Knowledge Café: Design Checklist Knowledge Cafés should be thoughtfully designed

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.

Several questions should be considered when designing a Knowledge Café before running it. Not all of them apply to every situation, and they should be reflected on and refined iteratively, rather than in a strict sequence.

• What is the purpose of the Café?

The first step is to identify the purpose of the Café. This could be about gaining a deeper understanding of a topic, or it could be about increasing engagement, surfacing problems, building relationships, breaking down silos, generating ideas, stimulating action, or more.

Usually, there is a prime purpose and one or more secondary purposes. For example, the primary objective might be to gain a better understanding of an issue; a secondary purpose might be to learn about the Knowledge Café process or build relationships.

• What is the context? 

Why is the Café being run?

Who is it being run for?

What risks or limitations are there?

How much time is available?

• What is the theme of the Café, and what will be the question posed to the participants to fulfill the purpose?

The theme of the Café provides the context for the question posed.

There usually is only one question that the Café is designed around, but occasionally, there may be more.

The Café question triggers the conversation and should be carefully thought about. It needs to be powerful, relevant, and meaningful to the Café participants.

• How will the theme be set, and who will pose the trigger question?

The Café theme may be implicit in the broader context in which the Café operates; it may be a simple one set by the Café host (facilitator) or established through a brief talk by a speaker who is more conversant with the subject. It may be a short video, e.g., a TED Talk. There could even be more than one speaker.

• How do we minimize the problems associated with group work?

Group conversations are susceptible to groupthink and group polarization. They are also vulnerable to facilitator bias and the Hawthorne effect.

Most applications of the Café are not overly prone to these problems, but they should still be carefully considered.

• What do we wish to capture?

The outcomes from a Café are often what people take away in their heads, but frequently, there is a need to capture more tangible things, such as ideas, problems, and risks.

• How do we capture things in a way that minimally interferes with the free flow of the conversation?

The capture could be part of the Café, or if the Café is part of a more extensive process, the capture could be separate. e.g., a Café can be followed by an Open Space session in which outcomes are captured.

• Do we wish to capture the essence of the Café in photos or video? 

It can sometimes be helpful to take photos of the Café or even record a video. Or to ask one or two people to blog about the event. The idea is not to capture anything particularly actionable, but to capture the essence of the Café and the energy it generates, to help promote future events.

• Who should we invite? 

People should never be coerced into participating in a Knowledge Café, and care should be exercised in deciding who to invite. Getting a mix of perspectives and people who feel passionate about the topic or issues to be discussed is essential.

• Who should we NOT invite? 

The presence of senior managers in some cultures can kill the conversation stone-dead. Dominant personalities can also have the same effect.

Thought needs to be given to avoid these people from killing the conversation. Not inviting them is not necessarily the answer, as, in the long term, everyone needs to be involved in most discussions.

• How should we invite people?

The Café invitation is essential.

• How do we measure the success of this Knowledge Cafe? 

Although there should be no preconceived outcomes from a Knowledge Café, it is still crucial to consider beforehand how success will be measured. It may be beneficial to gather feedback from participants during the event. Any success measures should tie in with the purpose of the Café.

• How do we select and layout the venue/room? 

The selection of the venue, room, and layout of tables and chairs is crucial to the success of a Knowledge Café. Often, room availability limits the number of participants and how the Café can be run.

Note: A Café need not be held in a room. It could be a boat, a park, a café, or another place conducive to conversation. A separate design document is available on this topic.

• Do we need to follow through on this Café, and if so, in what ways?

A Knowledge Café can be a one-off event or run as a series of Cafes over several months – even indefinitely. So the question is: “Should this be a one-off or a series of Cafes?”

Additionally, depending on the purpose of the Café, it may be beneficial to follow up in other ways. For example, if the purpose of the Café is to surface ideas that are captured, you need to consider whether you should give some feedback later and how you might do that.

• What opportunities does this Café provide? 

A Knowledge Café is rarely run in isolation from other things in the organization. Consider how the Café might provide opportunities to integrate with different activities.

You may also find these principles that underlie the World Café design helpful.

A well-designed Knowledge Café creates space for meaningful conversations. Take time to clarify its purpose, invite the right people, and set up the environment to encourage open dialogue. Plan how to capture insights and follow up when needed. Small design choices can make a big difference in the quality of discussion.