“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

Online

The Generative Conversation BA Community

by Amy Lenzo | Feb 8, 2026

From our amazing friends in Japan:

The Generative Conversation BA Community (GCBC) is a Japan-based community dedicated to creating spaces for meaningful dialogue through the World Café. We bring people together to speak openly, listen deeply, and generate collective intelligence across diverse perspectives. Our activities are rooted in Japan, and our regular meetings and workshops are conducted in Japanese.

By integrating theory and practice, sharing insights domestically and internationally, and supporting the growth of practitioners, GCBC works to foster positive and sustainable social change.

Celebrating 30 Years of the World Café

World Cafe in Qatar

by Amy Lenzo | Oct 5, 2025

This story comes from Jussara Brito at Al Wakra Hospital at the Hamad Medical Corporation, in Qatar. She is a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Public Health working at Al Wakra for 7 years at the WellBeing clinic – which is a perinatal mental health clinic.

It was their first experience hosting World Cafe.

Jussara and her team developed the Women’s World Café – Ummoumah (Arabic motherhood) Project; a series of reflective sessions designed to empower women and support maternal and family health.

The team designed a series of World Cafes, two of which have been held and the third will happen later this year:

1) The first session, held on May 7th, focused on Perinatal Mental Health

2) The second session, celebrated in August during World Breastfeeding Week, explored

Breastfeeding under the theme “Invest in breastfeeding, invest in the future.”

3) The third session, scheduled later this year, will be dedicated to Family Planning methods, combining reflective dialogue with clinical teaching.

This project and the subsquent events were the first of their kind in Qatar’s healthcare sector—an inclusive, hospital-based forum focused on fostering emotional wellbeing and offering meaningful support for women during pregnancy and after childbirth (postpartum). The Ummomah Project reflects the hospital’s core values of engaging patients, families, and care teams in meaningful dialogue that respects lived experiences, emotional needs, and shared decision-making.

We’re excited to share their story and photographs from these events to, as they so kindly expressed, “inspire and connect with other groups like themselves around the globe.”

1,000 Round Tables

by Amy Lenzo | Sep 1, 2025

One of the classic World Cafe stories is about the largest World Cafe ever hosted. Danny Gal and a team of people who had been working on easing Israeli-Palestinian tensions for many years hosted a transformational conversation during the Arab Spring.

To help us celebrate the World Cafe’s 30th Anniversary, Danny recently sent us the remarkable story of this World Cafe, which makes up a whole chapter in his latest book, The Belonging Paradox: How to Solve the Global Empathy Crisis.

The cover of Danny Gal's new book "The Belonging Paradox"

Here’s an excerpt:

“What became known as the “Arab Spring” began in Tunisia on 17 December 2010, when the late Mohamed Bouazizi, a street vendor, set himself on fire in protest against the authorities’ arbitrariness and the regime’s corruption. Bouazizi’s act sparked a wave of massive protests in Tunisia and subsequently ignited the Middle East in Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Yemen, Syria and more, in a period known as the ‘Arab Spring.’ This movement inspired mass social protests in other countries in Europe, including Spain, Greece, England, and later in the United States (Occupy Wall Street). The common outcry of all the protesters was the desire for social justice.

World Cafe in South Africa: A Memory

by Amy Lenzo | Aug 3, 2025

This story comes from the acclaimed author Alan Briskin, as a contribution to the World Cafe’s 30th Anniversary:

Shortly after my book The Stirring of Soul in the Workplace was released in paperback (1998), I received a phone call I initially thought might be a prank.

“This is Kim. I’m calling from Investec, based in Johannesburg, South Africa.”

Wary, I offered a cautious “Yes,” and asked what this was about.

“We’re hosting a global gathering of our investment professionals this summer. We’d like you to give the keynote—on how one sustains the soul, both individually and organizationally.”

I hesitated. On the surface, I declined for scheduling reasons. But the truth ran deeper: I was afraid. I’d never given a formal keynote before—certainly not to a room of global executives convening in South Africa. And the question itself scared me. Sustain the soul? I was a consultant and a reluctant author, not a performer—and certainly not someone who could tell others how to sustain their souls.

Kim went on to explain that when she called her counterpart in London, she opened by saying she had found a book—and an author—she thought would be perfect for the event. Her colleague responded, “So have I.” They had both chosen me.

She encouraged me to reconsider.

While I wasn’t sure a keynote alone could carry the spirit of my book, I did believe something meaningful could emerge if the participants were truly engaged—if they could explore the question together. That led me to call David Isaacs, whom I knew through mutual colleagues. I asked if he would walk me through how to host a World Café.

With warmth and clarity, David described not just the logistics but the soul of the Café itself—the spirit of collective inquiry, the importance of asking the right questions, and the tone of invitation. He emphasized the power of simply listening: that even in the uncertainty of not knowing where a conversation will go, something generative and unexpected can emerge—if we trust the process.

That was the turning point for me.

I still wasn’t sure how my talk would land, but I knew the World Café experience would be meaningful for those who participated. And so, that’s how—at least to my knowledge—the first World Café came to South Africa.

Recently, as I was reflecting on this memory, I found my notes from the talk I eventually gave. Reading them now, they hold even more resonance.

You see, my understanding of soul has always involved contradiction—our highest selves alongside our basest instincts. Both exist in us. And to hold them requires great faith in the deeper wisdom of the heart. A faith I don’t always have.

But the Café, I believe, is a safe container—one that can hold our contradictions, our complexity, and our longing to be whole. It offers a chance to speak from the heart, in community, in inquiry.

Alan Briskin, author and co-author of The Stirring of Soul in the Workplace, Centered On The Edge, The Power of Collective Wisdom, and the upcoming Space Is Not Empty: How Hidden Fields Are Shaping Your Life and Our World, with Mary V. Gelinas

Community Voices Cafe

by Michaela Sieh | 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 Amy Lenzo | 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.

Anne at the Dresden Frauenkirche

by Amy Lenzo | 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 Michaela Sieh | 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.

Introduction to Magic in the Middle – Part Three

by Amy Lenzo | 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 Michaela Sieh | 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.

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