id: world-cafe
title: World Cafe
description: >-
  A large-group dialogue method that uses small-table conversations and
  rotating participation to cross-pollinate ideas. Developed by Juanita
  Brown and David Isaacs.
source: The World Cafe Community
source_url: https://www.theworldcafe.com/
tags: [world-cafe, dialogue, large-group, knowledge]
forked_from: null
image: null
steps:
  - headline: Set tables and a question
    description: >-
      Tables of four or five are set with paper tablecloths and markers. A
      single overarching question is posed for all tables.
  - headline: First round
    description: >-
      Participants converse at their starting table for twenty to thirty
      minutes, writing and drawing key ideas on the tablecloth.
  - headline: Rotate
    description: >-
      One person stays as "table host" while others disperse to new tables.
      The host briefs newcomers on the prior conversation; a new round
      begins.
  - headline: Harvest
    description: >-
      After two or three rounds, the whole group gathers and tables share
      emerging themes, patterns, and surprising insights.
outcome: >-
  Ideas cross-fertilise across the whole group; collective intelligence
  surfaces that no single conversation would have reached.
practice: >-
  Keep the question open and juicy. The tablecloths matter — people who
  doodle engage more deeply than those who only talk.