Conversation cafe

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Conversation cafe is quite general and can be applied to most topics that are meant to be worked on in conversation-based breakouts groups.

In practice

I’ve had the most success with prompts that elicit personal stories, where an intimate exchange within a small group is a self-contained activity. People are happy to have a meaningful connection, and don’t feel like they’ve missed out on what other groups discussed. If they’re curious, reading the per-group slide or flipchart of discussion points is enough.

Facilitator notes

This structure is a great one for quickly deepening conversations. When run online, it’s usually done in breakout rooms and requires someone in each group to be a strict timekeeper. In addition, even at one minute each, multiple rounds around the table takes longer than a freefall discussion. It becomes tempting for both the facilitator who is managing a tight agenda and for impatient participants in a breakout room, to throw the constraints out the window. Stay strong.

Workshop design notes

If it’s a prompt where participants do benefit from being exposed to what other groups worked on, the structure should be followed by a harvesting or cross-pollination activity. A common workshop design flaw is to skimp on time to download breakout outputs and discuss them at the room level.

This is a minor point but I usually re-name this activity to something a little less casual-sounding (ex. Roundtable discussions) or incorporate the content (ex. Your experience with xxx) to better suit the aesthetics of my workshops.

This entry is part of Liberating Structures Field Notes, my collection of stories and reflections from the field. It's written for people who already know LS and are deepening their practice. If you're just getting started and looking for activity instructions, you'll find them at liberatingstructures.com..