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.

First and foremost everyone was intentional, skilled and committed to their role. Granted this was out of our control, but what a privilege to experience. Additionally it was a living, dynamic process built around careful planning, while also noticing and responding to what emerged. There was a field of relationships among the planning team (I was a full-fledged member) and speakers. We made contact in the areas of purpose, alignment and the value of resonant dialogue over several meetings including a Zoom pre-meeting and dinners before and during the summit). This quality of relating seems to have been communicated and transferred onto the participants (who brought skill, dedication and curiosity). The final activity was a “town hall meeting” that from my helicopter view from the stage was both physically and conceptually an example of collective intelligence e.g., we were in community, thinking together: higher, broader, bigger and deeper. In his observations about this Scott Paine my co-host and part of the Florida Advance Network leadership team wrote on his blog:

“Attendees engaged in remarkably thoughtful conversations about where we are in Florida and how we go forward. These conversations were so engaging that even when we tried to wrap up the long day, they kept going.”

I would add to this that as professionals working in public service organizations the type of dilemmas these attendees face can be the most intractable wicked, such as: how to engage citizens in dialogue with officials and once you succeed how do you ensure that the government officials make it worth the effort; and how do you close the gap between voter registration and voter turnout – once some folks register they are done.

In the final town hall meeting (the culminating harvest) they had totally broken table formation, there were tables of 4 – 8; colored stickers pasted on boards in front of the room displayed thoughts, ideas and questions to be shared and pursued. They were leaning in; the room was vibrant and alive; and it was time to go home! Great problem huh?

The design sequence each day was: Topical expert speakers and success local stories related to the objectives, fueling café conversations followed by a plenary harvest.

What worked well:

1. Attention to important elements of the context (organizational, cultural, political, etc.)
2. Clearly stated objectives; and, working within the boundaries and relationship between those objectives brought both congruence and coherence to the event.
3. Frequent communications between speakers and café hosts – adaptations as needed.
4. Trust in the process to accomplish intended goals.

Team hosting with an internal client was beneficial, sharing perspectives, and especially for clarifying the context/culture. Scott Paine’s competence as director of leadership development, experience as a popular local politician and his temperament (so consistent with the posture of hosting) made him a natural therefore co-hosting was spontaneous and smooth. The cohering conditions described throughout this article made it easy for us to lean heavily, from our innermost selves, into the role of hosting; trusting the intelligence of the participants and the magic of The World Café principles and process. Scott wrote in his blog at the end of day one:

“The attendees deserve a lot of the credit for the energy in the room. But what unleashed it was the expert hosting by Frances Baldwin (my “senior” partner in this effort) and the power of the World Café process through which she guided us.” (Scott Paine)

As part of my preparation for this event I revisited the epiphany that Adam Kahane described in his transitioning from a facilitator of scenario planning at Royal Dutch Shell to hosting the knowledge, talent and passion of representative workgroups tasked with reframing the model of governance of South Africa from apartheid to a shared democracy. Deep into the decision making phase Kahane shared what he learned from “a brilliant South African consultant whose effective approach was built upon the Zulu belief that we cannot interact properly with others unless we first see them as fellow humans

“He taught me that the job of the facilitator is to help the participants speak up, listen up, and bring all of their personal resources to the work at hand. Our job is not to direct or control the participants. And even though we remain neutral with respect to the substance of the work, our process is not neutral; it embodies values of openness, inclusion and collaboration.” (Adam Kahane, Solving Tough Problems; 2008; Berrett- Koehler p.89)

I find that this passage stimulates the mindset I want to bring to my role.

The leaders at Florida Civic Advance were intentional about creating an interactive experience. Once they received an orientation to World Cafe they all assumed the characteristics of hosts as described in the opening epigraph above… to create the right conditions.