National Coalition of Dialogue and Deliberation meeting in Portland

180 practitioners of dialogue, deliberation, and public engagement gathered for the NCDD conference in Portland Oregon in November 13th. The organizers did a wonderful job of organizing the conference and having the opportunity to gather with so many people dedicated to furthering dialogue and public participation in our political process was fantastic. To start off the conference a World Cafe was convened in Friday night which was open to the public. I can in early to participate as there was no way that I would miss a World Cafe session. The conversation was excellent even though the turnout was not as big as I had hoped. The harvest from that Cafe was used to frame some of the questions posted for the next day.

The next day, the day of the conference, turned out to be a great gathering and sharing of ideas and practices. We had excellent speakers in the morning outlining creative public engagement practices and then an Open Space session in the afternoon where participants self-organized to talk about topics of interest. For both the World Cafe on Friday and for the speakers on Saturday, graphic recorders recorded the conversations which can be seen on the NCDD conference site. To see the details of the session visit the agenda for the conference.

Outside of having the opportunity to participate in such a wonderful event with others interested in the field of dialogue, deliberation and public engagement, it was nice to be able to visit with all of these folks that I had never met. As I live 3 hours away from Portland, only those few from Bend who ventured over were familiar to me. The conversations that we engaged in were excellent and the co-generation of new ideas and sharing of ideas made the trip worth it. I will certainly go next year particularly if regional events are held again. In closing I would highly recommend that if interested in the field that you join NCDD and start helping this community do the excellent work being done to create conversations that matter.

I would also recommend that to get an in depth education in the field, join the DDPE certification program at Fielding Graduate University. The program is embedded within the Fielding HOD doctoral program that I am participating in full time or the master program in HOD but if you have a bachelors degree you can join a cohort and gain mastery in this fantastic field. And if interested in The World Cafe visit the World Cafe site or the World Cafe community and join in the conversation.

Conversations framing my doctoral research

I recently started my doctoral program at Fielding Graduate University in Human and Organization Development. Preceding the start of the program and now after I have started, conversation has been at the core of my activities. I am having extraordinary conversations around my work, my research, and my future as a practitioner in my field.

I am reminded that learning does not happen in isolation. In fact as I approach my research and field of interest and work to narrow my interests, I am quite sure that defining my research interest would not have happened without the conversations that I am having. Juanita Brown of The World Café reached out and assembled an initial research group to help me frame my research. Out of that initial group which was formed in July, I have developed several strong friendships. Group and individual conversations have gone deeper and began to focus in on where I can make a difference in this world.

The more conversations that I have, the more clear my research becomes. All of us are in a system of service focused on helping heal our world. My work will focus on The World Café and how we can heal through intergenerational dialogues. A partnership with the Institute for Social Innovation at Fielding Graduate University will be critical as I frame this field of inquiry. I expect that I will use The World Café as a research methodology at the very least and probably as a focus for my research as well. Intergenerational dialogues will be an important piece of this work.

As the general manager that I support says of a large issue, it is bigger than a bread box, and honing in on my research question certainly as an effort goes, is bigger than a bread box. I am blessed to have such wonderful people to talk with as these conversations are going to be at the core of my learning and growth as a scholar practitioner.