The World Cafe

Appreciation

by Amy Lenzo | Oct 17, 2015 | 20th Anniversary Messages

(published with permission by the author – thank you Sheila!)

I just wanted to express my appreciation for a World Cafe experience I had yesterday.

In my career I’ve been in a lot of committees and work groups, but have never seen a group of almost 3 dozen people from diverse backgrounds that was able to accomplish as much as we did in such a short time (less than 3 hours). Not only was the end result was very valuable to the organization hosting the meeting (Ohio Help Me Grow Advisory Council), but the process was equally valuable to the individuals who participated. It was a wonderful experience!

Sincerely,
Sheila Torio

Whispering the Future

by Amy Lenzo | Oct 16, 2015 | 20th Anniversary Messages

The World Café keeps teaching me over the years the power of being collectively curious. It’s amazing how much a simple and straightforward invitation allows for the complexity of our worlds to emerge and meet.

When I close my eyes during a World Café, I can listen to the beauty of many voices weaving together. I always feel they are whispering the future.

Congratulations to this wonderful community for its 20 years!!

Augusto Cuginotti

(Augusto is co-hosting Impact Café Sao Paulo today with Eduardo Afonso and Cristina D’Arce – we send them & the beautiful World Café community in Brasil our very best wishes for a wonderful Café. May it whisper the future through Augusto, who will be joining us for the Online Global Impact Cafés in November.)

Power and the Power of Storytelling

by Amy Lenzo | Oct 15, 2015 | Interview, Video

This interview of Juanita Brown talking about the challenges of making a real difference within the existing power systems, is one of a series by documentary videographer Martin Rausch.

Juanita’s interview is part of a film Martin is currently working on called The Blindspot – Unleashing the Power of Collective Intelligence.

Magic in the Middle

by Mary-Alice Arthur | Oct 13, 2015 | 20th Anniversary Messages

Somehow, all those years ago, Juanita and David stumbled on something simple but mighty. Maybe it came through welcoming people to their home, but World Café seems to always make people feel at home, enough to be open to conversations that really matter. And from that small beginning the rest of us have a doorway to the “magic in the middle”. We’ve noticed in the Art of Hosting network that people often start their practice with World Café — it is easy to do and as a method it supports participants to get focused and connected quickly. It helps them learn from each other and get a sense of the community conversation. It works!

Happy 20th anniversary to the World Café community, may the next 20 be even more amazing!

Mary Alice Arthur

Relax at the World Café

by David Isaacs | Oct 11, 2015 | Beyond Words

That’s our David (Isaacs)… Always on the lookout for World Café connections…

Co-creating the Future we Desire

by Eduardo Afonso | Oct 10, 2015 | 20th Anniversary Messages, Latin America

As an OD consultant, I’ve always searched for innovative forms of creating and nurturing warm and supportive spaces for small as well as large group interventions for the clients and organizations I’ve worked with.

In 1998 I had my first contact with Appreciative Inquiry and since that time I have been fascinated by the power of meaningful and positive questions. It was amazing to see the energy and commitment level of the participants when asked to take a more relevant role in co-creating the very future they desire.

As a member of the IONS – Institute of Noetic Sciences, I took part in a series of meetings in Latin America in 2001 and had the opportunity to host my first World Café and fell in love with the World Café “cause”, asking questions that really matter.

To my personal understanding and experience, World Café is a philosophy, a unique opportunity to have all the voices heard.

From 2001 to this day I’ve used World Café in more than 400 events with more than 20.000 participants in both companies and NGO’s with a great amount of energy through co-creation of their desired future and coordination of actions.

The impact of The World Café in my life is tremendous and has created the opportunity for me to successfully facilitate internal or multi stakeholder meetings from 4 up to 600 people in the room, helping them in planning, disseminating and deploying strategies, new desired culture and positive change to their own environment.

Besides buying a great amount of The World Café books in order to share and give it as a gift to my clients and friends, I’ve been making financial donations to the World Café annually as an attitude of giving back part of what I have received from The World Café Community.

As a board member of The World Café Community Foundation I have had the recurrent opportunity to listen to people telling us about the impact and benefits its use has been creating around the globe!

Eduardo Afonso(Co-Host of the upcoming Impact Café in Sao Paulo on October 16th)

Join us in the 20th Anniversary Celebrations!