Issue #13: April, 2009
 Greetings!Hello! Welcome to this month's TableTalk!
Change seems to be in the air these days, and change (like everything else) requires conversation to help us understand what's going on, to learn from each other, and to find healthy, life-affirming ways forward that draw on the gifts and wisdom of all. Working creatively with change calls for us to explore together what's present and emerging, how that impacts us, and how we're called to respond. In other words, we need conversation about the questions that really matter now more than ever.Many of you are using the World Café format to host these conversations all over the world. As always, we feature some of your stories in this issue (many thanks to you storytellers!) and invite all of you to share others. The winds of change are blowing within the World Café Community Foundation as well. For example, our understanding of the spirit and practice of stewardship is evolving. As many of you know, we have listed "regional stewards" on our website for the last two years - and they've been phenomenal. However, so many have offered to serve as stewards that we are now seeking ways to broaden and deepen that opportunity. We hope to foster a culture of stewardship within the World Café community, and evoking your sense of stewardship, however that looks to you, is a vital step in that process. You'll find a little more on this in the invitation below, together with some inspiring thoughts on the archetypal power of stewardship from Michael Jones.We're also in the process of co-evolving the process by which the World Café Community Foundation's work is resourced. This involves a shift from founder-led philanthropy during the first twelve years to a more broad-based and diversified web of support. A key component of the evolving system are contributions from individuals and organizations who are benefiting from the World Café. Your contributions are a tangible way to express your stewardship - and every contribution, large or small, helps us ensure that the "gift" of the World Café continues to circulate widely and freely around the globe.
Thank you so much to all who have stepped forward to support and be part of the World Cafe - whether you are a long-time friend or have just joined us. Welcome!Warm Wishes,
 Amy Lenzo, Editorand the World Café Community Foundation
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Every Friday Night
World Cafe at Starbucks
St Petersburg, Florida
April 27 - 30
Art of Hosting
Ontario, Canada
May 11 - 14
Methods for Strategic Collaboration Training
Leavenworth, Washington
May 14 - 17
Leadership in a
Self-Organizing World
Leavenworth, Washington
May 19 - 2
Authentic Leadership
in Action
Victoria, British Columbia
June 4-6
Preparation for Designing & Hosting World Cafes
Atlanta, Georgia
June 12 & 13
Dialogue in/as Action
New York City, NY
June 21 - 27
Shambhala Summer Institute
Halifax, Nova Scotia
June 18 - July 1
Art of Hosting and Convening Conversations
Gold Lake Mountain, Colorado
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Send us your World Cafe event dates!
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"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."
~ Winston Churchill
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An Invitation to Stewardship
from the World Cafe Community Foundation
 In the process of our ongoing exploration of the unique contribution of the World Café and the World Café Community Foundation during these times of challenge and transformation, several things are becoming clearer to us. Perhaps most importantly, we've reaffirmed our deep and enduring commitment to ensuring that the core ideas, principles, and process of the World Café remain freely available to all.
In recommitting to the "open source" approach and grass-roots perspective that has led the World Café into the vibrant, dynamic global force that it is today, we are also reaffirming our faith in the global community of World Café friends and practitioners to serve as stewards for its ongoing development and evolution in increasingly diverse, creative, and powerful ways.
One expression of this is our recent decision to stop singling out specific individuals as "regional stewards" on the website. Instead, we encourage all friends and practitioners to think of themselves as active stewards of the World Café.
We invite each of you who cares about the World Café to step forward to help nurture the areas and activities you feel passionately about -- to serve as an "attractor" and resource for others who may want to join in hosting conversations that matter.
For some, this may be holding World Café events in your town or city, hosting conversations about the questions that matter most locally. It may mean mentoring new World Café hosts, telling people you meet about the transformative power of conversation, or actively sharing innovative practices in the online community forum.
For many, it will mean supporting the the World Café Community Foundation by "tithing" 10% or more when you are earning money from the World Café (as a growing number of practitioners are starting to do), as well as sharing your stories so others can learn from them, and perhaps most importantly, it means listening to the spirit of the World Café and working in ways true to her (we're pretty sure it's a "her" :-) principles.
Stepping up to World Café stewardship will look different to different people. What might stewardship mean to you?
We're very excited about this change, and in the next month or two will be moving to a new online community platform that will give us a better way to steward this network together. We'll share more about the new platform in the next month or two, but rest assured it will be much simpler to use and have the features we need to stay in touch and grow together.
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Archetype of the Steward
taken from an article by Michael Jones, and submitted by World Cafe Elder Anne Dosher
For as long as the gift is used people will live.
~ Black Elk.
The Steward provides the connective tissue that brings us together. It connects us to the sense of our own truth, integrity, wisdom and intuition. It holds the space of possibility for our gifts and talents and the courage to be true to one's own calling. This includes the gift of identity, insight and finding faith and inspiration - the music - in one's own life. The Steward takes a stand in service of our own inner truth and for the gift and uniqueness we hold for ourselves and others.
This archetype of the Steward establishes, protects and
holds the integrity of boundaries of the whole. It tends the rich soil to keep our vision and dreams rooted in a sense of and significance of place. It aligns us with our own inner nature and the path of leadership and helps us act with coherence and integrity in service of our deepest work in the world.
Read the full article in the Integral Leadership Review
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 World Cafe Stories Hosts from the World Cafe community in St Petersburg Florida have been holding World Cafes every Friday at their local Starbucks. Out-of-towner Carol Ehrenkranz attended one of them and was immediately inspired to set up a series of World Cafe events in her own region a little further south.  Gillian Martin Mehers, from the World Conservation Union in Gland, Switzerland, hosted a World Cafe for headquarters staff and shares her reflections about what was especially valuable for them. World Cafe stewards Nicole Boyer and Brooking Gatewood from Adaptive Edge hosted a World
Cafe dialogue on how to "Be the Change" we want to see in the world.
They wrote an wonderful story about it for the Community blog, complete with photos and visual harvest.
Reverberations continue from the powerful series of World Cafes held throughout Bilbao, Spain in 2008. Read Pat Munro's report on what's happened since.
Michail Pronin, who has recently translated a World Cafe mini-hosting guide into Russian, shares this video of a World Cafe he conducted with a University in Moscow. It's in Russian, but from these images it's clear that the language of World Cafe is universal!
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What Else is New?
The World Cafe book is now out on Kindle! Get yours now.
Adriano Pianesi requests any stories about the use of the World Cafe' in Italy:
"If you have World Café experiences to share from the country of
espresso bars and cappuccino, we would like to hear from you." Send an
email to: adrianopianesi@yahoo.com or amy@theworldcafe.com Thanks and
.. arrivederci!
World Cafe in the News: Key Leaders Reach Out to Vulnerable Youth in Oregon, Cafe-Shaped Conversations: What does it Mean for Business?, 6,000 Disciples of Christ Gather in "Wholeness Cafes", & World Cafes on School Leadership and Social Justice in Vermont.
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News from Friends of the World Cafe
 Ravi Tangri invites us all to join him for Presence Hour. At 2pm (in your own local time) on May 9th, people all over the world will be putting their focus on practicing "Presencing". Ravi says, "We've had Earth Hour to deepen our shared commitment to transforming
this planet; Presence Hour is a time to connect with your deeper self and gain fresh
perspective on all that is happening to you and to all the world." Check out Ravi's blog for more information
Monika Broecker has launched the Center for Personal Growth. Upcoming events she's sponsoring in San Francisco this May include Healing Ourselves, Healing the Planet with Dr. Emmett Miller, Voice Coaching based on Alexander Technique principles with Lisa Wentz, and Meditation, Emotions and the Brain with Philippe Goldin. See Monika's website for a full schedule of workshops and services.
Alexander and Katia Laszlo of Syntony Quest are offering a one day workshop called "Leading into the Unknown" in San Francisco on Sunday, April 26th. See their website to register. Nancy Margulies just posted her first video, a poem about Dr Seuss and a quantum worldview, on YouTube. Stay tuned for more from this talented artist, and please share the link with your friends and colleagues if you enjoyed it! Ruzsa Agota announces an upcoming event on May 28 - Responses from the Ancient Wisdom - the third part of a series called Our Reflections on Crisis as Opportunity convened by Dialogos/ SoLinHungary and supported by AIESEC organisation, Univ. Corvinus
Heartland Circle announces their 5th Art of Convening Advanced Certification Training - a one year program built around two 4-day retreats and ten 2-hour tele-sessions. See the Heartland website for more information.
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The World Cafe Community Foundation
Email: news@theworldcafe.com
Web: www.theworldcafe.com |
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