Event: How to Run a Gurteen Knowledge Café Friday 12th February 2021, 13:30 to 17:00 GMT

Title: How to run a Gurteen Knowledge Café

Facilitator: David Gurteen

Date: Friday 12th February 2021

Time: 13:30 to 17:00 GMT (London time)

Location: Online Zoom Event

Price: GBP 150.00 +  VAT

Registration: This workshop is over.  (Future Events)

Workshop Description

What is a Knowledge Café?

The Knowledge Café is a simple method to bring a small group of people together to have a lightly structured conversation on a topic of mutual interest. You do not need to be a professional facilitator to design and host one.

The Café can be adapted for a variety of purposes such as:

• Share knowledge
• Generate ideas
• Make better sense of an issue
• Improve decision making
• Support sales meetings and
• Mitigate risks
• Explore possibilities

It can also help connect people, improve interpersonal relationships, break down organizational silos, and improve trust and engagement. At its best, it is a powerful sense-making tool.

The Workshop

In this workshop, David Gurteen will explain the Café process. He will share with you real-life stories (from almost 20 years of running Cafés around the world) of some of the many ways the Café has been used or adapted within organizations for a broad range of purposes.

In the workshop, you will:

• Gain an understanding of the principles that underpin the Knowledge Café
• Know how to run a Knowledge Café (both face-to-face and online on Zoom)
• Learn the benefits of the Knowledge Café and how to adapt it for different purposes

Who should participate?

Most people will benefit from this workshop, but it will be of particular interest to anyone looking to encourage and facilitate more purposeful, constructive, and creative conversation in their teams or organizations.

These include:

• Managers
• Facilitators
• Project and Team Leaders
• Trainers
• Community of Practice Leaders

And professionals in:

• Change Management
• Human Resources
• Knowledge Management
• Learning and Development
• Organization Development

“It sounds such a simple idea, but until you have experienced a knowledge cafe, you won’t understand just how powerful they can be in connecting people, generating new ideas, and tackling issues.

David, in particular, brings a special kind of energy to the room that really helps, but when you stop and think about it, we are given very little time in our working lives to engage honestly and authentically with one another in that uniquely human activity, that fundamental building block of trust and understanding; conversation.”

James Brown
Business Psychologist
The Happy Work Place

We are a group of knowledge managers in Switzerland who were curious about understanding what Knowledge Cafés are and how we can use them. Thanks to the Skat Foundation we were able to invite David to run a Knowledge Café masterclass for us in Switzerland.

We learned that the Knowledge Café is a fairly easy process that allows people to engage in meaningful conversations. It nurtures a deeper understanding of complex and challenging issues. These are good conditions for wise decisions.

Inspired by David’s vision and infectious enthusiasm, we spent a wonderful day learning and practicing.

Claudia Michel
Bern University of Applied Sciences

Bertha Camacho
Skat Consulting

Nadia Von Holzen
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation

June 2015

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