Introductions

Replies to This Conversation

Permalink Reply by R. Jaishanker on May 13, 2012 at 11:59pm

Before the world cafe, things that used to happen over a cup of coffee were silly.

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Permalink Reply by Macdara MacColl on May 17, 2012 at 12:49pm

Hi. I'm Macdara MacColl. I'm a newly-minted marriage and family therapist (having graduated last night). I work at a youth and family services agency in Connecticut, United States, and in addition to my therapeutic work, I am charged with creating our programming. I am hoping to use World Cafe events to encourage the community to come together and discuss issues of importance to them, such as bullying in our schools and substance abuse among children. A neighboring town hosted a World Cafe event, and that is how I heard about the organization.

Prior to going back to school for my MFT degree, I worked in publishing, both traditional and online. I spent four wonderful years at an Internet start-up called iVillage, where I had the privelege of building their online communities. The experience was exhilarating because we were able to create spaces where people were experiencing life-changing connections and conversations online. Although this may seem passe and obvious now, in 1991 it felt revolutionary and exciting. It's lovely to be back in an online community (despite my early online community-building creds, I feel little draw to Twitter or Facebook).

I hope to learn more about creating these events. I would like to create parent/child World Cafe events, so would be interested in hearing from others who have tried that. I was glad to read the introduction of a teacher using World Cafe with 8th graders. Our agency has therapists in all the schools in our town, and I would like to try this style of communication/collaboration with children as well.

That's all for now...

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Permalink Reply by Tess Tobin on May 30, 2012 at 2:14pm

Hi. My name is Tess Tobin and I am new to the World Cafe community. I am a librarian for the City University of NY and work with promoting information and library services to the underserved and linguisitically diverse communities. I want to bring the work of The World Cafe to a larger library audience since I feel our library communitites can benefit from more meaningful conversations.

I am organizing a program in Anaheim, CA on Sunday, June 24 from 1:30-3:30pm at the the American Library Association Annual Conference. The program is called Cultural Programming: How to Achieve Meaningful Dialogue at Your Library. I am looking for an additional panel member who will talk about The World Cafe and how librarians can use your philosophy to engage diverse patrons in conversations that matter. You would be asked to speak for 15 minutes with Q&A.

If you are interested, please contact me and we can talk further. My email address is [email protected]

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Permalink Reply by Patrick Maxwell on May 31, 2012 at 3:45pm

Hey, all!

My name is Patrick Maxwell, and I'm currently working as an intern with Tom Atlee and the wonderful folks at the Co-Intelligence Institute in Eugene, Oregon. I'm primarily interested in mediation and conflict transformation, and I see tremendous potential in dialogue, deliberation, and group process. Growing up, I spent about 14 years in four different African countries, and I'd love to do peacebuilding work in an international setting.

Right now, I'm helping with the Co-Intelligence Institute's series Let's Talk: Our New Economy, in which we're convening community dialogues on topics related to the faltering economy. We're hoping to offer space for meaningful conversation about the economy, while also raising Eugene's capacity for healthy dialogue. (There's more info on the project at www.indiegogo.com/LetsTalkOurNewEconomy)

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Permalink Reply by John Abbe on May 31, 2012 at 4:31pm

Hi all! World Cafe is one of those processes that I knew instantly was a Great Thing, it's just obvious how it can help a group of people to collectively explore and deepen into an inquiry.

I'm an eclectic process artist, so I know a little about a lot of processes, and am generally comfortable in any conversation designing, or debriefing from, events or informal gatherings. I'm particularly experienced in consensus and Nonviolent Communication, and have significant experience with many other processes including Open Space, wiki, and T Groups. I'm also a computer geek, and have not coded seriously in years, but am a co-designer on Wagn and seem to end up operating or helping out with a lot of websites.

I am particularly interested in process on the largest scales - our legal, economic and political processes, because so little attention is usually put on those scales from perspectives that are outside-the-box, questioning the assumptions that underlie the conventional systems. We built them, and they aren't working, so it's up to us to transform them into something functional!

I live in Eugene, Oregon, where I just started working at MindFreedom International, which supports human rights in mental health. I also serve on the board of the Co-Intelligence Institute, which usually focuses on those large-scale questions I mentioned above. Just now though, I'm working with our intern Patrick Maxwell to launch a local project hosting public dialogues on economics, both for its own sake and to raise the culture of dialogue here in Eugene. Our first event is posted here at http://www.theworldcafecommunity.org/events/let-s-talk-local-food-e...

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Permalink Reply by Amy Lenzo on June 1, 2012 at 11:26am

Welcome John and Patrick! Tom (Atlee) and the Co-Intelligence Institute have been great friends of the World Cafe for many many years, and it's good to see you both here in the World Cafe community. Of course you, John, are a special friend of mine as well, and I know your presence will add a lot to this space. I'd love to hear any thoughts you have about how we can improve it.

Warmly,

Amy

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Permalink Reply by juanita brown on June 3, 2012 at 7:30am

Welcome John....great to see you here as well!

Warmly,

Juanita

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Permalink Reply by Sabryna Scheidt on June 14, 2012 at 10:08am

Hi Everyone,

My name is Sabryna and I currently live in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA...it's a big town for Iowa and the city is really working on developing a vibrant downtown/city life as part of its effort to recover from the flood of 2008. A lot of work has been done already to bring businesses back to the downtown area & some area improvements will be finished by the end of this calendar year...like the NewBo Market that should act as a hub for start-ups. I'm very excited to see how these changes improve our city and bring/keep talented people in the area.

I heard about the World Cafe while doing some research for my job. I really like the idea of drawing on different perspectives to solve problems. So often, simple solutions can be right in front of us, but if we don't talk to others, ideas tend not to develop and grow.

Can't wait to see what the future brings!

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Permalink Reply by liaorong on August 26, 2012 at 3:54am

Hi.Everyone.I'm from China.My English is very poor,I'll try my best.Our team begins to use World Cafe 3 years ago in about 30-40 colleges,students love it .

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Permalink Reply by Amy Lenzo on August 29, 2012 at 9:49am

This sounds wonderful! (Your English is just fine). Please tell us more about what you are doing.

By the way, do you know we have a Chinese translation of the World Cafe book?

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Permalink Reply by Amanda Lyons on September 5, 2012 at 10:37am

Good morning from a coffee shop in Brooklyn, NY! Amanda Lyons here, working as a Visual Practitioner, OD Consultant and Experiential Educator, depending on the day. I started my own business just under two years ago called VISUALS for CHANGE (www.visualsforchange.com) and am looking forward to learning more about the World Cafe and what's happening here.

I'm passionate about helping people use visuals to communicate better, to learn deeper and to create more energy in meetings and at events. It's amazing what happens when you add some color and movement to a room.

I'm always looking to collaborate with other facilitators, and I love to travel. Feel free to reach out! (visualsforchange.com)

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