Summary of the 2006 NCDD Pre-Conference Trainings

Full-Day Pre-Conference Trainings (only $125)

Choosing Deliberative and Dialogue Techniques that Work
Janette Hartz-Karp, 21st Century Dialogue

The World Caf?: The Art of Hosting Conversations That Matter
Ken Homer and Nancy Margulies, The World Caf?

Tailoring Dialogue To Cultural Contexts, A Collaborative Exploration
Meenakshi Chakraverti, Public Conversations Project

Compassionate Listening: Bringing Our Hearts To Dialogue and Deliberation Work
Rachel Eryn Kalish, M.C. and Susan Partnow, The Compassionate Listening Project

Half-Day Pre-Conference Trainings (only $75)

Fast Forward Framing for Critical Issues
Carole and Craig Paterson, National Issues Forums - 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Taking Dialogue & Deliberation to Scale
Ashley Boyd and Janet Fiero, Ph.D., AmericaSpeaks - 1:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Additional Activities

BrainJam!: A Conversation About Online Technology
Chris Heuer, BrainJam! - All day Thursday

An Open Evening of Great Conversation
Susan Partnow, Conversation Caf? - Thursday Evening

Disaster and Crisis Intervention Workshop
Global Facilitator Service Corps - Monday, August 7th

Choosing Deliberative and Dialogue Techniques that Work

Participate in an exploration of a variety of deliberative and participatory techniques including 21st Century Town Meeting, Citizens' Jury, Consensus Forum, Open Space Technology, World Caf?, Multi Criteria Analysis Conference, and Deliberative Poll. Learn more about how to apply, adapt and combine these models in the practice of public engagement to influence policy development and decision making. Bring to the training your own issue(s) that could benefit from such an engagement, explore the most appropriate methodologies to address that issue, the drivers and constraints, and steps to implement. The day will include opportunities to apply some of the techniques and to use the wisdom of the group to explore the issues and create useful responses.

Learning Objectives

1. Apply deliberative and participatory principles and techniques to relevant public engagement practice.
2. Be able to apply what has been learned to a specific issue of concern to the participant.
3. Engage with others, using innovative techniques, to explore how to design and implement participatory practices.

Facilitators

Janette Hartz-Karp

21st Century Dialogue
Director and Community Engagement Consultant

Dr Janette Hartz-Karp is a consultant in community engagement. This work arose from her prior experience as an academic, a senior executive with the Western Australian public service and a change agent consultant. For four and a half years, working alongside a Cabinet Minister with a large portfolio, Janette implemented innovative ways to engage community and industry in joint decision making with government. These included: Citizens' Juries, Consensus Conferences, Consensus Forums, Multi Criteria Analysis Conferences, Deliberative Polls/Surveys and '21st Century Town Meetings'. Janette designed, coordinated and led over 20 significant community engagement initiatives that have resulted in changes to policy, plans, infrastructure and decision making processes (see www.21stcenturydialogue.com). Janette continues to design and facilitate innovative community engagement initiatives both nationally and internationally.

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The World Caf?: The Art of Hosting Conversations That Matter

Please join seasoned World Caf? hosts Ken Homer, Nancy Margulies and others for a day of exploration devoted to creating the conditions for authentic conversation to emerge, even among people with no previous history of working together. Using the seven design principles of the World Caf? - a scalable dialogue process that has been successfully used in corporate, non-profit, educational, community and government settings--we will engage in a highly participative, fun-filled learning experience designed to provide you with all that you need to begin hosting your own conversations that matter. Nancy will introduce visual note-taking and teach the basics as part of the day. Ken Homer and Nancy Margulies have been an integral part of the evolution of the World Caf? over the past decade. Program introduced by Juanita Brown, Co-Originator The World Caf?.

Learning Objectives

1. Refine your hosting skills for convening conversations that matter
2. Gain competence in framing conversations that create positive futures
3. Expand your participative skills to engage multiple modes of intelligence
4. Learn the basics of visual recording

Facilitators

Ken Homer

Co-Founder
The World Caf?

Ken Homer is a World Caf? host and designer. Ken joined with Juanita Brown and David Isaacs in 1997 and has been an integral part of the team involved with the evolution of the World Caf? and the World Caf? global community. Ken is the webmaster for the World Caf? website and has collaborated on Caf? designs with the University of California, the Institute of Noetic Sciences, Natural Strategies, Royal Roads University (Canada), Business for Social Responsibility, and a range of other clients.

Nancy Margulies

Co-Founder
The World Caf?

Nancy is one of the founders of The World Caf? and one of the pioneers and originals of visual recording. She brings her graphic recording capabilities to the Caf? process, capturing the "harvesting of ideas" at the end of each Caf?. This technique enables Nancy to both facilitate and capture discussions in a form that clearly conveys essential concepts, relationships, and patterns. Her process for recording ideas using pictures and words, called Mindscaping, also makes the information more memorable, lending clarity to the ideas presented. She has worked closely with Meg Wheatley, author of Leadership and the New Science as well as corporations and communities worldwide. She has worked with President Clinton and the Cabinet, the Dalai Lama, and facilitated workshops in Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Switzerland, Turkey, South Africa and India. Her books include Mapping Inner Space and Visual Thinking and Map It!

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Tailoring Dialogue To Cultural Contexts: A Collaborative Exploration

There are many assumptions about communication and difference that are taken for granted in preparing for dialogue. As a result, the way dialogue is often conceptualized, in dominant US terms, can create problems when used in non-dominant cultures or cross-cultural contexts inside the US, or exported to cultures outside the US. In this interactive, experiential workshop, participants will focus on core elements of dialogue structure and experience; identify the challenges and questions that arise in seeking and building these elements in different cultural contexts and/or with heterogeneous cultural groups; and begin to open up some answers. Participants will do this through structured exercises. Didactic pieces will include a brief presentation on the core elements of PCP's approach to dialogue and a brief account of a social anthropologist's perspective on cultural aspects of dialogue.

Learning Objectives

Participants will collaboratively identify and explore major issues and questions. These issues will include issues of: time, speaking practices, hierarchy, degrees of formality, kinship and friendship obligations, as well as non-verbal social and communication practices, among others. Participants will leave with a framework for considering how to adapt their practices for preparation, design, and implementation of dialogue where cultural difference presents challenges and opportunities.

Facilitators

Meenakshi Chakraverti

Deputy Director, International and Science Programs
Public Conversations Project

Meenakshi Chakraverti is Deputy Director of International and Science Programs at the Public Conversations Project (www.publicconversations.org), through which she offers dialogue training, facilitation, and consultation to U.S.-based and international groups that are embroiled in polarized conflict on public issues. Meenakshi's dialogue work has included designing and facilitating conversations between Israelis and Palestinians, and Pakistanis, Indians, and Kashmiris. She offers PCP's standard, open-enrollment training programs, as well as customized trainings. Meenakshi lives in San Diego where she also teaches international negotiation at the Graduate School for International Relations and Pacific Studies at the University of California, San Diego. Before entering the fields of dialogue and negotiation, she worked in Washington DC and India as a development economist; in India as a grassroots development worker; in Pasadena, CA in scholarly publishing; and in Ithaca, NY, as Director of Industry Relations for Akademos.Com. Meenakshi has graduate degrees in public affairs and social anthropology.

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Compassionate Listening: Bringing Our Hearts To Dialogue and Deliberation Work

Dialogue and deliberation are such deep and essential practices on a planet wracked by conflict, violence and disconnection. Yet staying in the fire when we are triggered is not an easy task for most of us; we need skills and practices to stay in our hearts when we are hurt, angry, scared or shut down. This one day program will focus on the core Compassionate Listening skill set in the morning; in the afternoon participants will have an opportunity to work on the triggers they face in their own lives, which may include work settings and challenges of group facilitation. You will gain concrete practices and skills to help you stay connected to your own heart and the heart of others.

Learning Objectives

1. To learn the core skill set of the practice of Compassionate Listening (cultivating compassion; listening and speaking from the heart; developing the fair witness; respecting self and others)
2. To build capacity for staying connected to oneself and the other, even when triggered
3. To build capacity for hearing and holding differing viewpoints
4. To build capacity to experience greater compassion for those who hold differing viewpoints
5. To be able to take the practice of Compassionate Listening into your dialogue/deliberation practice

Facilitators

Rachel Eryn Kalish, M. C.

Certified Facilitator and Past President
The Compassionate Listening Project

Rachel Eryn Kalish, M. C., has over twenty years experience working in organizational change, conflict transformation and mediation. She is particularly adept at facilitating during intense, hot conflicts between couples, families, work teams and communities. She has been a principal since 1986 in a consulting firm specializing in conflict transformation and mediation, is Past Board President of The Compassionate Listening Project, and was founding Co-Chair for the Violence Prevention Project/ Boston Chapter ASTD. Clients say that her deep wisdom, practical skills and creative vision make her training programs in conflict resolution and managing difficult conversations top rated in companies and communities in the U.S., Israel and Palestine and her mediations go smoothly. She is currently leading a dialogue project across the political spectrum within the Jewish community.

Susan Partnow

Co-Founder of Conversation Caf?s and Let's Talk America

As a community builder, organizational development and training consultant, Susan Partnow, M.A., serves as a catalyst for positive changes through workshops, retreats, and coaching. Co-founder of Conversation Caf?s and Let's Talk America, certified with The Compassionate Listening Project and serving on the Steering Committee of the National Coalition on Dialogue and Deliberation, Susan facilitates processes to transform conflict and promote co-intelligence in ways that expand collective capacity. She is founder and Executive Director of Global Citizen Journey, which recently brought healing dialogue to ethnic groups in the Niger Delta. She partners with organizations across all sectors, including City of Seattle, Whidbey Institute, University of Washington and Microsoft, to promote healthy and productive organizations. A former teacher and speech pathologist with an M.A. from Northwestern University, Susan wrote Everyday Speaking for All Occasions (Doubleday books).

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Fast Forward Framing for Critical Issues

This workshop focuses on the critical components of effective and timely issue framing for deliberative conversations on local, regional and national issues. "Adaptive Issue Framing" can be learned relatively quickly by NIF and deliberative dialogue practitioners for application on a timely basis. Many issues emerge quickly?and people want to talk about them sooner rather than later. Both the quality and quantity of deliberation depend on how an urgent and important issue is framed for public conversation when the public wants to talk about it. This workshop provides hands-on experience with effective and timely methods in issue framing to respond to a rapidly emerging hunger by the public for understanding and action in an urgent and important issue.

Learning Objectives

Participants will learn the critical components of deliberative issue framing, will discuss deliberative strategies from their specific disciplines with selected case studies, and will work together to create a fresh deliberative framework on an issue the group chooses using the adaptive issue framing methods of the workshop.

Facilitators

Carole A. Paterson

County Director and Youth Development Advisor
University of California Cooperative Extension

Carole Paterson has been an active National Issues Forums (NIF) practitioner for over 15 years, and is currently the director of the NIF California Network. Carole has specialized in the learning of deliberative methods, organizing workshops for adults and youth in NIF practices. She has participated in several of the national issue framing projects of the Kettering Foundation, and has extensive experience in training citizens and leaders in NIF moderation and group facilitation skills.

Craig S. Paterson

Pastor, First United Methodist Church

Craig Paterson has been active in the NIF community for over 10 years. He has specialized in issue framing and deliberative decision theory, and has been project manager and primary writer for a range of local, regional and national deliberative frameworks. Craig has participated in several research workshops of the Kettering Foundation, and has created some unique materials and methods for use by the NIF California Network.

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Taking Dialogue & Deliberation to Scale

This workshop will give participants an opportunity to explore AmericaSpeaks' 21st Century Town Meeting? model of large-scale deliberation in-depth. Participants will have the opportunity to learn and experience the full life-cycle of a large-scale deliberative process - from initiation to sustainability and apply these concepts to their own work. Through case studies, interactive discussions and hands-on demonstrations, participants will have an opportunity to learn about the conditions in which large-scale interventions are most appropriate and effective, critical factors for success, typical timelines and planning cycle, staff and resource requirements, project design principles and approaches, the use of technological tools, including low-tech options and modifications, and principles and practices for sustaining the outcomes and process. Before the session ends, participants will also have the opportunity to draw upon their learning and experience to plan a large-scale deliberation of this type.

Learning Objectives

1. To define the context in which large scale participation is essential
2. To describe all the elements of a 21st Century Town Meeting
3. To apply principles and practices of effective public engagement to their own projects
4. To adapt the 21st Century Town Meeting model to smaller settings and different issues

Facilitators

Ashley Boyd

Senior Associate
AmericaSpeaks

As a Senior Associate, Ashley plays a leadership role in AmericaSpeaks' 21st Century Town Meeting and Civic Engagement Consulting projects. Her specialty is developing innovative approaches to outreach, communications and sustained civic engagement. Additionally, Ashley directs AmericaSpeaks' strategic communications program and supports the Associate network. Ashley began working with AmericaSpeaks in its early years, managing America Speaks' first 21st Century Town Meetings as part of the ground-breaking Americans Discuss Social Security project in 1998-99. More recently, Ashley served as the Project Manager for AmericaSpeaks' largest project, "Listening to the City," and has managed the outreach efforts for 21st Century Town Meetings on behalf of Shaping America's Youth, the Mayor of Washington D.C. and Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission. Prior to joining AmericaSpeaks, Ashley was a Project Manager at M&R Strategic Services, a grassroots and communications firm and Project Director for the Advocacy Institute, a non-profit dedicated to developing effective public policy advocacy tools. In both positions, she focused on developing effective grassroots issue advocacy campaigns and training grassroots activists. Ashley has a M.A. in Political Communication from University of Maryland, College Park and a B.A. in Psychology/Communications from Willamette University. Currently, she lives in Berkeley, California.

Janet Fiero, Ph.D.

Senior Associate
AmericaSpeaks

Janet D. Fiero, Ph.D. is a Senior Associate with AmericaSpeaks, a nonprofit organization in Washington D.C. dedicated to strengthening the voice of the citizen in their own governance. Dr. Fiero has over thirty years experience in management and consulting. She worked in semiconductor companies for 17 years as an engineer, various management positions, and internal consultant. Her internal consulting role pioneered the initial quality improvement training strategy for Motorola's worldwide operations. From 1985 to 2004 she operated her own consulting company offering an eclectic mix of services that helped her corporate and nonprofit clients develop an internal capacity for agility and change. She is honored to have been selected four times to serve as an examiner for Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in the U.S. Department of Commerce. She was a member of the Governor's task force that created the Arizona Quality Awards in the 1993. In 2001 Dr. Fiero transitioned to applying her group and organizational skills to the public engagement sphere as an associate with AmericaSpeaks.

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BrainJam!: A Conversation About Online Technology

NCDD is proud to co-host a BrainJam! on open source, internet and web 2.0 technology and how the dialogue & deliberation field can benefit from these readily available resources. Specifically designed for beginners and seasoned internet users alike, this all-day exploration of online technology and how it can be used by practitioners of dialogue & deliberation to enhance their work, offers an opportunity to learn directly from technologists who will join us for a day of demonstrations and conversations.

Read more in the official BrainJam announcement!

Learning Objectives

1. Exploring the impact that social networking and online collaboration is having on our day-to-day use of the web.
2. Introducing the most commonly used Web 2.0 tools and the potential they bring to our field.
3. Examining best practices on how to use online tools to support our real world work.

Facilitator

Chris Heuer

Founder
BrainJam Workshops

Chris Heuer has over 12 years of entrepreneurial Internet experience and 16+ years of marketing experience, having previously taught classes at Miami Ad School in Web design and convergence marketing. He currently specializes in consulting on holistic business strategy and social media for big brands, non-profits and emerging technology companies, helping them leverage the power of Internet and Web 2.0 technologies. In early 2006, Chris formed BrainJams to organize resources and best practices in the emerging "Unconference" movement, striving to bring social media tools and Open Space gatherings to a wider audience.

Beth Kanter

Independent Consultant & Trainer
bethkanter.org

Beth Kanter is a nonprofit technology consultant working with nonprofit organizations in the areas of training, planning, research, curriculum development and evaluation. She has worked in the nonprofit sector for 25 years, beginning her work with nonprofit arts organizations. You can learn more about Beth?’s work at www.bethkanter.org and her blog, Beth?’s Blog www.beth.typepad.com.

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An Open Evening of Great Conversation

Join us for an optional training in the Conversation Caf? process followed by a Conversation Caf? that is open to the public. The training will begin at 6:15 pm in the Barcelona II room on the 3rd floor of the conference hotel. The training will last until 7:30, at which time we?’ll begin our 90-minute Conversation Caf? that is open to the public. Susan Partnow, co-founder of Conversation Caf?, will lead the training and host the Caf?, focused on the role of dialogue in a democracy, with the help of the newly-trained Caf? hosts.

Read more about this event!

Facilitator

Susan Partnow

Co-Founder
Conversation Caf?

As a community builder, organizational development and training consultant, Susan Partnow, M.A., serves as a catalyst for positive changes through workshops, retreats, and coaching. Co-founder of Conversation Caf?s and Let's Talk America, certified with The Compassionate Listening Project and serving on the Steering Committee of the National Coalition on Dialogue and Deliberation, Susan facilitates processes to transform conflict and promote co-intelligence in ways that expand collective capacity. She is founder and Executive Director of Global Citizen Journey, which recently brought healing dialogue to ethnic groups in the Niger Delta. She partners with organizations across all sectors, including City of Seattle, Whidbey Institute, University of Washington and Microsoft, to promote healthy and productive organizations. A former teacher and speech pathologist with an M.A. from Northwestern University, Susan wrote Everyday Speaking for All Occasions (Doubleday books).

A GFSC Training After the Conference

We encourage conference participants and others in the Bay Area to attend a Disaster and Crisis Intervention workshop offered by the Global Facilitator Service Corps (GFSC) on Monday and Tuesday, August 7-8, right after the conference. You can learn more by selecting the above link.