New season starting 14th Sept 2010
Conversations that Matter
“So imagine joining three or four people at a Café-style table or in a small conversation cluster to explore questions where collaborative thinking can really make a difference. Nearby, other small groups are exploring similar questions and noting down key insights and perspectives. Soon, you move to another group or Café table, visit with new people, and cross-pollinate new ideas and insights. As the conversations connect, they spark new discoveries.”
“Innovative opportunities begin to appear. Collective knowledge grows and evolves. A sense of a larger whole becomes real, and the wisdom of the group emerges for all to experience.”
The World Café
Ever since Charles II tried to suppress the London coffeehouses as “places where the disaffected met, and spread scandalous reports concerning the conduct of His Majesty and his Ministers”, cafes have been places where like-minded people have gathered informally for conversations that matter.
Mutual Inspiration aims to continue this tradition with our “Second Tuesday – Conversations
that Matter” evenings.
When: Second Tuesday of every month, 6.00 for 6.30 – 8.30 – email Mike Bell if you want to be kept informed.
Where: Kaffeccinos Coffee House, 54-56 Grainger Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 5JG
Buy your own drinks. Food provided and contributions welcome.
Based on the internationally proven World Café and Knowledge Café designs , Second Tuesday offers the opportunity for people to engage in brilliant conversation.
We do not intend to create a debate – “A mechanistic and unproductive exchange between people seeking to defend their own views against one another.”
But rather a dialogue – “A frank exchange of ideas or views on a specific issue in an effort to attain mutual understanding.”
When we engage each other in dialogue we enter into a conversation with a view to learn from
each other rather than impose our views on the other.
We are aligned with Theodore Zeldin, historian, who says
“The kind of conversation I’m interested in is one in which you start
with a willingness to emerge a slightly different person.”
For those unfamiliar with dialogue, here are some principles based on the work of the quantum physicist David Bohm:
- Suspend assumptions, do not judge
- Observe & listen to one another
- Welcome differences & explore them
- Allow taboo subjects to be raised safely
- Listen to your inner voice
- Slow the discussion
- Search for the underlying meaning
Places are limited so please email Patricia to reserve your seat.