Knowledge Café: The Speaker The role of the Knowledge Café speaker

The Knowledge Café conversation is usually triggered by a speaker giving a short talk to set the theme or context of the Café and then posing a question to the participants, though occasionally another mechanism to trigger the conversation can be used.

The speaker is often the Café Host or Café Owner, depending on the purpose of the Café.

Mindset

The Knowledge Café is fundamentally about the conversation. It is not about the speaker.

Conversation is king.

Content is just something to talk about.

Credit: Cory Doctorow

In the words of Cory Doctorow, “Conversation is King, content is just something to talk about,” and so in the context of the Café – the speaker’s talk is “just something to talk about.”

In a Knowledge Café, there is a theme (the context) for the conversation and a question that triggers the conversation. The speaker’s task is to set the context for the conversation and pose the question.

Tips

With this in mind – here are a few tips for the speaker:

• The speaker should speak for 5 – 10 minutes, certainly no more than 20 minutes. The time is agreed upon in advance.
• The speaker must keep to time and not overrun by more than a minute or two.
• The speaker should ideally speak without PowerPoint slides. If needed, a few slides may be used, but they should be simple and more graphical or pictorial rather than a long list of bullet points.
• The talk should be warm and casual. It is not a formal lecture.
• The talk should aim to engage the participants and trigger their thinking. If it can be made controversial or entertaining so much, the better.
• At the end of the talk, the speaker should not ask for questions or take questions unless this has been agreed though if time allows, one or two items are OK.

Posing the Question

At the end of the talk, the speaker poses the question. The question will have been agreed in advance. It is OK here for the speaker to take one or two questions if the question needs clarification.

Occasionally, it may make sense for someone else to post the question, such as the Café Host, but usually, the speaker should pose the question as it is the culmination of their talk.

Having posed the question, the speaker gives control back to the Host, who goes on to facilitate the Café process itself.

Ideally, the speaker should stay and participate in the conversations but keep a low profile and not dominate the discussions.

It is helpful if the question is displayed on a screen or a flip-chart as surprisingly, however simple the question is, people tend to forget it.