What is an instant Conversation Café?
Typically a Conversation Café is a "same place, same time" event, set up for a particular day of the week to occur weekly, bimonthly, or monthly. Many hosts find that they need to actively promote their scheduled event in order to have "critical mass" for a vibrant discussion. This slow brew investment pays off big for most hosts, with dedicated regulars joined by drop-in stangers who stir up the pot with fresh perspective.
But another adventursome possibility is to convene an instant conversation anywhere and any place where people are hanging out for a chunk of time and might love a chance to connect with other people, if only they knew how. Think crowded airport gates when a flight has just been announced hours delayed. Or your kid's school's family potluck when the small talk gets annoying. Or on a long cross country or overseas flight (especially if you manage to sit in seats that face other passengers). Here are a couple of stories that might inspire you too to become a conversation catalyst.
Conversation at 18 Knots
by Leslie Schneider
On board the Alaskan ferry the Ketchikan, I knew that we would have a long afternoon and evening ahead of us. Even taking in the beautiful scenery and catching a geology lecture to the Elder Hostel group on board, it was clear that many passengers were killing time.On vacation for a week with my father to explore Southeast Alaska for the first time, I was thoroughly enjoying the novelty of having a tiny berth and immense vistas. I was starting to recognize a few people on board, but I had chatted with only two or three in the past 24 hours since boarding in Bellingham, WA. We wouldn't arrive at our first destination, the town of Ketchikan, until the next morning.
Determined to try out the idea of an 'instant' Conversation Café, I walked around the ship handing out the little wallet cards saying "I'm organizing a group of folks for a conversation on the topic of 'what do you get out of travel?'. We'll be meeting at the front of the boat in about 10 minutes. Would you like to join us?" I was able to make a little announcement to the Elder Hostel group at the end of the geology talk And it was a fun excuse to poke in on the folks camping up in the open air of the solarium.
Initially, eight people showed up! My father and I made 10, so I split the group up after introducing the process and agreements. My group gained a couple of latecomers, so we had 12 in all.
My group was fairly diverse along gender and age. We had a native Alaskan named Michelle, who grew up just south of Anchorage. She said that she had long ago set for herself the goal of exploring every nook and cranny of Alaska. She's made good on that promise and then some, working her way - literally - to some pretty isolated places in Alaska but also the exotic warmer ports of call such as Cabo in Mexico.
Michelle recalled a time when she was teaching her daughter some of her entrepreneurship with a food stand just a block from where the cruise ships came in. She told us she finally blew up at the fifth tourist to stop at her stand and ask directions to the McDonalds. That became part of a larger conversation on the positive and negative local impacts of tourism. Annette, the Elder Hostel coordinator, had lived in Denali (the little town near Mr. McKinley) since before big commercialization hit. She talked passionately about the "taking" without giving back of many tourists.
Ryan, a 20's something on his way to summer employment, posed the question "How much does fear plan a part in travel?" We agreed that fear partly explains why the controlled environments of cruise ships are so popular. But Annette pointed out that once "off the boat" Europeans were much more adventuresome than Americans, not worrying about taking a small hike on the chance that they would meet a bear, for instance. This statement added data to my own interest in testing the claim by Noam Chomsky that Americans have much more fear that anyone else in the world. Annette also mentioned greenmaps.org as a potential antidote to the industrial tourism trend. And I mentioned peacefulworldtravel.com as another effort to offer the traveler more intimate, local, and responsible choices.
None of the folks who participated in our conversations had ever heard of them before, but everyone went away feeling that their time had been well spent, and a few mentioned that they would "try this at home." I highly recommend ferries as great travel venues for "instant" Conversation Cafés, but beware of the "ocean motion" if you are sensitive to seasickness! I spent a nervous 20 minutes or so as we went through some open ocean.
Getting Auroville Talking
by Sami Sunchild
I was recently a 6-week resident guest in Auroville, the "City of Dawn" in India, where I went to learn in person how that brave experiment in spiritual community is faring. I got an ear-full and a heart-full and did my best to contribute my own work in global community while I was there."What better place to launch a series of Conversation Cafés," I said to myself, than at the planetary antipod of the United States west coast where they were born?".
Thus did I find myself approaching people seated at tables at Auroville's outdoor Solar Café. "Hello," I said boldly. "We are going to have a World Conversation over at that table in the corner in fifteen minutes. The subject will be how we each feel about the communications we are experiencing between Auroville residents and visitors. Come on over if you'd like to join us."
A folded book-size card I had made saying "World Conversation" stood on a round table in the corner. Folks drifted over and our first Conversation had 14 people, including some I had previously invited. We split into two groups and this hot topic brought forth some lively comments. World conversations over the next weeks including the disparity between luxurious living conditions of some members and the primitive homes of others. "Are Aurovillians finding an answer for the global problems of inequities of housing?" we asked ourselves.
This conversation gathering proved itself over three consecutive weeks, attended by both visitors and members of the community. "One of our greatest needs," an Aurovillian said to me later, "is communication." Lliving together but spread over so much land, many of us don't even know each other, let alone know what we are all doing."
Aurovillains are of many cultures and languages, and they are daring to come together in commitment to demonstrating a higher evolution of the human species. The World Conversations was my humble contribution and one of the members, Mikael, has promised to carry them on. If you should decide to visit, this part of India has climatic extremes and in the hottest months there are few visitors. But if you partake of the offerings of this community in December through Feb, be sure to drop in to the Solar Café and see how they are doing.