Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
***Contact Jennifer Wallace
[email protected] or 07 3342 2797"
Christ Church, Barbados
***Contact Sherrilene Collymore
[email protected] or 246-428-4239
Bamenda, Cameroon
***Contact Hope for the Widows Ministry
[email protected] or +237 75103865
Adidome, Volta Region, Ghana
***Contact Mohammed Saani
[email protected] or Tel. 233-24-8703639
New York, NY
Café Philo
Question: What is the most important question to you?
Insights: I was able to make two observations from our café philo. Our group had voted to pick its own most important question rather than attempt to answer any one of the ten questions Conversation Week had proposed. It would then be safe to surmise that members of our group were not completely satisfied with the ten questions. However, the questions our members deemed most important at our café philo are very eerily similar to the ten questions. Our questions were about sustainability, leadership and our conduct. The second observation came to me as we were trying to understand the questions that members of our group had proposed. In our previous café philo, I had read the questions from Conversation Week, but we did not attempt to clarify them. This time, I thought it was important that we all had the same understanding of the questions, the same idea as to what they meant. But the clarification stage of this café, much to my surprise, consisted mostly in trying out answers to the questions as if the way to understand a question was to venture an answer to it and observe how the questioner would respond to that response.
***Contact Bernard Roy at
[email protected]
De Bilt, Netherlands
Question: Be the Change. The number of guests was 17.
Insights: Many of the participants expressed a very pleastant surprise at the effectiveness of the Conversation Cafe methods, which was voiced by one participant very nicely, "A CC makes dialogue possible again; that's my conclusion!"
***Contact Eugene Boeldak,
[email protected] or 0031653425727
Patricia Koster,
[email protected] or Tel. 0031618841862
Karin Sorbi,
[email protected] or Tel. 0031653585350
Vleuten, Netherlands
Question: Leadership Today. The number of guests was 9.
Insights: Many of the participants expressed a very pleastant surprise at the effectiveness of the Conversation Cafe methods, which was voiced by one participant very nicely, "A CC makes dialogue possible again; that's my conclusion!"
***Contact Eugene Boeldak,
[email protected] or 0031653425727
Patricia Koster,
[email protected] or Tel. 0031618841862
Karin Sorbi,
[email protected] or Tel. 0031653585350
Santa Cruz, CA
Question: What does sustainability mean?
Insights: We explored sustainability from multiple perspectives: relationships, environment, community, economics. Our exploration lead us to a discussion of values: in the US we seem to value acquisition, mobility, rarified experiences. These all consume relationships, resources. We need a fundamental shift in values to achieve sustainability. Community with vision...
www.peacebeginswithus.com ***Contact Kathryn Gorges
[email protected] Tel. 831-325-6158.
Website:
www.peacebeginswithus.com
New York, NY
Socratic Conversation
Questions: What Kind of Leadership Does the World Need Now?;
What Can We Do to Reduce or Eliminate Violence in the World?;
How Can We Best Prepare Our Children for the Future?;
What is the Most Important Question to Discuss Now, for You?;
What Does Sustainability Look Like to You? How Do We Get There?;
Insights: What's crucial isn't the Who, Where, When, or How. It's the WHY! So WHY is it worth doing? How did this Conversation-rich week affect my mind and spirit? Mainly, with new questions! These Conversations have opened my heart. Constantly hearing new voices, new stories, new accents, new perspectives, new ways of thinking and feeling, has affected how I relate to people. I find now that I assume that every new person I meet may have something interesting and valuable for me, and that it's well worth the time it takes to elicit it from them. More...
***Contact Ron Gross
[email protected]
YELLOW START
Athens, OH
Question: What do humans need to do to adapt to the changes predicted for this century?
Insights:People reported that they had been feeling scared and did not feel they could talk with others about it. During and after the conversation, folks said they felt better. It was clear that the conversation was an active way to help relieve some of the so-called eco-anxiety that people are feeling. The conversation allowed us to act locally with a direct link to the global community. The linkage was empowering. Everyone had great ideas to share, were inspired, and driven to pursue next steps. Thank you Conversation Cafe's!!!
***Contact Kathy Jacobson, The Broadwell Hill Learning Center
[email protected] or Tel. 740-448-4000
Lake Forest, WA
***Contact Johanna Fjellman
Tel. 425-402-7973
YELLOW START
Utrescht, Netherlands
Question: From I to We. The number of guests was 8.
Insights: Many of the participants expressed a very pleastant surprise at the effectiveness of the Conversation Cafe methods, which was voiced by one participant very nicely, "A CC makes dialogue possible again; that's my conclusion!"
***Contact Eugene Boeldak,
[email protected] or 0031653425727
Patricia Koster,
[email protected] or Tel. 0031618841862
Karin Sorbi,
[email protected] or Tel. 0031653585350
Denver, CO
***Contact Bret H. Roberts or Tel. 303-386-3677
YELLOW START
Vancouver, Canada
Question: What kind of leadership is needed in the world today? Supplementary question: What is the most important question in the world today to you?
Insights: The question resonated strongly in our small circle -- our dialogue encompassed both individual leadership practices and the leadership potential we could leverage in our corporations and governments. Corporate "crowd-sourcing" enabling grassroots leadership, Mandela's approach to "leading from behind", the wisdom of enabling the fringes of our societies, the emergence of
collaborative leadership styles, the importance of accountability ensuring we get the leaders we really want, and the centrality of vision to leadership, were all explored. We felt as a group that we covered a lot of ground in a short period of time, and felt the need to weave together more of our contributions into a coherent overall picture.
***Contact Laura MacKay,
[email protected] or Tel. 604-813-1763
Austin, TX
Question: How can we balance our personal needs with the most pressing needs of our community and the larger world?
Insights: The initial question seemed to pull in several other questions as well, however, as we began responding to it: issues of "Me to We", sustainability, the future for our children, and others came to the fore, showing how many of these questions have significant impacts in our lives and the lives of others when we reflect on them. The challenges and crises are real, but the conversation helped to balance them out with some hope and creative possibilities that call us into community and continued action in support of personal wellbeing and global healing. The outcome of the dialogue was a recognition that we can act personally and interpersonally in our local communities and also support the ongoing efforts of others who are at work around the planet to bring greater balance, peace, and prosperity to all.
***Contact Anoek Inbar
[email protected] or Tel. 512-502-8111
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
***Contact RonaLynn Fitzpatrick
[email protected] or Tel. 204-297-7183
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
***Contact Brenda Gibbs or John Griffith
[email protected] or Tel. 403-210-2802
Mountain City, TN
Question: What kind of economic structures can best support a shift to sustainable living?
Insights: The prime thrust of the discussion was an emphasis on stronger communities: barter, locally based business, etc.
***Contact Ken Lebensold
[email protected] or 423-727-8027
Kunghur, NSW, Australia
***Contact Brigitte Kupfer
[email protected] or Tel. 0061-417 847 898
San Jose, CA
***Contact Bob and Dorothy Roller or Tel. 408-288-6751
Victoria, BC, Canada
***Contact Tamara Schwartzentruber
[email protected] or Tel. 250-381-3773 or 250-472-2746
Christchurch, New Zealand
***Contact John Stephen Veitch
[email protected] or Skype: johnsveitch
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
***Contact Monica Pohlmann
[email protected] or Tel. 403-270-2648
London, United Kingdom
***Contact Isabel Carlisle
[email protected] or Tel. 0044 207 609 3734
Portland, OR
Better Living Show
Question: What does sustainability look like to you? How do we get there?
Question: What kind of economic structures and incentives can best support a shift to sustainable living?
Question: How do we shift from “Me” to “We” on both the local and global levels?
***Contact Michael O'Loughlin at
[email protected] or Tel. 503-880-3642
OR Stephanie Frisch at
[email protected] or 360-901-8375
Marlborough, MA
Question: How to be the change that we desire?
Insights: Rather than fault the politicians who are six degrees separated from us and therefore unchangeable by us, we should focus on changing ourselves and those people around us who are in our first degree of separation. That is where we can effect change, and be affected by that change. Learn to experience peace – don't just want it. Teach/learn empathy, critical analysis, ethics, justice, and conflict management. Make these personal and not part of a political party or religion or philosophy.
***Contact David Kimball, [email protected]
Los Angeles, CA
***Contact Jessica Farley
[email protected] or Tel. 310-633-3585
http://team.gaia.com/blog/2008/3/gaia_gatherings_and_conversations#comments
Langley, WA
Question: What kind of leadership does the world need now?"
Insights: Our big aha was that no one person can lead well in complex times so we need new models of collaborative leadership where each person brings strengths.
***Contact Marilyn Saunders
[email protected] or Tel. 360-221-2306
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Laurier Students Public Interest Reaserch Group
***Contact Bryn Ossington
[email protected] or 519- 500-8251
Kaitangata, New Zealand
***Contact Karen McIntyre
[email protected] or Tel. 643 4139394
Promyri, Pelion, Greece
***Contact Filiz Telek
[email protected] or Tel. +30 242 307 1293
Boulder, CO
Peacemaker Institute on Commonwealth Islands, Second Life
***Contact Kate Crisp
[email protected] or Tel. 303-544-5923
Welgemoed, South Africa
***Contact Louise van Rhyn
[email protected] or Tel. 082 449 1414
Queensland, Australia
***Contact Cathy Campbell
[email protected] or Tel. +61(0)405505544
Liverpool, United Kingdom
***Contact Marc Quinn
[email protected] or Tel. +447515572076
Cotia, SP, Brazil
***Contact Tarcisio Cardieri
[email protected] or Tel. 55-11-4613-2359
Cabrils, Barcelona, Spain
***Contact Mick Quinn
[email protected] or Tel. (34) 937 53 8844
Bowen Island, BC, Canada
***Contact Prudence Moore
[email protected] or Tel. 604-880-1041
Bangalore, India
***Contact Sudheindra R.Shidleepur
[email protected] or Tel. 91-080-9448282543
Mexico City, Mexico
Questions: How can you be the change you want to see in the world? and What does sustainability mean to you?
Insights: I had three different conversations. One face to face and another online via skype.
CONVERSATION 1 In this link I give the context for conversationweek and we answer the question about 'What does sustainability mean to you' from the stand point of biomimicry (dialogue on living systems, nature and how species relate to each other to learn from them in our path towards sustainability). It's a conversation in interview format with Gauthier Chappelle from The Institute of Biomimicry Europa. It's about 25 mins. long.
http://luvina.gaia.com/blog/2008/3/what_does_sustainability_mean_for_you
CONVERSATION 2 In this conversation we are 3 people in process very aware of the recording as a way of providing feedback to Conversation Week harvesting. This recording also gives a sense of our process and facilitation. Our question is 'How can you be the change you want to see in the world` where we share what is meaningful for us as individuals, we share our practices, experiences and thoughts in regards of personal development and our work in collective intelligence and social networks. This conversation is 17 min. long.
http://luvina.gaia.com/blog/2008/3/be_the_change_you_want_to_see_in_the_world
CONVERSATION 3 This conversation took place in global mindshift around the question on Economic structures. I was not the host. It was a beautiful and interesting dialogue where people came from different perspectives but managed to honor the other or at least move aside. I enjoyed it.
BLOG ABOUT CONVERSATION WEEK
I did a small blog post about my experience of conversation week from the standpoint of a very amazed participant and host.
http://luvina.gaia.com/blog/2008/3/actions_tools_processes_for_conversations
***Contact Fernanda Ibarra, [email protected] or Tel. +52(55) 55597725