The topic was basically about making your offline presence (particularly as an organization) much more responsive and flexible to the needs of your supporters and community – the way it is with your online presence. Here are the slides:

Growing up I watched a lot of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood (watch here) and I’ve always had a love for the show and the man behind that show, Fred Rogers. The thing about this show and the man himself is that he wasn’t interested in teaching people what actions specifically are “wrong” and what actions specifically are “right” – he instead nurtured an understanding of how our actions affect others and how our feelings have an effect on our own self.

I’ve been thinking a lot about anger lately, about how quick we as a culture are to get angry and point fingers and choose sides; I’ve been witness to where that leads – we all are. Crisis after crisis because we aren’t satisfied to let cooler heads prevail.

Well, today in my RSS feed I found this nugget courtesy of Coudal Partners: it is Fred Rogers testifying before Congress about PBS funding. Listen not just to the words he has chosen but to the calmness of his delivery. He doesn’t need to get his ire up because his words reflect the deeper honesty of his being.

I’m grateful for the chance to continue to learn from Mr. Rogers, no matter what age I am. If you haven’t seen the video take the 6 minutes to watch it and really let the ideas settle into your mind.

The conversation was held at the Ohio State University Urban Arts Space in the newly renovated LEED certified Lazurus building. I was honored to have a chance to work with Rick Livingston on hosting this event and we couldn’t think of a better space for this conversation to occur.

Who was called?

A wide net was cast for the invitation but a take-away for me in this conversation is that there is a real need for some focused invitation in the future. In attendance at the conversation were many wonderful people who had already started to explore what their inner climate change was happening in response to what they see as the global climate change crisis.

My dream for this conversations potential however would be to bring people in who do not currently feel that immediacy or crisis, or perhaps even a connection to global climate change. I believe it is important to engage with those individuals and find that place of commonality between the two sides of this issue. As one participant last night spoke, “This issue is inclusive because of its ramifications. So even if you deny the reason for climate change happening there is still room for you to participate in guiding action.”

Harvest

Even without the realization of my dream of full inclusion on this conversation there was still an amazing synergy that took place. I can’t thank the participants in this conversation enough, they were all lovely. Below I would like to share the visual harvest from the evening with you.

If you’re like us, you’ve been keeping one eye on COP15, the UN conference on global climate change, taking place in Copenhagen Dec 7 – 18, and wondering what its outcome might mean for the planet. Instead of waiting to hear the news, why not take action to help define the future?

In Copenhagen, Toke Moeller, Monica Nissen and other practitioners of the Art of Hosting Conversations that Matter will be holding a space alongside the official conference proceedings. They have also issued an open call to form “Inner Climate Learning Villages” across the world, in order to further the ripple of awareness spreading out from COP15. What is a Learning Village? “A gathering, large or small, where people come together to engage in meaningful conversation and joyful connection around how our “inner climate” is affecting what we see happening in the outer world.”

In short, whatever else happens in Copenhagen, there is an opportunity to come together in new and supportive ways to explore possibilities for a common future. Can you add your voice and wisdom to this crucial conversation? On Dec 10/17 from 5 to 7pm we’ll be gathering at the Urban Arts Space around these questions:

• What relation do you see between the inner climate and outer climate change?
• What change in the inner climate would help us to imagine a sustainable future?
• What story about sustainability are we learning to tell?

The Urban Arts Space is located in the Lazarus Building in downtown Columbus, 50 W. Town Street.

We hope that you will be able to join us for this conversation. Come beforehand for refreshments and to explore the current exhibits at the UAS; stay afterwards for the Marotta Hour, an evening of music hosted by Larry Marotta.

Please RSVP to livingston(dot)28(at)gmail(dot)com by Tuesday 12/15 so that we can arrange our space appropriately.

Looking forward to talking with you.

Rick Livingston & Andrew Miller

I want to see a conversation where people of different belief systems sit face to face and find ways to open new lines of communication between each other. Right now the only communication appears to be casting verbal stones with a strong sentiment of distrust. If we are going to move forward as a community we must find a way to be more productive and less destructive.

What has made this conversation difficult to pin down is that I too am someone with strong opinions who has, at times, cast stones. So how do we host such an conversation internally without clouding the process with the persona’s involved?

The steps I’m taking right now are to build a coalition from the primary parties of contention so that a fully developed purpose can drive the conversation. I believe that a purpose derived from our communal knowledge will make this community conversation a success.

Behind the conversation I am also working on a website solution that will provide opportunities for cross organization project development. I’m taking suggestions on names for this site as well.

So, are you in an organization or community that faces similar issues and has a similar need for reconnecting factions? Reconnecting people? If so, what steps are you taking?

The “Un-Conference” – The Perfect Place for Sharing Ideas

{Listen Here}

I have very fond memories of watching Sesame Street and the Electric Company on PBS as a child. After years of watching This Old House I couldn’t wait to move into my first home. It was in that house that I listened to the very first episodes of This American Life on WBEZ, Chicago Public Radio. Now that I’m living here in Columbus I have the chance to not only enjoy WOSU but to be a part of it on air too.

Recently I attended the first national Public Media Camp as a representative of WOSU. The mission of “PubCamp” was to better understand the role of Public Media within the local community; particularly as online media becomes such a major factor in the production and distribution of content.

Because Public Radio and Television have been a constant for me my whole life, it just felt right that I would have a chance to help shape its future. I was honoured to have this opportunity.

PubCamp was held as an unconference. For those of you unfamiliar with this format it is structured in such a way that all attendees are participants. An unconference isn’t a place for presentation, it is a place for meaningful conversation.

The idea is actually very simple, just three basic steps:

• First, get motivated, interested, engaged and knowledgeble Public Media folks together in one space.
• Second, give them an issue to discuss.
• Third, let them determine the right questions and topics necessary to inspire conversations that lead to innovative solutions.

Believe it or not this process works great.

The unconference format is very empowering. It sets the stage for participants to work collaboratively for the common good of the group. For that reason I wasn’t surprised that PubCamp used this format. You see, I truly believe there is a difference between the people working in public broadcasting and commercial broadcasters. Public broadcasters seem to always look for ways to make their community better. For them, the common good of the community is ahead of everything else.

This wasn’t the first time I’ve attended an unconference; I’ve even helped to host a few myself. In every case I’ve walked away feeling like I helped to create something new. Then, just as important for me; I felt like I made some significant connections with other people.

So what would happen if we began solving of all of our community issues in this collaborative, empowering way? Instead of requiring a few willing people to try and figure out the answers to our complex problems, what if we tapped into the community knowledge that already exists?

Now is the time to maximize our collective intelligence and embrace these new conversation techniques. Through meaningful conversation, conversation that welcomes and listens to diverse viewpoints and maximizes participation and civility, we can transform conflict into creative cooperation.

The format for the event was an un-conference which is loosely based on the same social technologies that the Art of Hosting employees in creating conversations that matter. If you’d like more information on Public Media Camp check out the website and wiki here: http://publicmediacamp.org/.

The framework behind the event

Setting up an un-conference is more than just inviting people to an event, there are underpinnings to the social technologies at work at these events that need to be built and understood in order to properly provide the space and mindset for truly meaningful conversations to take place; conversations that lead to innovative solutions.

Because many of the attendees of this event are expected to go back to their home city and host a regional Public Media Camp I wanted to provide them with a better understanding of the framework. I thought that providing some background about how these social technologies work would be crucial and, according to the feedback I received, I was right.

The purpose at the center of this session:

The design behind this session was put together rather hastily (I chose to do this teach at open space the morning of Day Two which doesn’t provide the time or resources you SHOULD invest in design):

The design is built around the purpose because EVERYTHING builds around the purpose.

We began with a check-in of, “How do you feel after a good conversation?” which led to the following thoughts:

• Like my ideas were represented
• I’ve been informed
• Feel like there’s action
• Empowered
• Motivated

This harvest sheet also grew out of our first question about experience with group circles and talking pieces. One of the key insights we came up with was that we don’t understand why, as children, we use these techniques and they work so well; but then at some point we stop using them and we stop really listening to each other.

That is the death of most potentially good conversations.

Other insights were:

• Talking pieces provide a physical reminder of how long your the only person talking, like a weight
• Talking pieces and circles are “good medicine” for having conversations
• Physical space is important when planning to have a circle so everyone can fit in it

Most of the session was a reiteration of the principles behind Open Space and World Cafe, some strategies for how they’re used and the importance of purpose and asking the right question. Refer to the design document for those notes (click here for a large version).

At the end of the session we had a chance to reflect on, “What did this conversation and teaching make you feel?”

• Bewildered at first but then it was eye-opening
• Confused that this session wasn’t about “online social media” but about “face-to-face socializing” and then glad that it was because face-to-face is so important
• Energized and ready to go
• Inspired
• Empowered

It was clear that we all shared a special experience and that several more individuals are looking forward to hosting meaningful conversations in their future.

Here are some resources for further research, learning and understanding:

• http://artofhosting.org
• http://www.openspaceworld.org/
• http://www.theworldcafe.com/hosting.htm

Presenting

Using check-in is a great way to get people engaged and it can work well even without going further into the conversational format. Following a checkin with endless presentations however leads to the question: why spend the time checking in?

Presentations are excellent for conveying knowledge from a known expert to an audience that is interested in learning. There are plenty of times when this is exactly what you are looking for.

However, the general idea behind an unconference is to get away from that dynamic and to promote conversation; conversation that leads to innovation and new ideas.

Conversation

After using a checkin and then creating space (Open Space) it is important to honor the idea of those open spaces being places of conversation instead of presentation. The people attending these spaces are attending them for passion not for presentation (at least not in an unconference scenario). Let that passion flow instead of keeping it bottled up until the Q/A period of the session (if there is event time for that).

Using the social technologies to create the kind of atmosphere that invites innovation is the most purposeful use of time you can have. Consider this when you’re considering your next conference, unconference or conversation.

Share the Knowledge

The point is to let these passionate and knowledgeble people share what they have, what they know and what action that they are willing to take. This is what creates the change your organization is looking for.

Trust the process, trust the art and you will be rewarded.

Fortunately, the Art of Hosting principles are something that can help sort out deficiencies even in contentious situations.

Looking for Vision

The most difficult component of a meeting is finding purpose and maintaining that purpose. Often times meetings are held with no purpose or too broad of a purpose. How do you know if you’re in a meeting like this? Here are a few clues to watch for:

• Attendees who look lost, are unwilling to participate or ask questions that are well outside of the desired purpose of the meeting.
• An agenda that skips around to several topics (not always a bad thing but usually means there is a lack of focus).
• Meeting host that doesn’t or can’t maintain focused direction of the meeting because they don’t have a meeting purpose to pull attendees back in with.

In the case of the meeting I mentioned above I noticed some misunderstanding surrounding the purpose and it was causing trouble planning out the community conversation we would be hosting. At the moment of feeling that I asked the question; “What is our purpose?”

While it seemed like a simple enough question it wasn’t. Fortunately it opened up the conversation that needed to happen, the one that established our purpose and thus our focus. Once we had that the rest of the planning almost worked itself out.

Having purpose is like having a ready-made framework for life, for organizations and for community. Putting purpose at the center of every conversation doesn’t, in and of itself, provide your vision but it puts in place the framework for that vision to emerge from the shared knowledge of the group.

This is, as they say, the sweet spot.

To this end don’t hide your purpose, write it in big letters and put it in the center of the table, center of the floor and hang it on the walls of the meeting room. Don’t make people ask to be reminded, have it where everyone can see it and have it in their field of view for while their talking.

Vision is Productive

In developing the questions that lead toward the creation of a productive vision it is imperative that you are mindful of what leads toward productive, actionable conversation and what leads toward roadblocks.

Human nature is generally set in opposition to change. Negativity and roadblocks come naturally.

This means that if you ask questions providing the opportunity for roadblocks then you will likely ONLY get negative feedback. For example:

“What is your perception of program X and what do you see as the roadblocks to its success?”

By specifically asking for roadblocks you have set the program up for failure. If someone has a positive perception of how to continue the use of program X and they verbalize that then, by specifically asking for the roadblocks, you are inviting the rest of the group to create roadblocks to every actionable idea developed.

If you instead ask the question, “What is your perception of program X and what are the opportunities for sustaining it?” you will (thanks to human nature) still receive some negative feedback but you have specifically empowered the thought process of creating actionable ideas instead of empowering inaction, negativity and roadblocks.

Remember that vision is meant to lead us, not hold us back.