Like the drinks served at the coffee shops that nutured them, Conversation Cafés come in a multitude of varieties.
CONVERSATION CAFÉ MODIFIED FOR YOUTH!
Inspired by Leslie Schneider’s article about hosting a Conversation Café for a 7th grade Sunday School, the Conversation Café team has developed a guide for using Conversation Café with youth. Our adaptation uses Leslie’s innovative idea of giving each participant a specific role to perform during the course of the conversation.
THE THREE BASIC VARIATIONS
Conversation Café hosts have adapted the basic method to unique circumstances. Three varieties are: Café Lite, Instant Café and Super Café.
Lite when you have less than forty-five minutes for the conversation,
Instant when you initiate a Conversation Café spontaneously,
Super when you have a big conversation event. More varieties surely exist, but these three will give you a way to think about using the method for your own purposes.
REAL LIFE EXAMPLES OF VARIATIONS
We’ve included a variety of materials to give you an idea of the possibilities for using Conversation Café. Click on the links at right to explore its use in festivals, trade shows, conferences, hostels, film events, churches, and to get ideas for adapting the method for your needs.
Green Festivals, Trade Shows, Conferences – Short Sample Planner for a Green Festival
Hostels – A pilot program hosting cafés in hostels.
Film Events – A how-to for post-film dialogue
Sunday School – A creative adaptation for young teens
NATIONAL & GLOBAL CONVERSATIONS
Examples of the variations expressed here differ in the size and scale of the conversation.
Conversation Week is a way to answer the question: What if everyone in the world asked the same question at the same time and shared what they learned?
Let’s Talk America took place when Conversation Café teamed up with World Café for a project designed to facilitate dialogue across the political divides in the United States in 2004. Please note that the Let’s Talk America website referenced in these documents no longer exists. PDF