Friday 4-5:30 pm

Meet some of the movers-and-shakers in the field, and learn about some of the newest and most innovative D&D tools, resources, and programs during this 90-minute plenary session. Presenters include…

American Citizen Summit: The First-Ever Transpartisan National Convention

Joseph McCormick, Co-Founder and Chairman of Reuniting America

In honor of Abraham Lincoln’s Bicentennial next February the Transpartisan Alliance, a network of networks building bridges among individuals and organizations from all political points of view, will convene the first ever Transpartisan National Convention.  For four days political pioneers from all sides will come together in search of effective strategies for transforming the politcal process from win/lose to win/win by the next presidential election. www.transpartisan.net

Citizens’ Parliament in Australia and DIY D&D

Brian Sullivan, Founder of Practical Evolution, LLC and developer of CivicEvolution and Janette Hartz-Karp, Professor of Sustainability at the Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute (CUSP) at Curtin University in Perth

The question “How can Australia’s political system be strengthened to serve us better?” will be addressed by over 2000 online participants who will develop proposals in self-managed teams. These proposals will feed into a three-day 21st century town hall style parliament involving 150 of the participants.

The Civic Canopy: Civil Society as Learning Organization

Bill Fulton, Executive Director and Drew O’Connor, Senior Associate, The Civic Canopy

The creation of learning communities lies at the heart of improving results in many fields–from health care to education to business.  The Civic Canopy, a Denver-based civic engagement network, is exploring ways engage the broader network of civil society organizations in this same practice by engaging communities in dialogue around common civic outcomes, providing them with actionable data linked to common outcomes, and the connecting them in a network of collaborative partners to reach those goals. www.civiccanopy.org

Climate Action Labs

Phil Mitchell, Director of the Greater Seattle Climate Dialogues

Action Labs are an outgrowth of our Climate Dialogue circles. They are a collaborative process designed to help people answer the question, What can we do that will really make a difference? www.climatedialogues.org/labs

Coming to the Table

Phoebe Kilby, Director, and Amy Potter, Assistant Director, Practice and Training Institute, Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University

The Coming to the Table project is a network and learning community of descendants of slave-holders and descendants of enslaved people as well as others committed to healing from the legacy of US slavery.  Please join us at Dr. King’s symbolic table of brother and sisterhood. www.emu.edu/cjp/comingtothetable/

Community Weaving

Cheryl Honey, Founder of the Family Support Network

Community Weaving is an innovative  approach to transform the “culture of community” across systems/departments by fostering a village affect. Free web-based tools enable the pooling of human and tangible resources to build up and bridge social capital and create Family Support Networks within the community. Community Weaving opens space for dialogue, innovation and creativity to emerge sparking a community spirit. www.communityweaving.org or www.familynetwork.org

Conversation as Conscious Evolution

Tom Atlee, Founder and President of the Co-Intelligence Institute and Peggy Holman, Co-Editor of The Change Handbook

Evolution arises from the interaction of diverse entities in challenging and/or supportive contexts. Conversation is how humans evolve together consciously — and it is our main tool for meeting civilization’s evolutionary challenges today. www.co-intelligence.org/EvolutionaryAgentry.html

Countywide Community Forums

John Spady, Executive Vice President of the Forum Foundation

King County, Washington, and the Forum Foundation in Seattle, have created a space for registered “Citizen Councilors” across the county to contribute their opinions on critical regional issues. Our first forum brought together 549 councilors to share opinions about the critical issue of regional transportation. http://metrokc.gov/auditor/CCF

Deliberation on a National Scale

Lucas Cioffi, Co-Founder of DeepDebate.Org

The mission of DeepDebate.Org is to harness collective intelligence by making large-scale conversations easy, fun, and productive. www.deepdebate.org

Deliberative Polling

Jim Fishkin, Chair of Communication Department & Director of the Center for Deliberative Democracy at Stanford University; Robert Luskin, Professor at University of Texas at Austin and Advisor to Stanford’s Center for Deliberative Democracy; and Alice Siu, PhD Candidate in Communication & Research Assistant at the Center for Deliberative Democracy, Stanford University

Deliberative Polling is a scientific and deliberative method of public consultation that gathers a microcosm of the public to deliberate on public policy issues and engage in discussion with experts. http://cdd.stanford.edu/

De-Polarizing the Clash: 20,000 Dialogues using Documentaries about Muslims to Build Greater Understanding

Daniel Tutt, Outreach Coordinator of 20,000 Dialogues & Unity Productions Foundation

20,000 Dialogues is a nationwide initiative that uses discussions about films to promote civic engagement.  It seeks to build greater understanding of Muslims and Islam at a time of misunderstanding.  Through collaboration with partnering organizations and using Unity Productions Foundation’s (UPF) films Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet, Cities of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain, Prince Among Slaves, On a Wing and a Prayer, Talking Through Walls, and most recently Allah Made Me Funny, the first ever Muslim comedy film, the initiative is seeking to generate 20,000 dialogues in churches, mosques, community centers and libraries across thecountry. www.DialoguesforPeace.org

Developing Mastery in Dialogue, Deliberation, and Public Engagement (Certificate Program)

Jan Elliot, Linda Blong and Barnett Pearce of the Fielding Graduate University Dialogue, Deliberation, and Public Engagement Certificate Program

Developing mastery involves building the skills, knowledge and intuitive sensibility that are needed to make wise choices about how to bring forms of dialogue, deliberation, and engagement into situations where they are most effective. We will be discussing how Fielding Graduate University’s one-semester Dialogue, Deliberation and Public Engagement certificate program will help you develop towards mastery by working with a scholar-practitioner model of reflective practice. www.fielding.edu/hod/ce/dialog/index.html

Dialogue with a Tobacco Company

Martin Rutte, President of Livelihood, Inc.

A discussion of the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co. corporate social responsibility program using dialogue with various stakeholders across the country. www.reynoldsamerican.com/Responsibility/ChairmanLetter.aspx

Dialogue Facilitators Networking Group

Virginia Dorgan, Executive Director of the Network for Peace through Dialogue and Pamela Zivari, Program Director of the Network for Peace through Dialogue

The Dialogue Facilitators Networking Group (DFNG) gathers New York City-area practitioners with different yet complimentary methodologies who through a series of role plays and discussions strengthen our own skills and those of our colleagues. The DFNG has proven to be a powerhouse of support and information for its participants. www.networkforpeace.com

Enhancing Public Engagement at the CDC

Roger Bernier, Senior Advisor for Scientific Strategy and Innovation at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease

Controversy over vaccine safety issues, increased awareness of unaddressed values-laden public policy issues, and new social realities encouraging citizens to participate more actively in decisions which affect their lives have all converged to create strong interest in enhanced public engagement at the CDC. Five large scale projects have been carried out using a new national level model of government-citizen engagement and have succeeded in influencing federal guidance on the topics selected. Principles for conducting this “consequential” public engagement will be presented.

Facing History: Education for Civic Engagement

Milton Reynolds, Senior Program Associate at Facing History and Ourselves

We’ll explore the lessons history has to offer relative to the factors that shape how people choose to participate in society and the implications of such choices.? Beyond that we?ll examine the intersection between issues of identity and group membership and how historically these factors have been powerful forces in shaping historical events. www.facinghistory.org

Front-End Deliberation

Dennis Boyer, Fellow/Project Manager at the Interactivity Foundation

This presentation will focus on the process developed by the Interactivity Foundation (IF) to develop contrasting policy possibilities as a starting point for citizen discussions. The process flows from a concern that far too much discussion is based on limiting assumptions (the “liberal position” and the “conservative position”) and that too few alternatives are developed before choices are made. The process is intended as an aid to citizen “re-imagining” of what is possible. www.interactivityfoundation.org

Global Facilitator Service Corps

Marieann Shovlin, Secretary-Treasurer of the Global Facilitators Service Corps and BJ Diamond, Executive Director of the Global Facilitators Service Corps

GFSC connects people across cultures and borders to exchange experiences and methods that build resilient, self-reliant communities. Learn how your reactions to Change > Crisis > Choice can lead to a positive future. www.globalfacilitators.org

Government-Constituent Communications: A Nonprofit Solution

Wayne Moses Burke, Executive Director of the Open Forum Foundation

By working with Congress, constituents, advocacy groups and other stakeholders, the Open Forum Foundation is developing a website that facilitates legitimate communication between constituents and government decision-makers, as well as D&D between interested parties. It is best visualized as YouTube where the videos are replaced with Opinions, and all of the data is automatically aggregated by electoral district. http://openforumfoundation.org

Graphic Recording: The Big Picture

Graphic Recorders Sunni Brown, Julie Gieseke, Mariah Howard, Marilyn Martin and Avril Orloff

Intrigued with the role of visuals in group learning and dialogue? Want to pick up some graphic skills yourself? Come to our demo and learn the basics – then try them out during the rest of the conference!

Idealogue’s New Web Platform for Online Dialogue and Collaboration

Noam Shore, President & Founder of Idealogue, Inc.

Idealogue, Inc. has developed a new interactive web platform that empowers people to solve difficult challenges through dialogue and collaboration. The application functions as a social network dedicated to peer-based learning, utilizing one-to-one and anonymous dialogue combined with collaborative content publishing to enable people to explore interests and issues in a safe, private setting. www.idealogueinc.com

Join the Global Conversation:  Conversation Week 2009 – March 22-29

Susan Partnow, Co-Founder of Conversation Cafe

This fall, help identify the 10 most important questions of our times and then join with thousands of hosts in March to engage in dialogues across the world.  This is Conversation Café’s annual outreach to spread conversational literacy:  by simply hosting your neighbors or colleagues, you can help us reach our goal of 1,000 hosts with 10,000 people using the skills of dialogue!  What a way to support our growing field of D&D! www.conversationcafe.org

Living Dialogues

Duncan Campbell, Host of Living Dialogues

Living Dialogues is a web radio show that features pioneers in new paradigm thinking in a broad variety of fields. Each show provides a different facet of the vision emerging from the work of many to transform our individual lives—and our planet. Duncan weaves together compelling perspectives on our shared experience from his own rich background and that of the extraordinary range of people from around the world he dialogues with as personal friends. It is a fire-keeping space where together, we can ignite each other’s unique creative spark to bring forth our individual transformation and the evolution of our global community. www.livingdialogues.com

Mental Time Travel

Oliver Markley, Principal of Inward Bound Visioning

Mental Time Travel, using the theatre of your imagination, is a practical technique for helping individuals, work teams or executives “look before they leap” into one versus another alternative policy or path of action.  It is an especially useful facilitation technique when working in a contentious setting. www.inwardboundvisioning.com/Docs/MentalTimeTravel.htm

Parliament of the World’s Religions

Ruth Broyde Sharone, Partner Cities Associate for the Council for a Parliament on the World’s Religions

The Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions, founded in 1893, was created to cultivate harmony among the world’s religious and spiritual communities and foster their engagement with the world and its guiding institutions in order to achieve a just, peaceful and sustainable world. The 2009 Parliament, to be hosted in Melbourne, Australia, will be an international inter-religious gathering spanning seven nights and six days, from December 3-9, bringing together more than 10,000 persons from around the world.

Public Health Agency of Canada’s Public Involvement Framework

Sandra Zagon, Senior Associate of Ascentum and Co-Founder of the Canadian Community for Dialogue & Deliberation (C2D2) and Natasha Manji, Communications Executive at the Public Health Agency of Canada

A picture is worth 1000 words. Visitors will see how the framework provides Agency staff and publics with a guide to understand and decide when, how and why to engage stakeholders, and what results to expect.

Reconsidering Debate: NCDD & D

Pete Bsumek, Ph.D., Assistant Professor and Co-Director at James Madison University’s Center for Constructive Advocacy and Dialogue, and former Director of Debate at James Madison University and Kai Degner, Executive Director of the Arts Council of the Valley and Founder of The OrangeBand Initiative

This presentation “makes a case for debate.”  It argues that an organization dedicated to promoting, educating and facilitating processes of dialogue and deliberation should also be dedicated to promoting and facilitating public understanding and involvement with the processes of debate.  The case is based on the proposition that debate is no different than other processes of dialogue and deliberation: it can be used to disguise power, or to reveal power, to silence or to empower, to misinform or to inform.

The Restorative Listening Project on Gentrification

Judith Mowry, Effective Engagement Solutions Program Coordinator of the City of Portland’s Office of Neighborhood Involvement

The Restorative Listening Project (RLP) is an innovative approach to dialogue about racism based on the priciples of restorative justice. www.portlandonline.com/oni/index.cfm?c=45627

Where is Democracy Headed?

Matt Leighninger, Executive Director of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium

Where is Democracy Headed?, a new report by Peter Levine and Lars Hasselblad Torres, summarizes the main lessons that have been learned through five years of joint research between academics and non-academics in the Researcher and Practitioner program of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium. www.deliberative-democracy.net

The Wisdom Council Process

Jim Rough, Co-Founder and DeAnna Martin, Director, The Center for Wise Democracy

The Wisdom Council process is a new way to address the most difficult issues of local democracy (like budget cuts, racism, bitter partisanship, etc. ) in a way that  involves all citizens and develops comprehensive strategies and solutions. It is the missing link, which can coordinate and complement other citizen involvement methods. www.WiseDemocracy.org

Zilino — Your Friendly E-participation Engine

Tim Bonnemann, Founder and CEO of Intellitics, Inc.

Introduction to Zilino, a new web application for group problem solving and decision making. Highly interactive discussion of some of the key concepts behind Zilino, our roadmap for future releases as well as the ideas on everybody’s wish list. www.zilino.com