Getting Started    

If you are new to dialogue & deliberation, new to the NCDD website, or new to the breadth of dialogue & deliberation (“D&D”) approaches out there, we encourage you to familiarize yourself with the following resources.

For Starters…

Beginners to D&D should look over the What are Dialogue & Deliberation? page for a description of these processes (and the difference between the two), info about how they’re really being used, and an outline of what a typical D&D program looks like.

If you’re interested in initiating a dialogue and deliberation program in your own community, workplace or school, look over our new resource that describes the steps that are typically involved in running a D&D program and lists some how-to tools that provide you with a great starting place based on the type of program you’re planning to run.

You can also check out the Quotes about D&D and Why do D&D Matter? pages, where you’ll find quotes by some of the top leaders in the field explaining why D&D are vital for the health of your community, your country, and the entire planet.

Quick Reference Glossary

There are numerous streams of practice running parallel in the broader dialogue & deliberation community (deliberative democracy, intergroup dialogue, conflict transformation, etc.), and they have each developed their own terminology for what they do. We hope our glossary helps you make sense of it all!

NCDD’s Engagement Streams Framework

This valuable resource helps people decide which dialogue and deliberation method(s) are most appropriate for their circumstances and resources. NCDD’s Engagement Streams Framework has been used by numerous D&D practitioners to help public managers, community leaders and others understand their options for public engagement.

Go to http://ncdd.org/rc/item/2142 to download the framework, a series of two charts that categorize the D&D methods into four streams based on intention or purpose (Exploration, Conflict Transformation, Decision Making, and Collaborative Action), and show which of the most well-known methods have proven themselves effective in which streams.

“Deliberative Dialogue to Expand Civic Engagement: What Kind of Talk Does Democracy Need?”

This great article by Martha McCoy and Pat Scully distinguishes deliberation from dialogue and discusses the merits of “the marriage of deliberation and dialogue.” Although the article focuses on the Study Circles process, it is a great introduction to public engagement processes and their principles. This is a very readable 19-page article that we highly recommend you take the time to read. Download Deliberative Dialogue to Expand Civic Engagement now.

D&D Models & Techniques

NCDD has gathered and developed detailed (but not overly-long) descriptions of many of the leading models of dialogue and deliberation. Included whenever possible is specific information about what circumstances the models are best suited for, information about the organizations and networks affiliated with the model, and resources that are recommended for learning more about the model.

You may have already heard of some of these models – Study Circles, Sustained Dialogue, Wisdom Council, AmericaSpeaks’ 21st Century Town Meeting, Deliberative Polling, Appreciative Inquiry, World Cafe, and so on – and we recommend that you look over what’s posted about the models and techniques that you’re not too familiar with.

“Big Picture” Tools

NCDD has been tracking the resources out there that help people in this rapidly-growing community / field / movement to get a handle on their options. In the Big Picture Tools category in our Resource Center, you’ll find matrices that outline the D&D field and closely related fields, resources that categorize the field in various ways, and articles that provide helpful overviews of the field or large segments of the field.

Guides to Dialogue and Deliberation

In the Manuals & Guides category in our Resource Center, NCDD provides an annotated, linked listing of guidebooks that help you organize, convene, and facilitate dialogue & deliberation processes. Dialogue guides, issue books, and facilitator/moderator guides are included in this category.

Dialogue & Deliberation Success Stories

D&D practitioners often need documentation that shows that these processes really do make an impact, and success stories are one way to demonstrate to funders, government officials, community leaders and others that this stuff does work! This resource provides dozens of links to dialogue and deliberation Case Studies & Stories that are available online. Approaches covered on the D&D Success Stories page in the Resource Center include Deliberative Polling, Citizens Juries, Future Search, National Issues Forums, Jewish-Palestinian Dialogue, AmericaSpeaks, Study Circles, the Public Conversations Project, and Wisdom Councils.

Trainings & Educational Opportunities

Interested in receiving training in a specific method? Getting your master’s degree in conflict transformation? Or just learning more about dialogue and deliberation in a more structured setting? Look over the listings in our Trainings & Educational Opportunities category in the Resource Center to learn about some of the options that are available to you.