World cafe how does it work

Provide beverages and snacks for the participants. The moderator asks for volunteers among the participants for the role of table hosts and explains their tasks other possibility: the organizing team provides the table hosts.

They have to make sure that an open, clear and friendly atmosphere arises. The table hosts remain in the standard version for all discourse rounds at their table and take leave of their guests when they change the table, welcome the newcomers and summarize the main ideas and key findings of the previous round. During the conversation at their table, they ensure that all can participate and that important thoughts, ideas and connections of all will be written and drawn on the tablecloths.

At the end of the process, they have to roughly summarize the key finding of their table. Afterwards, the moderator initially divides random the participants in several groups according to the number of tables and assigns each group to a table. The moderator poses the questions or topics for discourse rounds and makes sure that the questions is visible to everyone on a flip chart or on cards at each table.

The moderator moves among the tables and encourages everyone to participate and during the discourse makes sure key insights are recorded visually or are gathered and posted if possible. The moderator keeps track of the time slots of the discourse rounds and signalizes if the participants have to change to another table or if there will be a short coffee break.

Hot and cold beverages as well as cookies or something similar should be available to the participants over the whole event. The participants sit distributed in the room at tables with four to eight people. Each table covers a specific topic or question. The same questions can be used for more than one round, or they can be built upon each other to focus the conversation or guide its direction. Alternatively, there can be one global topic with subtopics distributed to the different tables.

During a discourse round, this topic or question has to be handled by each group for 15 to 30 minutes. The process starts with the first of three or more discourse rounds for the small group seated around a table. At the end of each discourse round, each member of the group moves to a different new table.

Only the table hosts stay at their table for the whole time. They welcome new guests, summarize briefly the previous conversation and motivate the further discourse. In some versions a "talking stick" may be used to make sure that all participants get a chance to speak.

As well as speaking and listening, individuals are encouraged to write or draw on the paper tablecloth or paper cards so that when people change tables they can see what previous members have expressed in their own words and images.

Participants have multiple discourse rounds in response to predefined questions, taking the ideas from one group and adding to them, developing insights through multiple conversations with a diverse number of people, and expanding the collective knowledge of the group. In this way, the results are reflected visually in a variety of ways.

After the predefined numbers of discourse rounds are finished, the table hosts get 10 minutes to roughly summarize the findings from their tables. After this, the moderator asks the participants if they want to clarify or amend anything.

The moderator asks the participants if somebody is interested in the analysis results and their further usage and collects the email addresses of interested participants. Following, a buffet will be offered to the participants depending on the money available where they can further discuss their insights. Shereen Kandil U. Skip to main content. International Cooperation. Contact Us. The time required to organise the event depends on how easy it is to recruit the participants and how complicated the logistics are.

You should allow at least three or four hours for a World Cafe event. If you have an ambitious topic you may want to have a series of events. Strengths It is good at generating ideas, sharing knowledge, stimulate innovative thinking, and exploring action in real life situations.

The World Cafe process can deliver new thinking, meaningful conversations, an inclusive and relaxed atmosphere and deeper relationships and mutual ownership of outcomes in an existing group. Works best with a mix of people bringing different ideas and experiences. Gives citizens a lot of control over the process Useful for researching an issue or building collective intelligence Creates a sense of community and mutual respect Weaknesses Due to the way participants are encouraged to note on the tables and draw throughout it can be difficult to record and report on the discussions The World Cafe process cannot deliver clear and accountable direct decisions, detailed plans or a statistical view of different opinions.

Origin Organisational Change: Although the knowledge that the informality of a cafe is a good setting for meaningful conversation is several centuries old, the World Cafe methodology was written by Juanita Brown and David Isaacs in More Information Examples of the World Cafe method in action have been collected here.

Back to top. Site by Effusion. How and why do people participate? How do I evaluate a participatory process? How do I facilitate a participatory process? At the end of the twenty minutes, each member of the group moves to a different new table.

Only the table host stays to welcome the next group and briefly fills them in on what happened in the previous round, using the flipchart tablecloths as a visual reminder of the previous conversation. The same questions can be used for more than one round, or they can be built upon each other to focus the conversation or guide its direction. The question is at the heart of the conversation so make sure it matters for all participants.

These results are reflected visually in a variety of ways, most often using graphic recorders in the front of the room. When bringing together the discoveries and insights of the small groups, the group gets an opportunity to see and link all the harvested information from a broader perspective. Patterns can be identified and the collective wisdom becomes visible. Also possibilities for action might emerge.