The World Cafe: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter

by Juanita Brown, David Isaacs, World Cafe Community

The World Cafe is a flexible, easy-to-use process for fostering collaborative dialogue, sharing mutual knowledge, and discovering new opportunities for action. Based on living systems thinking, this innovative approach creates dynamic networks of conversation that can catalyze an organization or community's own collective intelligence around its most important questions.
Filled with stories of actual Cafe dialogues in business, education, government, and community organizations across the globe, this uniquely crafted book demonstrates how the World Cafe can be adapted to any setting or culture. Examples from such varied organizations as Hewlett-Packard, American Society for Quality, the nation of Singapore, the University of Texas, and many others, demonstrate the process in action.
Along with its seven core design principles, The World Cafe offers practical tips for hosting "conversations that matter" in groups of any size- strengthening both personal relationships and people's capacity to shape the future together.

Genres: Leadership, Business, Nonfiction, Communication, Education, Self Help, Sociology

264 pages, Paperback

First published April 10, 2005

Reviews

[Philip Mizener · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Inspiring Introduction to hosting conversations that matter
I found the essays by different practitioners in the field of group dialogue and facilitation gave a real flavour to the spirit and title of the book. It was my first introduction to a more detailed examination of what World Café dialogue is all about and I find it quite a foundational book, contrasting the more traditional view of Talk then Action, with a richer view of layers of dialogue , action, and further dialogue. I found the explanatory text and visuals summarizing the key principles , (Set the context; Create hospitable space; Explore Questions that matter; Encourage Everyone`s contributions ; Connect Diverse perspectives; Listen Together for insights; Share Collective discoveries ) very helpful.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

What Matters Most?

In a world in which we live and work in technological isolation, World Cafe holds the promise of conversations of real meaning. Who knows maybe conservatives and progressives could find some common ground. I liked the explication of the Spirit of World Cafe. It's not technique. It's a vehicle for creating a world of our choosing.

[Ryan Barretto · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book which details possibilities of the power of conversation , if only people are allowed to have the conversations that matter. The authors have taken the time to detail out the exact steps required to run a cafe conversation. The 7 principles provide great insights not just about the process, but I find that I discovered something about myself too.

This book will be frequently referred to, as long as possible.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea of the World Cafe is great; the book is only so-so.

[Aja · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the The World Cafe, but I'm not so sure that this book is the best tool to learn how to do it. Although I guess it does get to the heart of the process.

[Fabian Ruiz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely a wonderful and moving subject. The book does seem more like it was framed to be a business model. Nonetheless, it was a very organized method of creating good discussion in groups.

[Richfield Branch · Rating 3 out of 5]

World Cafe's create a place for strategic dialogues, for a "community" of people to come together to reach strategic solutions.
The room is set up just like a cafe. Small, round tables for more personable dialogue. Paper and markers for participants to write notes and respond. There is a table host which stays at the table while transitions occur, and recaps what was discussed when new people come to the table. Transitions happen to get people up and meeting new people and hearing new thoughts. Questions are always open ended. Usually someone has a "speaking object"- this person holds the object while speaking. The object is passed when someone else would like to speak. This slows down the conversation and helps to have only one voice speaking. With paper tablecloths and markers, the conversation and thoughts are documented. At the end, this could be a great closing to do a gallery walk of all the tables, and can serve as a springboard to keep convo going.
Great open questions: What question, if answered could make the greatest difference to the future of the situation we are exploring her? What's important to you about this? What opportunities are there? What do we need to learn? And then, what is taking shape here? What are we hearing underneath? What new connections or insights are gathering speed? What would it take to create change on this issue? What is possible here? (pg 173)

[Joanne Greene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book on a method of gaining insight into problems and coming up with workable solutions. It is an interesting idea, and I would need to see it in practice to be able to more cogently discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the approach.

[Andrew]

As referenced in What Matters at Work.

[Peter Van · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book confirms my thinking about conversation and it's position at the heart of innovation, collaboration and learning.

[V Massaglia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this book. I learned a lot of great facilitation skills.

[Yapaag · Rating 5 out of 5]

i like it

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Juanita Brown and David Isaacs share stories and techniques of their methods for community dialogue and engagement to foster innovation, healing, and strengthening. Recommended for those interested in reviving and renewing communities or businesses and also for leaders.

[Derek Chen · Rating 3 out of 5]

World cafe is good practice to come out ideas from a lot of people, but this book is so-so. This book give a lot of real examples to tell you world cafe is good. For facilitator or host, we want to know how to facilitate or how to use this tool.

[Dennis Podryadchikov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent guide on having meaningful and productive conversations that change worldviews.

[Bridget · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent read for grad school, though a 200 page book that could've been pared down by about 50 pages.

[dv · Rating 3 out of 5]

Powerful facilitating approach to foster open conversations in a friendly environment.