Conversation Week 2008

On the ground in Seattle! I wasn’t sure we were going to make it with all the turbulence, but here I am. Heather’s train is going to be an hour late, so I figured I’d take the time to figure out the bus system rather than splurge on the taxi. Taxi = $32+tip to train station. Bus = $2(no tip). Nice.

Anyway, on the bus I must have looked like I wasn’t from around here because the man next to me asked if I was. He was a small, friendly guy, thick accent, maybe from Egypt. I told him I’d only be around for two days for a meeting. He asked what I do and I explained I work for myself but am meeting a group to plan a week of worldwide conversations. Ha!

Interest peaked, he asked, “About what?” I said each conversation might have its own topic. “Will they be mediated?” Not really, but I’m meeting some friends who came up with a process with which to have the conversations so everyone has a chance to participate and listen.

“You must have a topic! How can you have a conversation without know the topic? Someone might talk about religion. Or someone might talk about politics.” Yep. For Conversation Week, each person who hosts a conversation can choose a topic of their choice; however it can be expected that the first topic leads into others due to the nature of the Conversation Cafe process.. We will have a list of 100 or so possibilities, but we all might have a different topic we would like to talk about.

Then I told him about the group I started, OrangeBand. Since I’m traveling, I had a couple bags with OrangeBands on them and said they can be used as conversation starters about any issue we think is important to talk about. I gave him a little flyer, he took a band, and we would likely still be in good conversation if the bus wasn’t already at the train station!

What a perfect example of how Conversation Week is really about creating a culture of conversation.