Knowledge Café: Triggering the Conversation There are a number of ways in which you can trigger the conversation

You may trigger or provoke Knowledge Café conversations in several ways depending on the purpose of the Café. In general, the process takes two parts:

1. setting the context
2. posing a powerful question.

Setting the context

• A speaker sets the context – maybe two or three speakers, each presenting without PowerPoint slides for 5 minutes each.
• Where the context is not well known, e.g., someone talks about a new technology. Ideally, this talk should last no more than 20 minutes, but if there are good reasons and sufficient time, the talk could last longer.
• Where the context of the question is well known to everyone, e.g., what are the future possibilities for our industry? In this case, the host poses the question with no talk, or someone with knowledge of the industry gives a quick 5 – 10 minute talk to remind people briefly of the context.
• The host asks, e.g., “What is the role of conversation in our business, and how might we encourage it?”
• Another option is to adopt a flip teaching style and give the participants some reading material or a video to watch before the Café. The problem with this, though, is that some people will not do the pre-reading/viewing.
• Another approach is to give people a short article or articles to read at the start of the Café. The article could be read quietly individually, or it could be read aloud to the small group by one or more members.
• Generally, a speaker talks for 5 to 20 minutes and poses the question.
• More than one speaker may help set the context.
• Video can also be used in various ways to set the context.
• The talk and question could be a short written document rather than a video.
• A short debate can also trigger it.

In all of these cases, the host manages the Café process. All the speaker typically needs to do is give a short talk and pose the question.

There are other ways, but the essence is to take no more than 20 minutes to set the theme, background, or context, pose the question, and start the small group conversations.

Posts that link to this post

•  The Differences Between the Knowledge Café and the World Café There are some significant differences

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