an online book by David Gurteen
I attribute the little I know to my not having been ashamed to ask for information, and to my rule of conversing with all descriptions of men on those topics that form their own peculiar professions and pursuits.
Credit: John Lock
In this chapter, I explain how to design a Knowledge Café.
If you are new to the Knowledge Café concept and wish first to learn how to run one, then go to the Knowledge Café Process chapter otherwise read on to find out how to design Cafés for different purposes.
Knowledge Café: Background Music ** Knowledge Café: Design Checklist What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close You should never run a Café for the sake of it. Every Café should start with a need. It should be designed for a specific purpose. I am often Continue reading Introduction: Knowledge Café Design **
Good conversations don’t happen by chance. Without careful planning, discussions can become unfocused, unbalanced, or ineffective. Thoughtful design helps ensure that a Knowledge Café creates the right conditions for meaningful dialogue, addressing key questions about purpose, participants, setting, and follow-up to maximize engagement and impact. Continue reading Knowledge Café: Design Checklist Knowledge Cafés should be thoughtfully designed
A Knowledge Café should be designed for a specific purpose or intent. It’s not just about having learning conversations, although this is one of the primary uses. You start with the business purpose and design a Café to fulfill that aim. Continue reading Knowledge Café: Purpose Every Knowledge Café should have a clear purpose
The participants in a Knowledge Café play several different roles. Not all of these roles are always needed, and the same person can play some roles. These are the roles: Café Owner The Café Owner is the person who has an issue or a problem and requests or suggests that a Café or series of Cafés are run to address that issue. Sometimes there is more than one owner, e.g., a project team, but … Continue reading Knowledge Café: Roles There are a number of different Knowledge Café players
The duration of a Knowledge Café is dependent on its purpose and the number of people involved. But more often than not it is limited by the time available. Continue reading Knowledge Café: Duration A Knowledge Café can last from one to three hours
The term Knowledge Café is a generic name for a conversational method that has many variations. Continue reading Knowledge Café: Naming You don’t have to call it a Knowledge Café
Conversations thrive when the right people are in the room. Yet, inviting everyone without thought can silence the very voices we need to hear. Carefully selecting participants creates the conditions for open, balanced, and meaningful dialogue. Continue reading Knowledge Café: Who Should Be Invited Who to invite and who not to invite
One of the fundamental principles of the Knowledge Café is that no one is made to do anything they do not want to do, including being there! This principle is essential as people need to feel comfortable if they are going to open up and engage in dialogue. Many Cafés are also explicitly about personal change or transformation, and there is an element of that in almost all Cafés. Personal change … Continue reading Knowledge Café: Invitation People should not be coerced to participate in any way
The standard Knowledge Café process is designed to cater for between 12 and 24 people. For smaller or larger numbers it does not work so well for a number of reasons. For less than 12 people, certainly less than 9 there is not the diversity of thought and energy in the room for the Café to work well. And over 30, it loses many of its benefits as it is less intimate, takes longer, microphones are … Continue reading Knowledge Café: Number of Participants The ideal number of participants is between 12 and 24
Conversations thrive when people have a clear starting point. Without context, discussions can drift or fail to engage participants. A well-structured introduction—whether a short talk, a debate, or a reading—sets the stage and focuses attention, ensuring that the Knowledge Café begins with purpose and leads to meaningful dialogue. Continue reading Knowledge Café: Triggering the Conversation There are a number of ways in which you can trigger the conversation
Knowledge Café: Triggering the Conversation Knowledge Café: Posing the Question What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close A powerful method to set the context for Café conversations is to use video. This can be done in a variety of ways. The topic/context can be set by Continue reading Knowledge Café: Setting the Context with Video ** A short video makes a good way to set the context for a Café conversation
Knowledge Café: Setting the Context with Video ** Knowledge Café: Small Group Design What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close The Knowledge Café conversation is triggered or provoked in one of several ways but in general consists of setting the context and posing a powerful question. Continue reading Knowledge Café: Posing the Question To trigger the conversation
Knowledge Café: Posing the Question Knowledge Café: Large Group Design ** What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Over the years, in running my Knowledge Cafés, I have discovered through experimentation and observation that the ideal group size for interactive conversation is three or four Continue reading Knowledge Café: Small Group Design The ideal small group size is three or four
Knowledge Café: Small Group Design Knowledge Café: Required Resources What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close The Knowledge Café works best for between twelve to twenty-four people though I have run Cafés for as few six people and as many as 80. For my regular public Continue reading Knowledge Café: Large Group Design ** The Knowledge Café works best for between twelve to twenty-four people
Good conversation doesn’t need complex setups or special tools. Without the right space, structure, or question, discussions can lose focus or energy. A simple venue, a clear question, and a skilled facilitator create the conditions for meaningful dialogue that encourages shared learning and deeper understanding. Continue reading Knowledge Café: Required Resources Running a Knowledge Café requires minimal resources
Conversations thrive when they have a clear purpose and are sparked by meaningful questions. Yet sometimes, the goal is simply to connect people and explore diverse ideas together. A well-designed Knowledge Café can do both, creating space for curiosity, reflection, and the shared discovery of what truly matters. Continue reading Knowledge Café: Conversational Topics Some examples
Measuring the success of a Knowledge Café is not easy. Continue reading Knowledge Café: Measuring Success The outcomes are what you take away in your head – note taking is a distraction
The Knowledge Café is fundamentally about conversation. Its value lies in the quality of the conversations that take place. Continue reading Knowledge Café: Capturing Outcomes The outcomes are what you take away in your head – note taking is a distraction
Graphic recording is the real-time capture of a conversation by a graphic recorder who listens to a presentation or conversation and illustrates what they hear using pictures, words, and color. Graphic recording happens in real time, so you can see conversations as they evolve, and it becomes a memorable artifact and a valuable summary of an event, conversation, or line of thought. The process … Continue reading Knowledge Café: Graphic Recording ** Real-time capture of the Café conversations in pictures, words, and color
Knowledge Café: Graphic Recording ** Introduction: Knowledge Café Design ** What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Continue reading Knowledge Café: Background Music ** Don’t let background music detract from the conversations
