November 22, 2009
UTNE READER

More Conversation Instigations

(Page 2 of 2)

July/August 2002 Issue
By Joseph Hart, Utne Reader 
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"We suddenly realized that we had tapped into something very simple, but potentially very powerful," the two explain in an online description of the process. Since then, World Café methods have been used on problems ranging from museum design to factory worker safety.

RELATED CONTENT

World Cafe
info@theworldcafe.com
www.theworldcafe.com
Commons Cafe
Disillusioned with the adversarial nature of the justice system, African American attorney Sharif Abdullah quit the law and eventually formed the Commonway Institute in Portland, Oregon, which sponsors the Commons Café and other projects designed to foster "inclusive social change."The Commons Café is a discussion format that is adopted by local individuals or groups, with help from Commonway advisers. Discussion focuses on "the barriers that separate us": race, culture, and gender, to name a few. Rather than throwing the doors open—the Conversation Café, approach—Commons organizers carefully recruit a group of up to 40 participants from both sides of whatever cultural divide is at issue.Commonway Institute
Box 12541
Portland, OR 97212
projects@commonway.org
www.commonway.org
Essential Conversations
These public forums, sponsored by the Twin Cities–based Heartland Institute, are a hybrid of the talk and the salon. A speaker primes a group of about 200 with ideas and suggestions—conversation guru Margaret Wheatley (see p. 55) has played this role in the first several forums, held in Massachusetts and Minnesota. The audience divides up into small groups, then reunites for a final hour of ensemble talk.The topics range considerably, but, according to Heartland co-founder Craig Neal, the basic theme is "the integration of personal growth with what we do in the world. The issue of meaningful work is a real fire-starter, and we return to it again and again."Essential Conversations
Heartland Institute
4243 Grimes Ave. S
Edina, MN 55416
Tel: 952/925-5995
Fax: 952/920-7168
tlg@heartlandinstitute.com
www.thoughtleadergathering.com
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