Wholly H2o: California's Integrated Water Reuse Management Center

The Conversation Cafe Initiative trains, resources and supports hosts worldwide in bringing Conversation Cafes to their community. A host is anyone wanting to foster dialogue and trained via the website or tele-training in the Conversation Cafe Method.

Conversation Cafés are open, hosted, drop-in conversations among people with diverse views and a shared passion for engaging with others. Held in public spaces like cafés, restaurants and bookstores, Conversation Cafés provide a safe setting for talking with neighbors about things that matter over a cup of coffee or tea. Also, Conversation Cafes are held at conferences, meetings, workshops, trainings, schools, colleges – anywhere people need to circle up to make sense together of what they are hearing, experiencing or doing.

Why Conversation Cafés? Because when you put strangers, caffeine and ideas in the same room, brilliant things can happen. Because people are tired of small talk and eager for BIG talk. Shy? Just listen. Talkative and opinionated? Learn to listen. Willing to think, to question and to dream? Curious about what goes on in other people’s heads? That’s why.

What do we talk about? Brevity when talking and care when listening – plus a dash of compassion, respect and curiosity – can make anything food for great conversation. Building community. The good, true, and beautiful. The news. Ethics. Friendship. War. Democracy. Politics. What questions are brewing in you? Bring them.

Conversation Cafés are a citizen initiative, hosted by Youth for a New World. Everyone is welcome. There’s nothing to join. Anyone can come, just once or many times. There are no books to read, no assignments and no dues.

Simple Agreements set the stage for the shift from small talk to BIG talk:

• Suspend judgement as best you can.
• Listen… with respect.
• Seek to understand, not persuade.
• Question assumptions.
• Speak what has personal heart and meaning.
• Go for honesty and depth but don’t go on and on.

What Happens at a Conversation Café? The host welcomes you, sets the theme for discussion, reviews the process and agreements, sets an ending time, and calls for a moment of silence to relax, reflect, and become open.

Round one: Passing around the “talking object” (something symbolic or just handy that is held by the person speaking), each person speaks briefly to the topic. It’s okay to pass. No feedback or response.

Round two: Again with talking object, each person briefly deepens their own comments or speaks to another’s remarks.

Open, spirited conversation: Use the talking object only if there is domination, contention, or lack of focus. This will take up most of the time. Keep in mind the agreements.

Final Round: Each person says briefly what was meaningful to them. The host may request ideas for the next café’s topic.