Knowledge Cafe

[Patrick McAuley]

Is anyone on this list familiar with a process called Knowledge Cafe?  Any thoughts on how effective it is as a collaborative learning process?  How it would compare with Open Space for the same purpose?

I'm co-chairing a team to organize a half-day learning event for a business association and one of the team members has proposed using this process. Here's how she described it in an email.

> Why not use a self-organizing format which doesn't require 
> expert facilitators? A 5-10 minute introduction would be 
> required. Place a tent card on each table with four 
> guidelines: 1. Ask questions. 2. Play devil's advocate. 
> 3. Move if the spirit moves you. 4. Record aha's!

I asked her if she could describe where it works well, where it does not work well, and what risks it might entail.  Here is how she responded.

> The director of knowledge management at American
> Management Systems Inc. presented this format at a 
> conference I attended in Scottsdale a few months ago 
> called Braintrust 2000. Participants needed very little 
> guidance (5-10 min. nuts & bolts intro.) Outcome is both 
> the experience of being engaged with their own issues (has 
> everone read The Experience Economy?) and a summary of '5 
> best insights' from each table at the conclusion. At this 
> particular conference, a ballroom full of people had time 
> for two 45 min. roundtable discussions focused on 
> sub-topics of their choice. 
> 
> My contact at U of T who organizes conferences for execs 
> says, "We don't do talking heads anymore, we only use 
> knowledge cafes." 
> 
> Risks: 
> 
> At Warner Lambert in NJ, organizers of an offsite were 
> initially skeptical because the format seemed too simple 
> to work. They tried it anyway, for a portion of the 
> retreat. People liked it so much that they requested that 
> the next retreat be entirely knowledge cafe-based. Lesson 
> learned: required organizers to give up control and accept 
> inherent risk, which makes some people 
> uncomfortable. 
> 
In conversation later, I asked if she could compare Knowledge Cafe to Open Space.  She had participated in the Toronto Company of Friends (Fast Company magazine) Open Space event a year ago and she felt that the intro and wrapup took too long -- for the type of business clients that she deals with.  She feels Knowledge Cafe is more efficient and produces similar results for a learning event.

Reactions?

Patrick McAuley

PTM Consulting                   Tel:  (519) 827-9396
20 Magnolia Lane                Fax:  (519) 827-0956
Guelph, ON  N1G 4X7         patrick.mcauley at sympatico.ca

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