just wrapped my first WC facilitation!

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Permalink Reply by juanita brown on January 22, 2010 at 4:33pm

How wonderful....Can you share a bit more about the story of what happened....and as important, what you learned from your first hosting?
Fond regards,
Juanita

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Permalink Reply by denzil meyers on January 22, 2010 at 9:10pm

this was a week-long conference for 300 sales folk. our World Cafe was Weds morning for 2 hours. we had an Inquiry about "What Do We Need to Be and Do to reach our goals?", opening some space for the group to brainstorm new values, behaviors, and best practices.

we ran 3 rounds of 20 minute conversations. after my short intro (including Nancy Margulis' beautiful slides) participants made 60 groups of 5 chairs (we had no tables) in a big hotel ballroom. some groups worked in the hall or sat on the floor in the back.

the 3 rounds of conversation happened more peacefully than I and my clients expected. people were mostly engaged, tho there were some folks always goofing around. I suppose that's always true, and perhaps that's what they needed most at that moment.

in the 3rd Cafe round, I suggested they could focus more on the How, details and executional elements, to develop tangible solutions to needs identified in Rounds 1 and 2.

throughout, groups took notes on 5x7" colorful post-it notes, which they stuck to the back wall of the room when they exited on their way to lunch.

in the 30 minute harvest, people were eager to share, and I made sure to repeat the essence of what I had heard the speaker say (we all had microphones in that big room). I sometimes offered comments, connecting themes and ideas, making restatements to check I had understood properly. we had no graphic recorder, but some staffers were taking notes of the harvest conversation.

what I learned: World Cafe works for corporate audiences just fine. they could relate to my explanation of WC as a method to help people break out of their vertical silos (job function, geography) and their horizontal slabs (hierarchy) to connect with others who share their passions around the Questions that Matter.

For my clients, this was an experiment in allowing two hours of chaos to see how that might work. I think they were pleased with the results. I'll hear more next week.

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Permalink Reply by juanita brown on January 23, 2010 at 6:22am

Hi Denzil,
Yes, the World Cafe was actually born in a key corporate meeting on Intellectual Capital, and it was nurtured primarily in corporate settings before spreading out to other sectors, as I've been a corporate strategy consultant for the last 30 years or so.

Sounds like it went great....congratulations!

Warmly,
Juanita

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Permalink Reply by Martine Langoulant on January 23, 2010 at 3:06pm

Hi Denzil,
Congratualtions! I am very new to WC and it is great to hear stories from people who have recently been brave enough to step off into it! I am still tip toeing around the edges, thinking and developing ideas, slowly moving towards jumping off! May it be the first of many more successes for you.
Regards, Martine

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