The World Café process has been used by tens of thousands of people around the world to tackle real-life issues. Based on seven key principles, it begins with small, intimate conversations at café -style tables; these gatherings then link and build on each other as people move between groups and cross-pollinate ideas. In this way, Café learning enables even very large groups to think together creatively in a single, connected conversation. This complete resource explains the Café concept and provides readers with the tools they need to get started. Each chapter opens with stories from business, education, government, and community organizations, each a dramatic example of how leaders are using this process in the real world. Such stories underline the Café ’s immediate, practical implications for meeting and conference design, strategy formation, knowledge creation, and large-scale systems change. The book includes a foreword by best-selling author Margaret J. Wheatley, an afterword by author Peter Senge, and real-world stories of the Café process in action at Hewlett-Packard, the nation of Singapore, and the University of Texas.
Customer Reviews
World Cafe: An Introduction:
This book gives a nice overview of World Cafe’s. Good introductory text. This is really a book about setting the stage for good conversations that are meaningful and productive.
World Cafe: Makes Complex Conversations Easy:
Full of clear and sensible information about how to manage complex conversations and consultations with large and diverse groups. A pleasantly ‘unacademic’ approach to achieving good results.
An excellent description of World Cafe:
World Cafe is a technique or process for having large group discussions which are emerging and not too controlled. It’s based on the fact that if you create the right environment that useful discussion withh be created. What is this envronment like? It’s like being in a nice cafe, small round tables, candle light and people who are pasionately about their subject. How do you create an environment in which that can happen, that’s what The World Cafe is all about.
World cafe is based on 7 principles and the book is structured according to these seven principles. The seven principles are “set the context”, “create hospitable space”, “explore questions that matter”, “encourage everone’s contribution”, “cross-pollinate and connect diverse perspectives”, “listen together for patterns, insights and deeper questions”, “harvest and share collective discoveries”.
Each chapter explains one principle and then is followed by one or a couple real-life stories which relate to the principle.
The book is well written, though I found the format somewhat confusing and could have used a little move overview structure in the beginning. I’ve loved the “creation stories” and some of the real-life examples. However, some of the real-life examples were boring to read. The structure and some of the real-life stories make me rate this book 4 stars and not 5 starts.
I love world cafe and the ideas behind it. I’ve personally used the world cafe with good results. However, depending on your situation, similar techniques like Open Space Technology might be better. Knowing about world cafe, joining them and facilitating them have been fun and this book has helped me in having a better understanding of and about them.
Cafe work is the most exciting work that I have done:
For those of us whose practice is founded on conversation, learning and using World Cafe processes is so exciting. Participating in a cafe is just as powerful. Cafe work has the potential to bridge the gap between people who just do not understand each other. It has the potential to heal, create learning, creative change, and change the world. This book not only walks the reader through cafe work, it provides examples that bring the work to life. Cafe work is life changing and I highly recommend that even if you have never tried cafe work, go to the web site […] and review how to use cafes and then yes, buy and read the book.
Excellent book:
This book amazed me with its thorough and readable approach to a process that is at once simple and profound. Read this and you will learn how the cafe process has worked worldwide to bring people together for meaningful conversation. People who host cafes in the style explained in the book are able to create an atmosphere in which everyone can feel heard, can deeply listen to others and then halp weave the ideas together. I plan to use it for my workplace as well with community groups.
I also send copies to several friends who are facilitators in the corporate world.
