Our Conferences and Events
NCDD’s high-energy events bring together practitioners, scholars, public leaders, trainers, artists, activists and students from across this critically important field. Over 2,000 people, from 20 countries, have attended our four national conferences (2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008) and 5 regional events (fall 2010).
NCDD conferences provide people who are committed to helping dialogue and deliberation flourish in the world with the opportunity to increase their skills and knowledge in these processes, share their own learnings and innovations with others, and develop supportive, collaborative relationships with their peers. Perhaps most importantly, NCDD conferences leave you feeling more motivated, energized, supported and prepared to do this vital work.
In addition to running our own events, NCDD inspired our members in Canada to form the Canadian Community for Dialogue & Deliberation, which holds biennial Canadian conferences. In order to help advance the rapidly-growing dialogue and deliberation community, we also regularly lend our support to events and projects run by NCDD member organizations.
Check out these pages for more info about our events…
2010 NCDD Regional Events
Adjusting to our members’ call for more opportunities for regional networking and collaboration (as well as their tight budgets!), NCDD held successful regional events last fall in Denver (October 22), the San Francisco Bay Area (October 29), Boston (October 29), Austin (November 5) and Portland (November 13) rather than holding a 2010 national conference. A total of over 700 people attended these affordable, member-led regional events! Learn about the events here.
A huge thank you to all of our All-Star Sponsors!
Active Voice . AmericaSpeaks . The Citizens in Charge Foundation . Democrasoft . Everyday Democracy . The National Conference of State Legislatures . Public Agenda . PMLINK 360 . The Public Conversations Project . The University of Mass. Boston’s Office of Public Collaboration (MODR) . and the U.S. Trainers’ Consortium (now the League of Extraordinary Trainers)
Learn more about all our All-Star Sponsors. Each event also had its own regional sponsors and partners.
So What’s Next?
Reviews for the regional events were encouraging, with people saying things like “the people and conversations here have been amazing!” (Boston), “it reenergizes me to get together with people passionate about this work” (Denver), and “I was totally impressed with the commitment and capabilities of these NCDD professionals and government administrators” (Bay Area).
We are compiling info from all 5 events into a final report, and creating some new guidelines for organizing regional events as smoothly, efficiently and enjoyably as possible.
We also plan to hold a follow-up event in Washington DC in 2011, focusing on lessons learned at the fall events and next steps for NCDD.
Our National Conferences on Dialogue & Deliberation
The first National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation was held in the Washington DC area in October 2002, and we held biennial national conferences in 2004 (Denver), 2006 (San Francisco), and 2008 (Austin) as well.
NCDD conferences are chock-full of opportunities to network with colleagues, experience innovative group methods, explore key issues together, and hear from leaders in the field. Our conferences are not your typical panel/keynote-riddled conventions that leave you wandering the lobby. Some people have even told us they’ve never attended better conferences.
NCDD 2008: Austin, Texas
450 attendees came together in October 2008 to tackle 5 of our field’s toughest challenges. Check out our report to the Kettering Foundation based on NCDD Austin proceedings and attendee interviews (includes a lot of great photos and graphic recordings from the event). Go to NCDD 2008 page.
NCDD 2006: San Francisco, California
The third NCDD conference brought together 375 people in downtown San Francisco in August 2006. Download the 2006 conference guidebook for details on the plenaries, workshops, presenters, planning team members, sponsors, and featured arts. Go to NCDD 2006 page.
NCDD 2004: Denver, Colorado
Our second NCDD conference took place at Regis University in Denver, Colorado. Over 300 people came together for NCDD Denver in in October 2004. See the 2004 Conference Report for details on what transpired and what was accomplished. Go to NCDD 2004 page.
NCDD 2002: Washington, DC
The first ever National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation took place in Alexandria, Virginia (just south of DC) in October 2002. The 28-page 2002 Conference Report includes a letter from conference director Sandy Heierbacher outlining what worked and what could be improved, as well as details on the planning team, workshops, plenary sessions, and descriptions of the 12 “next-steps groups” that formed at the conference. You can also look over the initial results of the online needs assessment we conducted to find out what people might want out of a national conference on D&D. Go to NCDD 2002 page.
Why People Love NCDD Events
NCDD gatherings are not your run-of-the-mill conferences. Instead of parading endless speakers in front of you in the hope that you will absorb some of their knowledge, we acknowledge and tap into every participant’s expertise and unique perspectives, and ask them to play an active role in shaping the future of this burgeoning field.
NCDD conferences are known for being innovative and highly participatory. Here is what Dave Joseph, Director of Project Development at the Public Conversations Project, wrote to us after he attended the 2006 NCDD conference:
“I have gone to many, many, many conferences, workshops etc. over the past 30 years. NCDD was by far the best conference I have ever attended. It was 100% isomorphic and congruent with our practices, with a focus on developing a sense of relationship, connection and community. The activities all contributed to making it extremely easy for participants to get to know each other by focusing on shared purposes, interests and goals. Plus, you had a wonderful mix of people, of course. The structure really contributed greatly to getting to meet a large number of very diverse people and have fun doing it.”
And Avril Orloff, Project Manager for Canada’s Philia Dialogue on Caring Citizenship, had these kind words for us:
“I’m still coming back to earth after the amazing NCDD conference! It was packed so full of wonderful information, ideas, resources and people that I came away utterly inspired and energized. My heartiest congratulations to your team for pulling it off.
What a monumental effort – and what tremendous results! Thank you for every minute…. You’ve created something that’s going to leave a big legacy, and whose effects will just keep rippling further and further out into the world. To say nothing of a great community of practice – one that I’m honoured to associate myself with.”
Get Involved with Our Events!
If you’re interested in attending, exhibiting, sponsoring, or just staying informed as we plan future events, email NCDD’s Office Manager, Joy Garman at joy@thataway.org and let her know. Our events are planned collaboratively by people with all levels of experience in dialogue & deliberation, and the planning teams are open to your suggestions and ideas.
