Workshops & Sessions at the 2006 Conference
Below you will find this year's 44 workshops...
If you would like to peruse this list offline, please download the entire guidebook which offers the following list along with everything else you'll need to know about the conference.
Friday 2:00 - 4:00 pm
An Emerging Research Agenda for Deliberative Democracy:
Lessons From Connecting Research and Practice
Martha McCoy, Study Circles Resource Center; Peter Levine, University of Maryland Institute for Philosophy & Public Policy; John Gastil, University of Washington Department of Communication
In most fields, it's rare for pracitioners and researchers to have the chance to share perspectives and concerns, and to develop mutual understanding. In the past three years, the Deliberative Democracy Consortium has convened researchers and practitioners to do just that. These meetings have led to an emerging research agenda that reflects and integrates the needs of practitioners and researchers, and to several research projects that address this agenda. This workshop will give participants a chance to hear some of the key perspectives and concerns that are coming from researchers and practitioners, and to learn from the research agenda and projects that have come from integrating those perspectives. Workshop participants will gain insights about ways that researchers and practitioners are informing each other's work, and a deeper understanding of some of the new areas of research in the field of deliberative democracy.
Room: Da Vinci II & III Session Level: Intermediate
Breaking into the Field: Roundtable for Emerging Practitioners
Matt de Caussin, University of Colorado Dialogue Network (CUDN); Priya Parker, WISCOMP (Women in Security Conflict Management and Peace) in New Delhi, India
What are some of the recipes or common strategies best suited for those interested in becoming professionals within the dialogue and deliberation community of practice? Young professionals, as well as those still seeking to find their niche, will share their personal stories and pathways into the field. The goal is to provide a space for building relationships and bridges of support and resources for those just entering this evolving field of practice. Some of the questions we will explore include: What are some common obstacles in entering this field of work? What resources and support structures have been most useful for those already in the field? What certifications and educational opportunities are most promising for one's professional development? These are but a few of the questions we will explore as we collectively map out through dialogue and inquiry some of the "best practices" for entering this emergent community of practice.
Room: Dante Session Level: Introductory
Core Principles of Dialogue and "The Dialogic Approach"
Bettye Pruitt, Generative Dialogue Project; Philip Thomas, D3 Consultants
The presenters are co-authors of Democratic Dialogue: A Handbook for Practitioners, to be published jointly by International IDEA, the OAS, the UNDP, and CIDA in 2006. We will present two concepts central to the Handbook: a definition of dialogue based on five core principles (inclusiveness, empowerment, learning, humanity, long-term perspective); and "the dialogic approach," an operational "code of conduct" for practitioners derived from those principles. The presentation and handouts will show how these ideas are rooted in the experience of the sponsoring institutions and others promoting dialogue processes in countries around the world. In small group and plenary conversations, we will invite workshop participants to inquire into the usefulness of these concepts relative to their own experience and current practice. We hope to provide the occasion for a probing discussion of important definitional issues as well as make the concepts more robust and more widely known and used.
Room: Rubens Session Level: Advanced
Embedded Deliberation: Moving from Deliberation to Action
Elena Fagotto, Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government
In this session, Elena Fagotto will present findings from an ongoing research project based at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government investigating the connections between embedded deliberation and action. She will first introduce the concept of embedded deliberation, and how embeddedness can lead to action. We will also analyze different arenas in which deliberation can become embedded - from non-profit organizations, to academia and state legislatures. We will then examine the role of deliberative entrepreneurs, and areas in which public deliberation can promote public action and policy change. Throughout the presentation, fieldwork evidence will be used to support the theory and provide concrete examples for the audience. There will also be opportunities for participants to engage by reflecting on new arenas for embedding deliberation, or examples of action not contemplated in our findings. This workshop offers new ideas for those interested in exploring opportunities to promote action through public deliberation.
Room: Sienna II Session Level: Intermediate
Resilient Communities: Using SynCon in New Orleans
Julianna Padgett, Southern University of New Orleans; Patricia A. Wilson, University of Texas;
John Zwerver, Foundation for Conscious Evolution
Presents a framework for D&D process design in post-disaster communities that we have developed from our work with the New Orleans network of transformational facilitators, Barbara Marx Hubbard's Synchronistic Convergence, and the Gulf Coast Resilience Network. Explains the SynCon model of cross-sectoral dialogue and innovation, and how it is being adapted to the New Orleans cultural context to build leadership capacity for holistic thinking and action across neighborhoods and sectors. Participants at this session will get a taste of SynCon as we use the kinesthetic circle-based tool for a self-organizing conversation about how each person could link his or her resources and abilities to the New Orleans recovery and what they would need to do so effectively. The wrap-up discussion will pull out the process design issues and opportunities for creating resilient communities.
Room: Cervantes Session Level: Intermediate
Reuniting America
Joseph McCormick and Ana Micka, Reuniting America
America is paralyzed by partisan polarization. The purpose of Reuniting America is to convene Americans from across the political spectrum in dialogue around areas of mutual concern in order to build trust and identify opportunities for collaborative action ?€?“ to reunite America by engaging across the divides. Reuniting America is a network of organizations, associations, and individuals engaged in transpartisan dialogue. It is guided by a national steering committee and board of advisors comprised of prominent leaders from across the political spectrum representing millions of Americans. This workshop session will focus on our successes, challenges and lessons learned from convening leaders from opposite ends of the political spectrum together for deep dialogue. We will also engage workshop participants in strategies for moving forward as we begin to convene cross-spectrum dialogues at the grassroots level.
Room: Barcelona I Session Level: Introductory
The Evolutionary Role of Dialogue and Deliberation
Tom Atlee, Co-Intelligence Institute; Peggy Holman, The Open Circle Company
What is the role D&D people play in society's evolution? How can we call forth our potential for helping society evolve to be more conscious, effective, and wise? For 13 billion years evolution has been driven by the interaction of diverse entities -- physical, biological, and social. A few hundred thousand years ago, language emerged and began evolving, and conversation began to arise out of and powerfully feed the evolution of human society. We D&D folks are the beneficiaries of thousands of years of learning how to do conversations well. We have know-how that can reduce human dependence on force, guile and chance. During the session we shall consider what it means to be evolutionary agents as we strive to address the crises around us. A bigger evolutionary Story is unfolding, in which D&D has a profound role to play. Join us for an experiential exercise, presentation, and dialogue.
Room: Raphael Session Level: Intermediate
"Try Living With a Giant Bulls Eye Target on YOUR Back"
Mark Smith, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company; Martin Rutte, Livelihood - a Santa Fe, NM consulting firm
This session will give the inside story about how one of America's most controversial companies decided to get real with people. Hear how dialogue with some of the company's harshest critics is leading to change within the organization...and some surprising reactions from those outside. Session participants will learn how confronting one's worst fears can actually lead to change and transformation through dialogue, and how dialogue can be both messy and magical. Session participants will see through the eyes of the director of corporate social responsibility and the external facilitator. Feel the positions, content and emotions expressed by diverse groups ranging from public health officials to tobacco farmers, elected officials to everyday citizens. Each participant will receive R.J. Reynolds' just-published, first Corporate Responsibility Report, which includes the hard-hitting, unvarnished words of dialogue participants.
Room: Barcelona II Session Level: Intermediate
Using Community Dialogue to Face the Challenges of Racism, Ethnic Relations and Inequities in a Diverse Society
Barbara Yasui and Fran Frazier, Study Circles Resource Center
Racism affects every community and every person's quality of life. It shows up in the gaps between groups, and in relationships among people from different ethnic backgrounds. In order to have healthy communities, we need to face racism head-on. In a democracy, there must be ways for everyone to have a voice in finding the solutions and in carrying them out. If we're going to make progress in our communities, people from all backgrounds and views must work together to address racism and inequities. This interactive workshop presents established methods for engaging the community in productive dialogue that leads to sustained change on racism. The workshop introduces a new study circles dialogue guide to help communities organize democratic dialogue on a large scale so that people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds can listen respectfully to each other, look at different sides of an issue and explore common concerns, come up with practical ways to address racism and inequities, take action on their ideas, and test their solutions over the long run.
Room: Da Vinci I Session Level: Introductory
Voices and Choices: Engaging Thousands in Revitalizing Northeast
Ohio's Economy
Joseph Peters, Ascentum; Janet Fiero, PhD, AmericaSpeaks
Voices and Choices is an AmericaSpeaks initiative that is setting a new direction for the economic and social future for Northeast Ohio. This workshop will present conference participants with the largest citizen engagement project conducted in United States - an 18 month project with multiple forms of dialogue and engagement. Voices and Choices has engaged over 10,000 people and will involve over 3,000 more this summer in an online interactive educational process about the policy options that will shape the final action agenda. Participants will learn about project design and delivery, the importance of outreach and marketing, and the use of different techniques and technologies to involve thousands of people. See AmericaSpeaks and Ascentum in action!
Room: Sienna I Session Level: Introductory
When the Client is the Problem
Susan Christy, Christy Consulting, Inc.
Whether you are an internal or external consultant, you don't want to bite the hand that feeds you. And yet, it's true -- the client is often part of the problem. How do you proceed? CAREFULLY and CONSTRUCTIVELY. You do want to deliver lasting results that benefit the organization. Can you: Confront clients who are not cooperating? Give them negative feedback they REALLY don't want to hear? Tell clients they are part of the problem? Help them integrate bad news and move forward? We'll be real, practical and interactive. Susan will show you some new twists on communication strategies: creating rapport, setting expectations, giving difficult feedback, helping clients accept responsibility, helping clients repair damaged relationships, and preventing problems before they arise.
Room: Michelangelo Session Level: Intermediate
Saturday 2:00 - 3:30 pm
Collaborative Governance in Local Government:
Choosing Practice Models and Assessing Experience
Lisa Blomgren Bingham, Indiana Univ. School of Public and Environmental Affairs; Terry Amsler, Institute for Local Government; Malka Kopell, Community Focus
This session will address how civic engagement practitioners can assist local governments in thinking systematically about and choosing among the various forms of civic engagement in public decision-making. Terry Amsler will present a forthcoming Collaborative Governance Initiative publication on Strategic Civic Engagement addressing important questions for local government officials to consider in selecting, designing, implementing, and sustaining civic engagement processes. Lisa Blomgren Bingham will present a research paper examining the work of AmericaSpeaks in three cities - Cincinnati, Chicago, and Charlotte. In interviews with local and regional government officials, researchers examine questions of entry and contracting, impact of the process on public policy, and sustainability or institutionalization of civic engagement processes. Malka Kopell will present Community Focus's report on participatory budgeting in Menlo Park, Your City/Your Decision: Phase II Report on Community Workshop Results, describing a year-long process to involve the community in decisions about a sustainable funding strategy for city-provided services.
Room: Cervantes Session Level: Intermediate
Common Sense California: Dialogue and the Future of California
Steve Weiner, Common Sense California
Common Sense California is a new citizens organization of Republicans, Democrats and Independents committed to facing the major challenges that California faces in the next two decades. At the root of California's political dysfunction is a profound disconnect between the citizens of our state and state government. We see dialogue and deliberation, as exemplified by the Citizens Assembly in British Columbia and the deliberative polling pioneered by Jim Fishkin at Stanford, as vital to our work. As we design this new effort, we ask participants in the NCDD conference to assist us as "consulting architects."
Room: Rubens Session Level: Intermediate
Connecting Dialogue & Change: Key Strategies for Moving From Talk to Action
Martha L. McCoy and Barbara Yasui, Study Circles Resource Center; John Landesman, MCPS Study Circles Program, Montgomery County Public Schools
Comprehensive planning and organizing, well-run small-group dialogues and action outcomes. What does it take to make this happen? What kinds of action and change come from these programs? How do we support it? This workshop will examine the kinds of change emerging from these initiatives, and the key strategies involved. We will share the stories of successful programs in Kansas City, Kan., Vermont, Springfield, Ill., Kuna, Idaho, and Portsmouth, N.H. We will join with participants to identify challenges and discuss solutions for sustaining action and changing communities.
Room: Barcelona I Session Level: Intermediate
Consensus: Busting the Myths and Building Mastery
Larry Dressler, Blue Wing Consulting, LLC
Too often change agents use the language of "consensus" while falling short of building real consensus. This session addresses common myths about consensus and what it means to choose consensus as a decision-making approach. We will use cases involving a number of real-life high-stakes decisions to illustrate when and how to use consensus effectively. The presenter will involve the audience to demonstrate a number of consensus building principles and techniques. For people who work in the arena of high-involvement decision-making, consensus-building is a powerful yet often misused tool that, when mastered, enables us to foster clarity and ownership within our organizations and communities.
Room: Sienna II Session Level: Intermediate
Debating Deliberation
Alison Kadlec and Will Friedman, Public Agenda
Among the most potentially important contributions to contemporary deliberative democratic theory are, interestingly enough, a number of arguments against deliberation. Rather than ignoring them and going about our business, we argue that advocates of deliberative democracy would be well-served to take the best of these arguments seriously, for these compelling challenges can help us think more clearly about the obstacles, dangers and unexpected opportunities that accompany our efforts. In our paper and workshop we select three of the best arguments against deliberation, each of which is based on deep and vital insight about the impact of structural inequalities or power relations on deliberation. We offer rebuttals to many of the accusations leveled by the challengers, drawing on both theory and practical experience along the way, while also identifying cutting edge questions that deserve further attention.
Room: Raphael Session Level: Advanced
How People are Bringing D&D Back to Communities:
The Precautionary Principle
Jennifer Clary & Joan Reinhardt Reiss, Bay Area Working Group on the Precautionary Principle; Marc Tognotti & Kenoli Oleari, Neighborhood Assemblies Network
San Francisco is the nation's first city to have adopted the Precautionary Principle into law. An innovative approach to making wiser public decisions, the Precautionary Principle (PP) at its core calls for broad and diverse public participation and innovative dialogue and deliberation processes. The workshop presenters -- part of a team involving both PP and D&D experts -- are leading a pilot project to develop guidelines and practices for implementing San Francisco's PP legislation. The PP presents a promising avenue for bringing D&D practices into the heart of good governance. This workshop will introduce the PP and give you a chance to work interactively with others to apply it in various situations. You will have a chance to hear about the specific project in SF, and to use your knowledge and creativity to assist presenters in developing a PP implementation program for San Francisco.
Room: Barcelona II Session Level: Intermediate
Mapping A Culture of Peace: A Community Conversation Project of the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice
John W. Frank, Political Science Professor at the Univ. of North Florida and OD Consultant with DiaComVentures Consulting
This session is grounded in theory and practice, drawing from transformational leadership and the function of values talk in the context of progressive civic discourse. The presentation focuses on the experience of a remarkably successful and innovative project entitled "Mapping a Culture of Peace in Florida." Learning objectives include (1) sharing an innovative design for recruiting conversationalists across diverse progressive constituencies that are not previously connected; (2) discovering how conversation unpacks and gives fertile meaning to the phrase culture of peace; (3) learning how to map the organizational and institutional infrastructure of an emerging culture of peace in a given community; and (4) learning how to reframe peace/social justice/sustainability issues in a way that moves beyond a reactive approach to a more proactive agenda, and one that empowers local communities. The presentation will conclude by considering the potential for these dialogues to impact the broader political discourse.
Room: Dante Session Level: Intermediate
Social Media Tools: How They Fit Together Supporting
Community & Conversation
Kaliya Hamlin, Planetwork; Beth Kanter, Nonprofit Technology Consultant
In recent years a range of new tools have emerged to support individuals sharing and communities collaborating. You have heard of this new web - Web 2.0 - it includes all these things with new names... Blogs, RSS Aggregators, Wiki's, Social Bookmarking, Photo Sharing, Podcasting, Video Blogging, IRC, Instant Messaging, Social Networking Sites. Don't be overwhelmed!!! These tools make more sense when you understand how they map together and how they can be used in a social context. Often these are used by participants engaged in face-to-face events both as they happen and afterwards to reflect on the event. Kaliya will share her experiences using these tools in the context of a loosely coupled professional network and focus on how they can be useful for D&D practitioners' use in the context of events they might be hosting. A resource guide of all tools and usages covered in the workshop will be distributed.
Room: Da Vinci I Session Level: Introductory
Story as Entry to Sustained Dialogue and Social Change
Libby Traubman, Len Traubman, Elias Botto & Miriam Zimmerman, Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue
A Jewish Holocaust descendant and educator, and a Palestinian 1948 refugee from Jerusalem -- both, Dialogue participants -- will tell their personal narratives as exemplars, then help participants in dyads have personal experiences with communicating their own stories with a new quality of listening and depth of relating rarely experienced. Long-time Dialogue facilitators will illustrate the intellectual framework of Sustained Dialogue and of "story" in the process of local and global social change.
Room: Michelangelo Session Level: Introductory
Tension, Conflict and Success: Decision-Making at TCHC
Gail Johnson, Jacqueline Daley, and Karlene Bromfield, Toronto Community Housing Corporation
This workshop will examine the role of TCHC tenants through open dialogue and collaborative effort in identifying community priorities, allocating capital funds, advancing community health and becoming communities that reflect themselves. Focusing on successes and challenges, session leaders will identify how power impacts on tenant participation and engagement while speaking to strategies that have achieved success. Through interactive exercises and tenant stories, participants will have an opportunity to better understand the complexities of why and how the second largest social housing company in North America has chosen this new approach to building healthy and safe communities.
Room: Sienna I Session Level: Introductory
The Power of Media: Using Film to Spur Action-Oriented Dialogue
Shaady Salehi and Ellen Schneider, Active Voice
Most of us love to talk about film. Film lets us walk in someone else's shoes, gives us a common experience upon which we can reflect and, when used strategically, can even spur us to take action on social justice issues. Join Shaady Salehi and Ellen Schneider from Active Voice in an interactive session about using film as a springboard for dialogue that "puts a human face on public policy." Using a case study from a recent Active Voice campaign, we'll show how a new documentary engaged policy makers, health advocates and teenagers in discussions that are leading to practical change in communities around the country. Then we'll preview and brainstorm about Active Voice's upcoming project, "The Mystery of Love" (from the producers of "Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth").
Room: Da Vinci II & III Session Level: Intermediate
Sunday 9:00 - 10:30 am
A New Way to Name, Frame, Deliberate, Decide, and Act:
The Integral Process For Working On Complex Issues
Sara Ross, ARINA, Inc.; Jan Inglis, Integrative Learning Institute
As a researched, field-tested method, The Integral Process (TIP) addresses gaps in common deliberative practices. It exposes the layers of complexity in public issues, which if left unseen, make efforts to deliberate, decide, and act less likely to be effective. TIP can result in crisper issue booklets that support real deliberation and effective decisions, and helps organize action on complex issues. To introduce what TIP is and does, this session integrates the motivations, theory, and practices behind the method through example: a case that implemented six of its steps. Participants will learn about: the different attention complex issues need, new steps to "name" issues, and a method for faster and more thorough "framing." These help to remove common obstacles to wider use of deliberation and end inertia on issues. Interactive discussion includes often-unrecognized challenges in deliberation-related practice and invites experiences and questions.
Room: Da Vinci II & III Session Level: Intermediate
Community Engagement and Online Deliberation
Todd Davies, Stanford University's Symbolic Systems Program; Michael Levin, EPA.Net/Plugged In Community Technology Center; Laura O'Laughlin, Stanford University
This will be a working session, beginning with experiences of community participation in decision making in East Palo Alto, California, and of a university-community partnership addressing how technology might assist groups that must deliberate and make decisions, but that have a difficult time meeting face to face. This situation is common in East Palo Alto and other cities where residents often have long cummutes and work odd or double shifts. A challenge in using technology has been the lack of universal access to computers. The workshop will recount how this challenge has been addressed through access hubs, trainings, and cultivating local technology, translation, and writing expertise. Stanford researchers have developed a new tool for online deliberation aimed at increasing the community's capacity for inclusive decision making. The participatory portion of the workshop will broaden the focus to the role of technology in place-based deliberation and grassroots involvement.
Room: Da Vinci I Session Level: Intermediate
Constructive Conversations about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Dave Joseph, Public Conversations Project; Mitch Chanin, Jewish Dialogue Group
This workshop examines the approach utilized by the Public Conversations Project and the Jewish Dialogue Group that resulted in the spring, 2006 publication of "Constructive Conversations about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Guide for Convening and Facilitating Dialogue in Jewish Communities in the US" (available for free downloading from PCP website). Through a combination of presentation, structured exercise, discussion and question-and-answer, participants will have the opportunity to learn about the PCP approach to planning, designing and facilitating issues around this highly polarized issue. This approach has been field-tested in more than 100 dialogues, in settings that have included synagogues, community centers, colleges, high schools and others. This workshop will "harvest" the questions and challenges from our experience, including outreach strategy, training of volunteer facilitators, mistakes and lessons learned from the dialogues. We will examine in-depth the nature and scope of the issues that are frequently confronted in discussing such a sensitive and painful topic.
Room: Dante Session Level: Intermediate
Dialogue as Pedagogy: Deliberative Learning with Democracy Lab
in High School and College Classes
James Knauer, Lock Haven University and Regis University; Paul Alexander, Regis University Institute on the Common Good
If dialogue and deliberation are to lead to social transformation they must also become the basis for educational transformation. Drawing on three years of experience with Democracy Lab in high schools and colleges, presenters will share their experiences and explore a theory and practice of dialogic pedagogy. Dialogic strategies are used across the disciplines to improve the achievement of traditional teaching and learning objectives while also preparing students for active citizenship in a stronger democracy. Democracy Lab provides pedagogically structured dialogue on public issues for instructor adoption as a course requirement. Students participate in small asynchronous groups with others from several schools and from courses in various disciplines. A 10-week NIF-style agenda includes instructional modules, research tasks, group reports and action possibilities. Presenters will invite, share and discuss strategies for dialogic learning and the relation of dialogic learning to traditional objectives and to civic engagement.
Room: Sienna II Session Level: Intermediate
Dialogue in Action: Paying the Democratic Deficit in Venezuela
Jay Hartling, University of Victoria; Laura Wells, Green Party of California
This lively lecture-style presentation and discussion will examine action beyond dialogue, and the intersection of state institutions, civil society organizations and neighborhoods through preliminary research on the implementation of Venezuela's new Law of Communal Councils. Presenters will discuss the convergence of political will and pressure from grassroots communities to support a bold shift to a truly participatory democracy. The session is designed to share information on different approaches to democracy in other regions of the globe, particularly the global south. Democracy is more than free and fair elections and the ability to choose leaders to represent our views. It is also about creating a healthy civil society, an active political culture, and providing ample opportunities for the incorporation of all people into the political, economic, democratic, cultural and participatory process. Venezuela has institutionalized representative AND participatory democracy in its constitution, its laws and in practice. This is a work in progress, as Venezuela moves away from 40 years of elite rule to an inclusive, democratic and participatory structure that facilitates the active involvement of all citizens in the development, implementation, management and evaluation of public policy.
Room: Rubens Session Level: Introductory
Honest Talk About Race - Afraid of the Dark Reading & Dialogue Circle
Gwendolyn Grant and Jim Myers, Urban League of Greater Kansas City
Race lies at the center of many aspects of American life, yet it is difficult to talk about race in ways that bridge the gulf between African Americans and Caucasians. In light of recent events such as the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and rape charges filed against the Duke University Lacrosse Team, it is increasingly apparent that blacks and whites view things so differently, but seldom engage in dialogue about those differences in constructive and productive ways, especially when talking about education, crime, and law enforcement. Afraid of the Dark Reading & Dialogue Circles create a safe environment for authentic and candid dialogue that advances racial understanding in ways that diversity workshops cannot. With inquiry and dialogue, participants will learn how to use Afraid of the Dark Dialogue Circles to improve relationships across the color line and work more effectively to address many of the social challenges that face us.
Room: Raphael Session Level: Intermediate
Social Solidarity, Deliberation and Justice
Dr. Jen Glaser, Mandel Leadership Institute
Drawing on a variety of images from public life we will be introduced to four models of social solidarity and use these as lenses though which to explore different practices of dialogue and deliberation. We shall then turn to questions of social justice - in particular, (i) to a critique of deliberative democracy that suggests public deliberation cannot fully address issues of justice, and (ii) Hannah Arendt's comments concerning conditions that make participation possible. In the second hour we will break into small groups to explore several case studies based in the Israeli context that challenge us to think about the possibilities and limits of dialogue and deliberation in light of the above. We will then come together to reflect on the forms of solidarity, the modes of deliberation and the kinds of activity that underlie our own work in light of the concepts and experiences shared during our session.
Room: Sienna I Session Level: Intermediate
Sustaining Military Readiness Through Innovative Partnerships
Fred Engle, Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense; Ms. Marilyn Null, Booz Allen Hamilton
Session leaders will lead a discussion on innovative partnerships among the Department of Defense, other federal, state, local, and tribal governments, non-governmental organizations, private land owners, and communities to reach mutually benefical solutions that sustain military training, conserve crucial natural resources, and maintain community quality of life. Participants will learn about methods for engaging and partnering with diverse interests to reach solutions to complex sustainability issues and will explore lessons learned from current engagement projects.
Room: Barcelona II Session Level: Advanced
Tell It! Students Confronting Race, Developing Relationships
and Creating Action for Change
John Landesman, Montgomery County Public Schools; Fei Mofor, Sherwood High School; Jemina Cornejo, MCPS Study Circles Program
The Montgomery County Public Schools Study Circle Program helps schools address racial and ethnic barriers to student achievement through dialogue and action. Located just outside Washington, D.C., this Maryland school system is one of the largest and most diverse in the country; yet racial and ethnic differences affect how students learn, how teachers teach, and how stakeholders communicate. The Study Circles Program provides a process for diverse parents, teachers and students to build relationships and create action steps for change. This interactive workshop will focus on student participation in these dialogues. High school students have participated with adults, in student-only study circles, and as facilitators. Two high school students and the program's lead organizer will share their experiences and discuss strategies that have been effective in engaging diverse students in meaningful dialogue and action.
Room: Cervantes Session Level: Intermediate
The Role of Digital Storytelling in the D&D Movement:
First Voice in Media Production
Joe Lambert and Amy Hill, Center for Digital Storytelling
Digital storytelling involves bringing small groups of people together in a workshop setting to create short, first-person digital videos about their lives and communities. The process blends creative autobiographical writing and facilitative video production in a way that is both personally and collectively transformative. In this session, participants will explore how this growing practice can support dialogue and deliberation efforts. Through lectures, the screening of stories developed in community contexts, and interactive methods, participants will come away with: a clear understanding of the history and philosophy of the digital storytelling movement; an awareness of how key aspects of the digital storytelling workshop process (i.e. the Story Circle and story screenings) fit with D&D practices; and a framework for approaching the development of digital storytelling work in their own fields/settings. As background, participants will receive copies of an excerpt from the Center's curriculum manual, the Digital Storytelling Cookbook.
Room: Barcelona I Session Level: Intermediate
We Built It But They Won't Come
Madeline Maxwell, University of Texas
This session presents an analysis of comments and excuses made by people who do not see the value of dialogue, mediation and facilitation. That is, it analyzes reasons for resisting participation. One cluster of reasons, for example, focuses on the "uselessness" of talk ("just talk"). Much resistance is associated with the belief that without an authority figure or decision maker on the spot to be influenced, talk will be ineffective and can even lead to a worsening of the situation. Talk that does not lead to action is seen as negative and deleterious. The analysis is related to cultural factors such as pragmatism, efficacy, idealism and authoritarianism and contrasts dialogue, mediation and facilitation with other expertise, especially with the cultural conditions for seeking experts. Finally, the analysis finds some ideas in the comments that suggest what would make these processes seem more attractive to people.
Room: Michelangelo Session Level: Advanced
Sunday 11:00 am - 12:30 pm
Building Dialogue Between Law Enforcement and Community Members: Recent Successes in San Mateo County
Michelle and Alejandro Vilchez, Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center; Jose Munoz, CARON Program of the San Mateo County Sheriff's Department; Eleni Aho, Tongan Interfaith Council
The Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center facilitates several projects building dialogue between law enforcement officials and individual community members. Each project has a slightly different focus - one aims to reduce gang activity on a specific city block, one focuses on police officers' relationship with the Tongan community, one uses dialogue to reduce suspicion and barriers between Latino residents and law enforcement officials - but they share the goal of opening channels for dialogue to increase mutual understanding, build trust and facilitate partnership. The presenters will discuss experiences coordinating these projects, the strategies used, the challenges, the successes and the lesson learned. Attendees will learn from examples of efforts to facilitate dialogue between traditionally disconnected groups who, in spite of very different perspectives, share the goal of safe communities. We are excited to present our work and to invite comment, questions and input. The session will include presentation in Spanish with translation into English.
Room: Rubens Session Level: Intermediate
Designing a National Dialogue Bureau: Opportunities and Challenges
Lars Hasselblad Torres, AmericaSpeaks
This workshop will start off with a quick summary of findings from the NCDD's investigation into the feasibility of establishing a national mechanism for improving the relationship between journalism and dialogue efforts. The investigation, carried out by AmericaSpeaks and funded by NCDD, hypothesized that community journalism and the coverage of urgent national and international issues could be improved through the incorporation of the informed views of Americans engaged in dialogue and discussion around those issues. At the same time, the research was guided by the assumption that successful coverage of dialogue and deliberation activities requires careful planning, and we wanted to uncover the elements of success. By uncovering the views of dialogue practitioners and journalists, the researchers were able to develop a sharper understanding of whether both communities would ultimately value such a service, and how it might be structured. In addition to presenting the findings from this investigation the workshop will invite NCDD members' response to basic framework and seek to identify actionable ?€?˜next steps' that can lead to the development of a national dialogue bureau.
Room: Da Vinci II & III Session Level: Intermediate
Dialogue in an International Setting: Explorations from the Field
Susan Partnow, Global Citizen Journey
Come hear the story of Global Citizen Journey and their experiments with dialogue in the Niger Delta. In our shrinking world where everything is becoming globalized, we need to develop our skills and capacity to facilitate international dialogue. In the workplace, in the community and in global civil society, peoples of different worldviews and constructs are brought together. What are the challenges and opportunities, especially in a third world context? In this interactive session we'll begin by exploring the insights gained by Global Citizen Journey, a small grassroots delegation of 19 US "citizen diplomats" who joined with 21 Nigerian delegates and went into the Niger Delta where they lived, worked, dialogued - and built a library. We sponsored a Town Hall, using World Cafe with 80 people representing three tribes who were in violent conflict just two years ago. We engaged our 40 delegates in daily circle work, and experienced a variety of successes and challenges. Participants will be invited to share stories of their own and, together, we will explore lessons learned, best practices, challenges and opportunities to cultivate international dialogue.
Room: Da Vinci I Session Level: Advanced
Dialogue, Deliberation, and Institutions
Michael Briand, Regis University; John Gastil, University of Washington Department of Communication; Peter Levine, University of Maryland Institute for Philosophy & Public Policy; David Ryfe, MTSU and University of Nevada Reno Schools of Journalism
This is an opportunity to talk with some leading university-based researchers in the field of "deliberative democracy" about how dialogue and deliberation can fit into the structures and processes that make up institutions such as local government, public education, and elections. David Ryfe is working on the question of how people attempt to use D&D within the framework of conventional community politics. He is currently pursuing his "sociology of deliberation" by studying the community of Owensboro, Kentucky. John Gastil is interested in creating new institutions or modifying existing ones to make them more deliberative. He is also interested in how to think about public deliberation as not just an occasional event, but rather as part of larger social/political processes. Peter Levine will talk with participants about dialogue and deliberation in the setting of educational institutions. The session will be moderated by Michael Briand, Senior Fellow at the Institute on the Common Good at Regis University.
Room: Dante Session Level: Advanced
Embedding Dialogue on a University Campus
Gretchen Wehrle, Notre Dame de Namur University; Mary Grace Almandrez, University of San Francisco; Miriam Chitiga, Claflin University
Many institutions of higher education use dialogue as a communication tool to engage and involve the campus community itself as well as surrounding communities. This workshop will focus on how three institutions have begun to integrate and embed the process of dialogue into university life. Examples will include a federally funded grant project on civic awareness and engagement, a partnership with a local community organization in which students acquire the skills to plan and facilitate dialogues focusing on social issues, and a model involving a series of dialogues used to address racial conflict and intolerance on campus. This participatory workshop will include a brief overview of these successful projects, highlights of lessons learned, a mini-dialogue in which participants will discuss the challenges of embedding dialogue into curricular and co-curricular initiatives on a university campus, and a final reflection activity focusing on next steps.
Room: Sienna II Session Level: Intermediate
Everyone Matters, No Exceptions:
Using Nonviolent Communication to Galvanize Groups
Kathy Simon, Bay Area Nonviolent Communication
How can we respond authentically and compassionately to the challenges we face as D&D practitioners? How can we find ways of preserving effective use of time while increasing inclusion and connection? How can we support parties in conflict in hearing each other? How can we stay connected to our deepest dreams and values and prevent burnout in our work? This workshop will provide an overview of the consciousness and tools of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) and their applications to the challenges D&D practitioners face in their daily lives and work. Many D&D people have already heard of or received training in NVC, and may have questions or want to increase their understanding of how to use this process to support their work.
Room: Cervantes Session Level: Intermediate
Fabulous Facilitators
Lisa Heft, Opening Space
Whether you call yourself facilitator, mediator, change agent, student or newbie - if you are interested in and working with group process for dialogue and interchange please join us to exchange questions and thoughts about our work. "Fabulous Facilitators" is a San Francisco Bay Area group that meets monthly for pot-luck breakfast and conversation about all things related to group process. We talk about tricky design issues, handling challenging participants, engaging diverse people, using different methods, learning new ones - as both those with many years of experience and those very new to the field teach each other through their questions and sharing. Whether you live in this region or are visiting us from afar, come to our session for this "typical" Fabulous Facilitators conversation which will go where it goes - wherever you want it to as we all share our thoughts and experiences.
Room: Michelangelo Session Level: Introductory
Inquiring Minds Want to Know: What Do the Arts Have to Do With Dialogue?
Leah Lamb, The Performance Initiative; Pam Korza, Americans for the Arts
In this highly interactive session, Ellen Schneider, executive director of Active Voice will discuss film as a community engagement tool; the Traveling Jewish Theater will talk about the dialogic approach they used to create Blood Relative, their play about Israel/Palestine created through dialogue, and the creators of Illegal Arts will talk about their approach to enhancing human connections through their street art. With these artistic examples as reference points, NCDD conference artists will join participants to explore questions regarding how art can enhance public dialogue, including: What is the difference between artistic work that employs dialogue as part of its creative process, and artistic work that is used as a catalyst for dialogue? How does one facilitate more meaningful post-performance dialogues, particularly one-time dialogues? And how can artists and dialogue professionals collaborate more to support each other's goals?
Room: Barcelona II Session Level: Introductory
Like Nailing Jello to a Tree: Dialogue & Deliberation in Local Gov't Planning
Gary Petersen, City of Salinas/Petersen and Associates
Facing decreasing resources and increasing demand, employees of local government are more challenged than ever to find useful, satisfactory, relevant solutions to complex problems. Seeking a better, less painful, way of balancing the needs of multiple, often-conflicting points of view, internal employees have begun to adopt the tools and techniques of dialogue and deliberation into the local government decision-making process. Everyday, internal practitioners are proving that increased citizen participation and successful interagency collaboration do result in improved outcomes. But what does it take to get there? Using case studies and interactive exercises, this lively session will share the unique perspectives required to embed the tools and techniques of dialogue and deliberation into organizations and communities. Citizen participants will gain an "insider's" perspective on how to be more effective in local government, and local government employees will learn what it takes to become an "internal practitioner" of dialogue and deliberation.
Room: Raphael Session Level: Introductory
Sustained Dialogue on Campus: It's not Just Talk... It's a Social Movement
Priya Parker, Women in Security Conflict Management and Peace; Christina Kelleher, Sustained Dialogue Campus Network
Sustained Dialogue creates a safe space to address divisive issues, like race relations, that are often taboo in social settings. In this space, participants learn from one another and are changed by the experiences they share so that they can begin to truly understand the problems that face their communities and what power they have, as a group of individuals, to address them. In this workshop, we will present the Sustained Dialogue (SD) model, share examples of current student-led dialogues and action projects, and provide attendees with practical steps on getting started. We will provide all relevant material to understand the program, and will give participants an interactive understanding of how SD works. Our goals are to (1) explain the theory of Sustained Dialogue (2) spread the word about SDCN and its work and (3) give participants a chance to think critically about SD's tools and how they might help them in other avenues.
Room: Sienna I Session Level: Intermediate
The Wisdom Council: A Tool for Empowering "We the People"
Jim Rough and DeAnna Martin, Center for Wise Democracy
Imagine all of citizens in your community talking together creatively and collaboratively about the big, important issues. Convening this kind of conversation holds the promise of raising our collective intelligence, consciousness and wisdom on issues like healthcare, traffic, our educational system, and violence. The Wisdom Council is a new democratic tool that promises a grassroots way to develop near-unanimous strategies and the will to implement them on the issues that matter to you and your neighbors. It offers the prospect of engaging all in one, heartfelt, creative conversation that is ongoing, moving people beyond partisanship to serving the public interest. There have been a number of successful experiments with the "Wisdom Council" in cities, schools, among homeless people and in various organizations. Come hear about the growing number of experiments that demonstrate this new process really works - like in the Department of Agriculture of Washington State, at Salmon Bay Elementary School in Seattle, and at a local food co-op. Join us for an introduction to the process and learn how you might implement a Wisdom Council in your community.
Room: Barcelona I Session Level: Introductory
? 2003-2006 National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation.
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