Events, Programs and Conferences of NCDD
NCDD runs high-energy, highly participatory events which bring together practitioners, scholars, public leaders, trainers, artists, activists, teachers, and students from across this critically important field. We have held three successful biennial national conferences so far, involving nearly 1,000 people from 18 different countries.
In addition to our flagship conferences, we inspired the Canadian Conferences on Dialogue & Deliberation into being and helped launch several regional D&D conferences that have since formed ongoing networks. In order to help advance the rapidly-growing dialogue and deliberation community, we also regularly lend our support to events and projects run by our partners.
Join us at the 2008 National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation!
The 2008 NCDD conference will take place in Austin, Texas October 3-5, 2008, with some great pre-conference trainings on Thursday, October 2nd. The conference will be held at the beautiful Renaissance Austin Hotel. We welcome you to learn more about the Austin conference, register now if you plan to join us (the super-low $300 early bird rate is only in effect until May 16th), apply to present a workshop, submit an innovation session, or suggest a networking topic, or fill out our Interest Form so we can keep you updated on conference news.
Show Your Support for the 2008 NCDD Conference
Are you or your organization dedicated to solving problems through honest talk, quality thinking and collaborative action? Would you like to show your leadership in this area to the movers-and-shakers in the rapidly growing dialogue and deliberation community? If so, please consider supporting the 2008 conference by Co-Sponsoring or Partnering with us!
Use the NCDD Events Blog to Stay Informed and Share Ideas
Use the conference blog to keep track the planning team’s progress, and to share your ideas and feedback with the team! We encourage you to visit regularly, subscribe to our RSS feed, or get new posts sent to you via email (see the bottom of the sidebar). We’ll be adding updates, posing questions and posting info as we work to bring you the best NCDD conference yet. Be sure to check the Feedback Wanted category to let the planning team know what you think about the ideas we come up with or the challenges we’re tackling.
2006 National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation
The third NCDD conference took place in downtown San Francisco, California in August 2006. Download the 2006 conference guidebook to see descriptions of all the plenary sessions and workshops that were held during the conference, details about the speakers, presenters and artists who joined us for the weekend and a complete listing of everyone who made the conference possible.
You can also visit the main 2006 NCDD Conference page to learn more than you’d ever care to know about our third conference.
The Sights & Sounds of the 2006 Conference
One of the many online social media tools our conference Tech Team utilized (and introduced to many of us) was the popular photo sharing site Flickr. As a result, there are over 550 (!) photos from the conference available on the web for your perusal. But it doesn’t stop there! We were podcasting via cell phone, videotaping our large-group sessions and capturing mini-movies. On the low tech end of things, many of our sessions were graphically recorded and our participant’s artistic skills were put to the test at the Peace Tiles exhibit. Click here to view/listen/watch all of this stuff.
Conference Blog
The 2006 conference marked the fist time we attempted to offer access to programming and materials live over the internet, and we did this through the 2006 Conference Blog. Managed by the fabulous Loretta Donovan of Worksmarts and maintained by a dedicated group of technologists, including Beth Kanter (a non-profit technology consultant) and Chris Heuer (of BrainJam!), the blog offered a peek inside the event for those who couldn’t be there. We’ve since transferred some of the most interesting blog posts from 2006 to our new Events Blog. Check out this wonderful snapshot of the 2006 gathering — you’ll find live insights, mini-movies and even a few audio clips.
NCDD 2006 Sponsors & Supporters
The 2006 NCDD Conference was funded, in part, by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The Whitman Institute, and by leading dialogue and deliberation organizations including the Forum Foundation, the Public Conversations Project and the Study Circles Resource Center. Visit this page to see a complete list of the generous organizations and individuals that helped make the 2006 NCDD Conference the amazing event that it was. A special thank you goes out to the Whitman Institute and all the volunteers that helped us set up for the conference.
2004 National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation
Our second NCDD conference took place in Denver, Colorado October 23-25, 2004, followed by trainings on Tuesday, October 26th. The conference took place on the campus of Regis University, with support from the Regis-based Institute on the Common Good.
2004 Conference Report
In October 2004, over 300 people came together for the second National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation. The main purpose of the gathering was to encourage conference attendees and planners, together, to continue developing this important, growing field of practice. Networking, experiencing different methods, sharing learnings, hearing from leaders in the field, exploring key issues facing the field - all of these are field-building activities, and all were given a place at the 2004 NCDD Conference.
2004 Event Guidebook
The 2004 conference guidebook is available for download in PDF format. It includes a complete schedule of events, lists all the conference sessions, workshops and post-conference trainings, along with information about the location and arts programming at the conference. Although not as comprehensive as the conference report (though the above report does not give a complete list of sessions), the guidebook provides an excellent look at the structure of the conference.
You are also welcome to look over the results of the online needs assessment we conducted before the 2004 conference, and the summary of the highly-rated Playback Theatre session at the conference.
2002 National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation
The first-ever National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation took place in Alexandria, Virginia October 4-6, 2002, with pre-conference activities on Thursday, October 3rd. The conference was held at the Radisson Alexandria, just south of Washington, DC.
2002 Conference Report
This 28-page report includes a letter from the conference director outlining what worked and what could be improved, a list of who made the conference happen, a listing of all workshops offered at the conference, a description of the three plenary sessions and their outcomes, descriptions of the 12 “next steps groups” that formed at the conference, and a detailed look at whether we met our initial goals. In addition to the 2002 Conference Report (.pdf), you are welcome to look over the results of evaluations on the 2002 conference and the results of the online needs assessment we conducted to find out what people might want out of a national conference on D&D.
Get Involved with Our Events!
If you’re interested in attending, exhibiting, co-sponsoring, or just staying informed as we plan future events, email NCDD’s Office Manager, Joy Garman at joy@thataway.org and let her know. Our events are planned collaboratively by people with all levels of experience in dialogue & deliberation, and the planning teams are open to your suggestions and ideas. Email NCDD director Sandy Heierbacher at sandy@thataway.org with any ideas you may have. We look forward to hearing from you!
Follow these links to learn more about our conferences…
© 2003-2008 National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation.
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