Conversation Café News

It's HERE! Conversation Week 2008 is starting now. March 24-30, 2008!! You'll find everything you need to host your CW event here, and be sure to participate in the CW survey to help develop the questions for this exciting global event.

You are invited to get on board and participate in the whole ride. Conversation Week will be as big, grand and global as we make it.

Here's how the roll out will go between now and the last week in March.

• In January we invite all hosts as well as experts around the world in dialogue and global issues to submit their ideas for what are the most important questions in the world today.
• In February we invite anyone, anywhere to vote on the best questions so we can get consensus about what's uppermost on people's minds everywhere.
• By mid-February updated manuals and promotion materials will be available on the web.
• In early March we'll provide ample phone training for all new and old hosts so everyone feels ready for their Conversation Week conversation.
• By Mid-March the 10 BIG QUESTIONS will be announced and the PR will go out. If you have advertising, marketing or public relations experience and want to use your talents promote Conversation Week far and wide, please be in touch with our CC Administrator.
• And the last week in March you and hundreds of other hosts on every continent will gather people in cafes, libraries, cafeterias, living rooms and other rooms to entertain the questions - and allow them to entertain, fascinate and provoke you.
• In April we'll gather insights from every conversation – and find ways to tell the world what we learned together.

We've been asking folks for additional ways in which we can support your CC endeavors and we were given a number of great ideas. While not all are implemented yet, we are definitely working towards making the CC website an invaluable tool for hosts.

Some of the new features are:

• The Latest information on CW 2008
• A Featured CC Page
• A CC Event Photo Gallery
• An Observed Events Calendar
• A Host Learning Circle Calendar with a mapping feature to help folks find your event
• A Weblog for sharing Reflections about your CC events
• A New Online Community Forum

Hopefully the new layout and organization will make the website easier to navigate. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you find something not functioning as it should be.

by Ron Gross, Socratic Conversations; Co-chair, Columbia University Seminar on Innovation; columnist, ABOUT.com

In this new column, Ron Gross will share ideas, techniques, and experiences, including topics for sessions, facilitation strategies, and promotional tips. Ron conducts his Socratic Conversations at Columbia University and throughout New York City, writes a column on lifelong learning for About.com, and is the author of SOCRATES' WAY (www.SocratesWay.com) and 20 other books. While the form of Socratic conversations is somewhat different from Conversation Cafés, the principles and intentions are very much the same. His (and Socrates') wisdom can help us all have livelier, richer, deeper conversations.
-Vicki Robin


You're an African-American, and you come to work one morning to find a noose hanging on the knob of  your office door.  

It happened to Madonna Constantine at Teachers College, Columbia University, a couple of months ago.

The immediate response to this shocking act was just what one would hope for.  The entire College community rallied to denounce the incident. Students gathered in the street outside Constantine's office shouting “We've got your back.”   There was a Town Meeting where everyone could express their reactions.  There were special meetings of departments,  administrative units, and other work-groups to address the issues.  Changes were initiated in policies and practices.

So I was surprised when I received a call asking if I would conduct a Socratic Conversation as an additional response.  (I  facilitate such sessions twice a month on the campus.)  What might  such a conversation add, that was not already being achieved by the outpouring of support, sympathy, and commitment?

To encourage a different kind of discussion, I titled  the  session “Nooses”, because it seemed important to define the scope more broadly than the specific incident at TC.   (Already, over 20 “copy-cat” nooses had appeared throughout the Greater New York region, as well as some swastikas targeted at Jewish people and institutions).

She opened The Red Vic in 1977 and has hosted over 250,000 people from all over the world.  Patrons of the B&B participate in the conversations along with invited guests and drop-ins.  The conversations are free and a continental breakfast is available for five dollars.  Prepared breakfasts and brunches are also offered. A glass fish bowl of topics is in the middle of the table to suggest topics related to personal insights and experiences acquired through travel or in the course of life.

Her hosting of conversations started about six years ago and has evolved into what it is today. A round "Conversation Table" is always prominent up front in the café and people are encouraged to invite strangers from other tables or somebody they met the previous day to join in the conversation.  "We take "anybody God sends thru the door"  They come from all over the world. Many times they come to stay in our Peace Bed & Breakfast and to experience our famed Haight Street , home to the Summer of Love in1967. We look for differences in culture, race, gender, age.

By David Kimball, Conversation Café Host

A Book Review on "Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together" by William Isaacs

This is a great book to make you stop and think about what makes for great dialogue. It helps you ask the right questions such is "How do I define great dialogue?. How can I create the environment for great dialogue? What are the elements that make up a great dialogue?"

The author defines dialogue as a conversation with a center, and not with sides. Instead of focusing on our differences, it channels our energies on something that is newly created. It is even more than finding a consensus as it is a context from which many new associations and prospects can be presented.

We often feature excellent articles we've collected about conversations that matter. We welcome readers to forward powerful articles to us. Send your submission to our CC Administrator.

Check the website for information regarding the next HLC event and other HLC services.

January 30, 2008:
5:00 pm-6:30 pm PST Join our own Susan Partnow, professional trainer and CC co-founder, for a telephone training Jan. 30th at 5:00pm -6:30pm Pacific Standard Time. Sign up yourself, or (and!) forward the newsletter along to other folks you know who would enjoy a jump-start into CC hosting. A donation of $18 for this 90-minute training is requested.

These trainings are offered quarterly; however, more trainings will be offered in preparation for Conversation Week 2008. Check the website for future host training opportunities.

To register contact [email protected]