Sessions & Workshops

Plenary Sessions

The three plenary sessions - one each day - are designed to help participants decide how we can make this gathering spark various coalitions, task forces and networks that will be dedicated to strengthening and uniting the field and the practice.

On Friday, the large-group session will consist of small-group dialogues about what brings people to the conference, what their hopes are for the event and for the field, and what their needs are as practitioners.

On Saturday, the large-group session will be run by AmericaSpeaks and will feature all of the technology this program is known for. During this session, participants will be in the same small groups as the day before, and they will discuss ideas of how we can use this event to meet some of the needs and hopes that people in their group and others had brought up the day before.

On Sunday, the large-group session will be run by the Study Circles Resource Center, and will be modeled after their Action Forum. This session will allow participants to create and join coalitions, networks and task forces of their choice, and will give these new groups the chance to meet and begin talking about next steps.

Specific Sessions & Workshops

Below are examples of the sessions/workshops participants will be able to choose from. A full list will be available later in September.

Using Citizen Deliberative Councils to Generate Citizen Wisdom to Guide our Democracy
Tom Atlee
Co-Intelligence Institute

Art & Civic Dialogue: An Exchange Among Arts and Dialogue Practitioners
Barbara Schaeffer
Bacon and Pam Korza Americans for the Arts

The Life-Cycle of a Jewish/Palestinian Dialogue Group: from Birth to Action
Reena Bernards and Najat Arafat Khelil
The Dialogue Project

(En)Circling Understandings: Story Circles as Social Justice Education
Gloria Bouis and Sivagami Subbaraman
University of Maryland, Office of Human Relations Programs

Cultural Considerations and Dialogue Facilitator Preparation: Contributions from the Diversity Field
Evelyn Boyer and Cole McGee
National MultiCultural Institute

The Heart of Bohm's Dialogue (a 3-session experiential dialogue)
Richard Burg and Lee Nichol
Simple Idea (Burg) and primary editor of David Bohm's work (Nichol)

Dialogue Matters: Teaching Democratic Citizenship and Building Trust Across Racial Differences on a Rural New England College Campus
Doug Challenger and Joni Doherty
New England Center for Civic Life at Franklin Pierce College

Convening & Facilitating Dialogues to Maximize Participation of "Lesser-Heard" Voices
Susan Clark and Enrique Ramirez
Target Knowledge

Evaluating Intergroup Dialogue
Christian Dorsey and Ellen Wayne
Operation Understanding DC and the University of Baltimore's Center for Negotiation & Conflict Management

Eileen Dzik and Carole Frampton
Search for Common Ground
Reaching Out: Taking Conflict Resolution to the Wider Public

Restoring the Everglades: Emerging Strategies for Building Consensus and Resolving Conflicts
Michael Eng
U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution

Working with Top Management Teams and Dialogue in Britain
Richard Field
Field Enterprise, Ltd.

Are We Hearing What They're Saying? Transforming Education Through Teacher/Student Dialogues
Paul Gorski
University of Maryland, Office of Human Relations Programs

Developing a Dialogue-Centered Agenda for Social Change at the Local and Global Level
Sandy Heierbacher, Martha McCoy, Maggie Potapchuk, David Schoem & Others
Dialogue to Action Initiative, Study Circles Resource Center, the Network of Associations Bridging Race & Ethnicity and the University of Michigan

Faith-Based and Secular Approaches to Dialogue and Conflict Resolution
Chip Hauss
Search for Common Ground

White Privilege and Critical Pedagogy: Dialogue in the Classroom
Lauren Kucera
Co-Action

The Environmental Justice Collaborative Model
Charles Lee and Eric Marsh
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

From Talk to Action in Large-scale Dialogue Programs: Lessons from Community Experiences
Matt Leighninger
Study Circles Resource Center

Society's Breakthrough! - Facilitating a Dialogue-based Society
DeAnna Martin and Jim Rough
The Center for Wise Democratic Processes

Dance Exchange on Dialogue & Making Dance
Celeste Miller and John Borstel
Liz Lerman Dance Exchange

Using Informal Writing to Foster Democratic Dialogue: From Small-Group Gatherings to Online Forums
Irene Papoulis and Beverly Wall
Trinity College

How Socrates Café Can Create a More Participatory Society
Chris Phillips
Society for Philosophical Inquiry

Building a Movement for Dialogue, Deliberation & Democracy: Where Do We Go From Here?
Adin Rogovin and Tom Atlee
Co-Intelligence Institute

Preparing for Participation: Inquiry that Supports Reflection
Sallyann Roth and Bob Stains
Public Conversations Project

What is Deliberation?
David Ryfe
Middle Tennessee State University

Managing the Being-Doing Dilemma: Is Dialogue a Tool for Action or a Way of Being Together?
Megan Buchanan Schopf and Laurie Shiparski
Artful Work and CPM Resource Center

Using Film to Build Dialogue to Action: How to Bring in and Sustain Effective Stakeholders and Build New Collaborations
Elaine Shen
Television Race Initiative/Active Voice

Scaling Up From Small Group Dialogues: Using "Symbolic Dialogue" to Achieve Large-System Collaboration
John Spady
The Forum Foundation

Tipping the Culture: Fostering Habits of Dialogue and Collaborative Action on College Campuses
Nancy Thomas
The Democracy Project of the Society for Values in Higher Education

Beginning, Maturing & Growing a Dialogue
Len & Libby Traubman
Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue

New York City Community Building Model & International Peacemaking Model
Grace Yun
InterRelations Collaborative

New Tools for Dialogue & Deliberation: A Study of Dynamic Facilitation
Rosa Zubizarreta and DeAnna Martin
The Co-Intelligence Institute and The Center for Wise Democratic Processes