Conversation Week 2008

Please start your answer with your city and country.

Please start your answer with your city and country.

Please start your answer with your city and country.

Please start your answer with your city and country.

Please start your answer with your city and country.

Please start your answer with your city and country.

Please start your answer with your city and country.

Please start your answer with your city and country.

Please start your answer with your city and country.

Please start your answer with your city and country.

We have had two trainings calls already! It’s inspiring to see Conversation Week coming to life and hear people learning the technique of the Conversation Cafe process.

Any host not registered for a training should sign up for a conference call with Susan - it’s a wonderful to learn process and connect with fellow hosts! Check any emails you’ve received for a link to change your options to sign up for a time. If you can’t be on a call, take advantage of the many resources on the website, including the videos and the Host Manual.

I just returned from a 3-day Dynamic Facilitation workshop last week inspired, challenged, and healed. For those unaware of the method, as I was prior to attending Jim and Jean Rough’s workshop in Port Townsend, let me vouch for its unique place in the universe of tools and techniques we can use to hold a space for a meaningful discussion. Just as Conversation Cafe has its place, Dynamic Facilitation has its - and Conversation Week is about introducing more people to the great world of these techniques. Here is a 3-minute audio intro.

And I want to share another simple thought: our work to provide spaces for people to be their authentic selves, share their authentic creativity and concerns, and do so in community is perhaps at its root about facilitating meaningful relationships built on genuine care for each other. As many lists are brainstormed, strategic plans are written, and human resource issues are resolved, there is potential to facilitate in a way that lets people be their full selves, rather than only their “thoughts” or only their “feelings.” When the space is designed to share both and more, problems aren’t just solved - relationships can build that transcend the problem.

When we talk from time to time about the urgent need for a movement, and struggle about what that movement is about, perhaps we can add this: a movement to elevate our process consciousness has at its root the potential and/or desire to facilitate love in a world that can make such connection a rarity.