How can you generate insights with World Cafe?

1 What is World Cafe?

World Cafe is a structured conversational process that involves multiple rounds of small group discussions around different questions or themes. The participants are invited to sit at tables that resemble a cafe setting, with paper tablecloths, pens, and refreshments. Each table has a host who stays throughout the session and welcomes new guests after each round. The guests move to different tables after a given time, cross-pollinating ideas and insights. The session ends with a plenary session where the hosts share the main points and patterns from their tables.

2 Why use World Cafe?

World Cafe is an effective tool that can help you achieve multiple objectives, including engaging a large number of people in meaningful dialogue, exploring complex or controversial issues from multiple perspectives, generating new ideas and insights, harvesting collective wisdom and intelligence, building trust and relationships among participants, and fostering collaboration and action. It can also be used for diverse purposes, such as visioning, strategic planning, problem-solving, innovation, community building, and learning.

3 How to design a World Cafe session?

When designing a World Cafe session, there are several factors to consider. Generally, it consists of three or four rounds of 20 to 30 minutes each, plus a plenary session of 30 to 45 minutes. The questions or themes should be relevant and open-ended, and should align with the purpose of the session. Additionally, the venue should be able to accommodate the number of participants and tables comfortably. The layout should be circular or U-shaped with four to six chairs per table. For materials, provide paper tablecloths, pens, and refreshments for each table. Assign roles to the hosts, guests, facilitator, and recorder. Lastly, prepare clear instructions for each round and the plenary session.

4 How to facilitate a World Cafe session?

The facilitator plays a pivotal role in setting up a conducive atmosphere and steering the process. They should introduce the purpose, process, and expectations of the session, as well as explain the roles and responsibilities of the hosts, guests, facilitator, and recorder. Posing questions or themes for each round and inviting participants to join a table of their choice is also important. Additionally, it's necessary to monitor time and signal the end of each round. The facilitator should also encourage guests to move to a new table after each round, leaving behind their marks and notes on the tablecloth. Hosts should be invited to welcome new guests and briefly summarize previous conversations while the facilitator assists them in capturing main points from their tables. Finally, the facilitator should lead the plenary session where hosts share their findings and participants reflect on insights and implications. The session should be closed with a summary, thank-you, and call to action.

5 How to harvest the insights from a World Cafe session?

The insights from a World Cafe session are captured in various ways, such as the paper tablecloths, which are the visual records of the conversations that can be displayed or scanned. Additionally, there are the hosts' reports, which are verbal summaries of the main points and patterns from their tables that can be recorded or transcribed. The plenary session is a collective reflection and synthesis of the insights and implications that can be documented or facilitated with graphic recording. Lastly, the follow-up is the continuation of the dialogue and implementation of action, which could involve surveys, feedback, newsletters, blogs, or social media.

6 What are some tips and best practices for World Cafe?

World Cafe is a flexible and adaptable tool that can be customized to your specific needs and goals. To enhance your experience and results, it is recommended to prepare well by researching the topic, audience, and purpose. Additionally, it is important to create a hospitable space with elements such as natural light, music, flowers, snacks, drinks, and breaks. To encourage diversity and participation, invite a diverse group of participants and use icebreakers or games to break the ice. It is also important to embrace emergence and complexity by trusting the process and being open to surprises. Finally, don't forget to harvest and share the results and feedback from the session by collecting, analyzing, communicating, celebrating, following up, and supporting next steps.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?