Subscribe to NCDD’s Discussion Lists    

NCDD’s email discussion lists are open to everyone involved in dialogue and deliberation work (not just NCDD members). Our discussion lists foster networking, information-sharing and collaboration within the growing dialogue and deliberation community.

We encourage all NCDD members to initiate new lists based on your interests and needs. Contact NCDD Director Sandy Heierbacher if you’re interested in doing this ().

Thank you to L-Soft for their generous support

Since January 2008, NCDD has benefited from the generous donation of mailing list services by L-Soft, a leading provider of email list management software, email marketing software and email list hosting services. NCDD has been relying on L-Soft’s LISTSERV® email list management software solution for years and now all our mailing lists are hosted by L-Soft free of charge.

The main NCDD Discussion list

Our most popular discussion list – NCDD Discussion – has 1000 subscribers as of October 2009, and is a source for advice, inspiration, and food-for-thought to many in the field. Most NCDD members are subscribed to this list, but non-members are more than welcome to subscribe as well. All subscribers should familiarize themselves with the ground rules that have been established over the years for this list.

Most subscribers are experienced facilitators, convenors or scholars in public engagement or conflict resolution, but we have a lot of graduate and undergraduate students and “newbies” to this work on the list as well.  The diversity in amount and type of experience of our subscribers is one of the things that makes the listserv such a useful resource for so many people.

Activity on the list varies from week to week depending on the topics that are brought up on the list. One week there may only be one or two messages, another week there may be dozens. If you find the number of messages to be overwhelming your inbox, wait a few days for things to settle down again – or email Joy Garman (our Office Manager) at and ask her to switch you to the daily digest version so you only receive one message a day.

Archives of the NCDD Discussion list are available online (although you’ll need to register in the L-Soft system first).

Subscribe to the NCDD Discussion list by sending a blank email to (or email and ask Joy to add you). And if you’re already subscribed to the list, send your messages to the list with this email address: .

The Higher Ed list

Many NCDD members are affiliated in one way or another with colleges and universities – as faculty members, staff, administrators, undergrad and graduate students. We launched this discussion list at the suggestion of Nancy Thomas a few years ago.

Subscribe to the Higher Ed list by sending a blank email to (or email and ask Joy to add you). Subscribers should email to send a message to the list.

The Newbies list

The young people who attended NCDD’s Denver conference in 2004 initiated this discussion list for new practitioners (“newbies”) of dialogue and deliberation. All those who consider themselves to be new to this field are welcome to subscribe, as are more seasoned practitioners who would like to be of service to newbies.

The list is meant to provide a space for networking and mutual support for new practitioners who are trying to find their way in this emerging field. Priya Parker and Evan Thomas Paul are the two young people who led the New Practitioners initiatives after the 2004 conference (including this list).

Subscribe to the Newbies list by sending a blank email to (or email and ask Joy to add you). Subscribers should email to send a message to the list.

The Making A Living in D&D list

NCDD member Steve Pyser initiated this discussion list in 2006, and launched it with a conference call addressing the question “How can we, as members of the NCDD community, improve people’s ability to make a decent living doing this vital work?” The call, and the list, focus on such issues as setting pay standards and helping people professionalize the work they do. Archives for the Making A Living list can be accessed online.

Subscribe to the Making a Living in D&D list by sending a blank email to (or email and ask Joy to add you). Subscribers should email to send a message to the list.

The Northern California Network list

This list was formed after the 2003 Northern California Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation, a local event directed by Kate Howard that was modeled after NCDD’s first conference. All participants at the Northern California conference were subscribed to this list to foster continued networking, and anyone from the Bay Area (and surrounding areas) is welcome to subscribe.

The list is primarily used these days to share announcements that are specific to the area, such as grant opportunities and calls for facilitators.

Subscribe to the Northern California Network list by sending a blank email to (or email and ask Joy to add you). Subscribers should email to send a message to the list.

The Colorado Network list

This list was formed around the time of the 2004 NCDD conference, which was held in Denver, in response to requests from scholars and practitioners in the area. Anyone in Colorado – especially those in the Denver-Boulder area – are welcome to subscribe to this list, which is primarily used to share announcements specific to the area.

Subscribe to the Colorado Network list by sending a blank email to (or email and ask Joy to add you). Subscribers should email to send a message to the list.

Have An Idea for a New Discussion List?

We’d love to hear it, and help you get it started by alerting the network and giving you some pointers on starting the discussion and keeping it going. Email NCDD Director Sandy Heierbacher at with your idea.

Need to Unsubscribe or Make a Change to your Subscription?

To unsubscribe from any discussion list, replace “listname” in the following email address with the name of the discussion list (COLORADO-NETWORK, for example):

[email protected]

For the NCDD Discussion list, that would be .

If that doesn’t work for you (it only works if you send the message from the email you’re subscribed with), or if you need to make a change in your email address, switch to the daily digest, etc., just email Joy Garman at and she’ll make the changes you need.