completely natural… Sharing knowledge means bringing more people into the conversation.”

~ Verna Allee

North America

Community Voices Cafe

by | Feb 8, 2023

One of the participants of the World Cafe Signature Learning Program 2022, Dorothee Nys, shared this story with us. Dorothee is currently in her last year as a student at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, on her way to becoming a music teacher. 

I hosted my first ever World Café for the community choir I lead in Glasgow, Scotland. On January 19, 45 singers came together. The central theme of the conversations was inclusion: how and when members feel welcomed and appreciated, which elements and strategies of the rehearsals they prefer most, and any visions/dreams/wild ideas for the future. A truly vibrant evening with joyous and genuine conversations, colorful doodles on the tablecloths, and precious insights on post-its. And, of course, there was music: our usual warm-up before we started and a song at the end of each conversation round.

The responses have given me insight into strengthening and deepening our inclusive practice and resurfaced the importance of the community aspect, for example, through collaborations with other local organizations and events. The singers were excited – the vast majority not knowing World Café – and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to share their voices in a different way whilst also building more connections within the group.

Flow

Questions

In conversation

Tablecloth #1

Tablecloth #2

Harvest questions

Harvest Wall

World Café at Florida Civic Advance Summit

by | Jan 18, 2020

This story about a recent World Cafe comes from M. Frances Baldwin, Ed. D, & World Café elder. Frances is hosting an upcoming single-session learning program on February 13, 2020, about the symbiotic dance between “Hosting and Facilitating” .

World Café at Florida Civic Advance Summit
St. Petersburg, Florida
December 12-13, 2019

The role of the host is not to control the narrative but rather, to create conditions that help participants to speak up, listen up, and bring all of their resources to the work at hand.

The Florida Civic Advance Summit December 2019 was a state-wide citizen engagement meeting with the objectives to connect social change workers across the state; facilitate inter-generational activities and dialogue; and enhance citizen participation in local government. This is an annual event that included a generous schedule of participant interaction for the first time. The backdrop is that Florida ranks among the lowest states in terms of engaging in civic practices on multiple scales. (FCA and internet documentation 2013 – 2015).

The most unique phenomenon about the Florida Advance Summit was the “textbook” quality. It seems everything worked well according to the book. As a learning moment it may be valuable to take an appreciative dig into that experience through the lens of a café host, and site examples that brought our principles and beliefs to life. I will frequently refer to the entire gathering, not separate from The World Café as the conversations were integrated into the whole of the Summit not simply inserted into the agenda.

read more…

Anne at the Dresden Frauenkirche

by | Nov 1, 2017

In 2007, World Cafe senior practitioners Ulric Rudebeck and Sabine Spenser co-hosted a very special World Cafe in the crypt of the re-built Dresden Frauenkirche, which had been bombed in the last World War. Part of three days of city-wide World Cafes organized by World Cafe Europe, it was a “Reconciliation” Cafe on the theme of forgiveness.

This Cafe was especially important for Anne Dosher, the Guardian of the Soul of the World Cafe, who had traveled from California with several of us from The World Cafe Community Foundation, in part so she could be there for this very occasion.

The following short video tells the story of why this Cafe was so special for Anne:

This is one of a series of blog posts to honor our Elder Anne Dosher, who has been a wonderful guide and steward since the World Cafe was born in 1995. To celebrate Anne’s 95th birthday this week, we are collecting stories and greetings from the global World Cafe community.

Parent Cafes: The Gift that Keeps on Giving

by | Oct 23, 2017

Lina Cramer, one of our Stewardship Council Members, shares her experience with World Cafe in her work with parents and families:

I was introduced to the World Cafe a little over 10 years ago. I was searching for a way to impart information to parents that honored their commitment, respected their knowledge and encouraged them to keep loving and learning. I knew a lot about child development, had studied various parenting curricula – even written a couple, yet I was never truly satisfied with the many approaches that assumed that parents need to be ‘trained’ or ‘taught’. And, as a parent myself, I was well aware that parenting is a continual on the job training opportunity. Kids are different, times are different, family life is often a ‘juggling act’.

Parents know a lot, do a lot and care a lot. Yet, no parent has it all figured out all of the time.  Most parents always carry a long ‘to do’ list in their heads – only to be matched by a ‘worry list’ about all the things that aren’t working or what they should have done. In truth, we parents are our own worst critics.

I wanted something different. Something that would engage parents in ways that foster learning and sharing. In Summer 2006, I invited a colleague and friend Lisa to work with our Design Team of Parent Leaders who had accepted the challenge of creating an innovative way to share information about protective factors with parents. Protective Factors are qualities in families that contribute to keeping children safe and families strong. Early in our work together, Lisa suggested we create Parent Cafes to share our information. She held up her book: The World Cafe: Shaping Our Future Through Conversations That Matter and said we could adapt the World Cafe to work with parents, i.e. Parent Cafes. We were intrigued; none of us were familiar with World Cafe. That same day, Lisa hosted a Cafe with our team to explore the protective factors. We were amazed – we laughed, we cried, we shared stories, worries and hopes for our families. We had never had such a deep conversation together! Inspired, we set about designing conversations that would elicit the wisdom and desires of parents about keeping their children safe and their families strong.

read more…

Introduction to Magic in the Middle – Part Three

by | Oct 18, 2017

By Finn Voldtofte, 2005

Collective Intelligence – Collective Wisdom
Intelligence here simply means the ability to think – that is to reflect, consider, examine, learn, be absorbed, distinguish … .

The shift in awareness, from the individual to the magic in the middle of a group of people, is also a shift towards paying attention to the emerging ability to think together, the collective intelligence of the group.

A collective intelligence has the possibility of thinking at a different level than we can individually. The characteristics of a collective intelligence can be described intuitively with the words “higher”, “deeper”, “broader”, “bigger” … .

What we gain by making use of this ability to think together, we could call collective wisdom. Collective wisdom is thus a form of knowledge that we, in principle, do not have access to individually, but that can only arise in our common field. As such it is not knowledge that we have in common; it is knowledge that only emerges in communities.

* * *

This is the third of six weekly posts taken from an Introduction to Magic in the Middle written by the late Finn Voldtofte in March of 2005 (click the following links to go directly to Part 1, Part 2, Part 4, Part 5, or Part 6).

Finn was one of the original co-founders of the World Café. He worked tirelessly with Juanita Brown to distill and articulate the World Café Design Principles that underlie all World Café practice. Finn was an amazing human being who inspired and touched many, many people on a profound level. His articulation of the “Magic in the Middle” is still one of the most evocative descriptions of what makes World Café “work” and we are honored to publish his words here in this crucial time, when they ring as truly & eloquently as ever.

Connecting Heart to Heart

by | Oct 16, 2017

This blog post was written by Tony Pfeiffer – who was a member of the all-volunteer hosting team for the online Community Cafes when he contributed this post. Tony lives in Ponce, Puerto Rico. 

World Cafe is not what I thought it is. World Cafe is much more! My first exposure (2014) was in the book “Mapping Inner Space” by Nancy Margulies. There was a graphic of the World Cafe on page 43. My first impression was “Hmmm, what is this about?”. I found the World Cafe site. As I moved around the site I was intrigued. My logic was that seems like it would work. And, I saw it as merely a physical event.

Fall 2016, I took a fresh look at World Cafe. Oh, there is an online Cafe monthly. When I looked at the time commitment of 2.5 hours I thought how can I do that? Then, in December I attended my first ever World Cafe. It felt like a home coming reunion. Each break out session gave me 3 new people to interact with people from all over the world. It felt safe, sacred, and special.

read more…

Next Generation Stepping In

by | Oct 11, 2017

On this International Day of the Girl, we share words from an eighteen-year-old girl – about her experiences of participating in circles and World Cafe and her wish to host conversations that truly matter. What a joy it is to witness our next generation of hosts stepping in!

I’m Dorothee, an eighteen-year-old girl from Belgium. I graduated from a Waldorf High School in June 2017 and I decided to take a gap year.

Now I’m currently living in a community in Zimbabwe, Kufunda Learning Village. I arrived mid-August and I will stay until mid-December. I’m here as a volunteer teaching in the small Waldorf-inspired Primary School.

Kufunda Learning Village is a rural community where people live and work together, driven by their passions. There is a permaculture garden, they harvest and process food themselves. Besides that, Kufunda is also a learning center and they host workshops and modules or go out into other communities to host modules. Art of Hosting is not only the core of their hosting activities, it is also deeply present in the way they live. It is not my first time to get in touch with Art of Hosting, Circles or World Cafés but I’ve never been surrounded by so many hosts nor have I been in a place where it is practiced in everyday life. I feel it in the little things.

Just some days after I had arrived, I joined the teachers’ 3-day-workshop. How amazed I was the first day, that we did a check-in at the beginning of the day and check-out at the end. Also, the following two days we started and ended every time in a circle, sharing how we felt, what questions came… We really took our time for it and I felt that this was NOT AT ALL a waste of time. It was even the opposite, it seemed to be having a really good influence. There was a (stronger) connection between us – people I had never met before – and I loved the ‘whole’ that was created this way. Not just quickly gathering together, listening to the host and then going back to our own lives. No, instead we took time to arrive, to open and to leave, to close.

A little flame had started inside me, my love and awareness for the power and magic of circles, check-ins, and check-outs.

By now, almost two months later, this little flame has become a stronger, bigger one. Every meeting we start with a check-in and end with a check-out. No matter how many we are, no matter how much time we have. And I love it. It is so precious and valuable and I feel that taking time for this could be done for whatever meeting or gathering you have. I have experienced it now in Kufunda Village Circle, the weekly gathering where Kufundees sit together and talk about everything that needs to be talked about. Also, every meeting amongst the teachers starts and ends with this taking time to talk, but most importantly to listen to each other. With the children in school, we also have a weekly circle. And then there are the bigger Kufunda meetings, like planning sessions. Not only circle, check-in and check-out, but World Cafés are involved! I like this way of thinking and talking together, creating ideas for the future. You’re in a small group, which gives everybody the chance to share his/her voice. When it’s time to change the groups, you see how other people have been thinking and talking about the same question. And there can be such differences! You share what has been said at your table and there’s time to think and talk again. This way, you hear what has been said in all (most of) the other groups. To close the World Café, there’s a big circle and per table, there is one presenting what has risen. This overview per table makes sure that everything that has been said, is now also shared in the big group. I’m convinced that this is a very efficient and creative way to plan things when you’re in a big(ger) group. All voices are heard without taking hours and hours.

 

The flame of hosting meaningful conversations is growing inside me. And I truly believe that it will become a fire one day, able to light the flames in others too.

 

 

Introduction to Magic in the Middle – Part Two

by | Oct 11, 2017

By Finn Voldtofte, 2005

Magic in the middle when people meet
It is the examination of that magic in the middle that may arise when people meet that interests me. I believe that it may be helpful to look at the wider concept of magic in the middle in order to understand the magic in the middle of a meeting of people.

So now we shift from paying attention to the individual in the meeting, not to the group or the team, but to what happens between people that meet.

To meet here means some kind of interaction. Talking is just one of these forms. Everything that people can do with each other contains the possibility of a meeting. But it is also possible to have, for instance, a conversation, without actually meeting. In my examination of what happens between people, I assume that it is possible for a real meeting to come about. It is not an unimportant prerequisite – sometimes it can be hard to fulfill. read more…

Conversations among wise Elders

by | Oct 6, 2017

Richard Durning shares about his experiences in hosting “Boomer Cafes”:

“About ten years ago, my wife Lina – an experienced World Cafe practitioner – was about to turn 60.  She, as with many of our circle of family and friends, was frequently in conversation about what this big 6-0 (and beyond) means. These upcoming “golden years” promise to be much different than those of our parents. Our life expectancy is much longer. “How do I spend this bonus time?” “What will our community (ies) look like – certainly not a gated community. And, most of us do not play golf.”
“These conversations beg for a Cafe,” Lina declared.  “We’ll call it a ‘Boomer Cafe’”.

Her invitation was met with a terrific response. We hosted three Boomer Cafe gatherings with over 45 participants. Our questions ranged from post-retirement: “If retirement is not calling you, what are your priorities for your next phase of life?” to our well-being: “How do we take care of ourselves and prepare for inevitable changes in our lives?”and to our future community: “How do we create a community that supports our well-being?”. These questions generated lively exchanges. One participant insisted that she did not want to be “around old people all the time.”

I was fortunate to host a table and witness the elegant simplicity of World Cafe conversations. Within minutes my small groups were in the space of shared inquiry, stories, playfulness and sudden insights. One individual’s comment stood out for me. “Where is ritual?” In the Western world (United States) there is no place for ritual that allows for the celebration, reflection, and acknowledgment of our entering “the third stage.” We can, and should, learn from other cultures that honor their wise elders.

At the end of the third Boomer Cafe, I commented to a fellow host, that I often marvel at the scope of World Cafe – corporations, organizations, governments, and faith communities. Now add another application: Conversations among wise elders.”

Richard Durning

Chicago, IL USA

Introduction to Magic in The Middle – Part One

by | Oct 4, 2017

By Finn Voldtofte, 2005

The magic in the middle begins with a shift in awareness, from parts to relations between parts.

Imagine a circle of people in conversation. When we are interested in understanding the processes that take place in the conversation, we can pay attention to the individual in the circle, to the circle as a whole (group or team), or to the relations between the participants. All three realities coexist at once, but we can choose to let one of them come in the foreground.

To pay attention to the field of relations is not the same as paying attention to the whole. The parts are still important. The whole is still important. But we are particularly interested in what goes on in the interaction between the parts, and let that reality come in the foreground.

“Magic in the middle” may be found everywhere, where we choose to pay attention to the relations between the parts.

Example: Ants are the parts. The anthill is the whole. The ability of the anthill to maintain itself emerges as a magic in the middle of the ants, when they relate to each other. For instance, ants interact by leaving scent trails of their activity while they search for food.

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