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| The Gurteen Knowledge Website |
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How to run a Knowledge Café |
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Knowledge Cafés can be run in many ways - there is no definitive format but some ways are more effective than others. If you wish to look at a quite sophisticated format then see theworldcafe.com  or another resource is www.conversationcafe.org . The
theworldcafe.com is an extensive resource site on the subject and includes a free downloadable guide that helps you to set up and run your own cafés. In the interests of keeping things simple and saving on set up time I usually run my cafés and in particular the Gurteen Knowledge Café to a simpler format than the one outlined in theworldcafe.com .
A cafe usually runs for 1 - 2 hours in total depending on how much time available. It is difficult to run one in less than 1 hour. The number of people should be at least 15. Ideally 30. 50 max. Any more than this then it is impossible to hold a large group conversation at the end without the need for microphones which somewhat curtails the dynamices of the converssation. The only hard and fast rule is that the meeting is conducted in such a way that most of the time is spent in conversation - it is not about one person presenting to the group. A simple session may go something like this. Optionally, the facilitator gives a presentation on what knowledge-cafes are all about and the role of conversation in business life. (anywhere between 5 mins and 1 hr with a few conversational exercises). I usually only do this at a conference where people are not already familiar with the concepts and this turn the whole event effectively into a half-day workshop. The facilitator welcomes people to the café - about 5 mins. The facilitator spends 10 - 15 minutes outlining the subject or theme of the cafe and poses one or two key open-ended questions. e.g. if the theme is knowledge-sharing then the question for the group might be 'what are the barriers to knowledge-sharing in an organization and how do you overcome them?' The group breaks up into small groups of about 5 each and discusses the questions for about 45 mins and then we come back together as a group for the final 45 mins where the individual groups share their thoughts. Usually no attempt is made to capture the conversation as doing so tends to destroy the conversation but you can capture "key insights" if you wish.
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