On 4 December 2024, Southampton Coproduction Corner is hosting an event called Food in the City, to gather information to support the work of the Southampton Food Partnership. It will use the “World Café” approach. Here is more about this approach:
World Café is a safe, welcoming and non-judgemental place. It is a really good way of gathering, knowledge, intelligence, and experience on a particular topic, from a large group of people.
The room is set up like a café, where the participants sit round small tables in groups of about 4 with one other person who is the table host. The table host’s job is to make sure that everyone feels welcome, is heard and their contributions valued. Participants stay in these
small discussion groups for 20 mins to discuss the first question – all the groups have the same question. There are paper and pens on the table to record the conversation. The host may do the recording, but anyone can pick up a pen and jot down notes, questions, doodles… whatever is most effective for recording what the conversation throws up.
At the end of 20 minutes, everyone, except the host, sits at a different table. For World Café to be most effective it is best that participants, as far as possible, move to a table with a completely new set of people, and ideally with people they know the least. World Café is a safe welcoming and non-judgemental place. The table host recaps the previous conversation. Participants can also share insights from their previous group. The table host then introduces the second question. The second question may be more focused than the first and the aim is that the conversation will build on what has already been discussed.
At the end of this second twenty minutes this process is repeated with a third, even more focused, final question.
After the small groups, a participant from each table, who may be the table host, is invited to share key points from their discussions with the larger group. Everything is recorded or ‘harvested’, often and ideally, in a graphic, pictorial way at the ‘front’ of the room. This concludes World Café but participants are welcome to stay and chat with another cup of tea/coffee for as long as the room is available.
After World Café there will be an opportunity to share any notices for events etc that may be of interest to the larger group.
During the World Café, people are asked to follow the World Café Guidelines shown in the attached picture, which are:
- Listen together for patterns, insights and deeper connections
- Focus on what matters
- Listen to understand
- Link and connect ideas
- Slow down so you have time to think and reflect
- Speak with your mind…and heart
- Contribute your thinking
- Facilitate yourself and others
- Play, draw, doodle
- Have fun