Written by NCDD director Sandy Heierbacher to expand upon the text on our “What Are Dialogue & Deliberation?” page. This resource provides enough details to enable you to decide which of these leading dialogue and deliberation methods you should learn more about. In addition to looking at which methods fit your intentions, you will need to consider which methods are aligned with your resources, timeline, and the people you feel need to be involved. The text below is drawn from NCDD’s Engagement Streams Framework. AmericaSpeaks ... (continue)

Possibilities for Transformational Conferences is an 8-page primer on how to plan events for 50 or more people that are interactive, engaging, and generally fabulous. Author Tree Bressen (with Debby Sugarman and Sunrise Facilitation) briefly introduces techniques for making events more participatory and engaging, including Open Space Technology, World Cafe, Appreciative Inquiry, fishbowls, “speed dating,” storytelling, and more. Download at http://treegroup.info/topics/Transformational_Conferences.pdf. About Tree Bressen… From her home in Eugene, Oregon, Tree Bressen consults with a wide variety of organizations on how to have meetings that ... (continue)

Imagine Chicago is a Chicago-based nonprofit that facilitates and trains people in community visioning practices. Founded by Bliss Browne in 1992, the organization utilizes a three-step process of understanding what is, imagining what could be through collaboration, and creating what will be through action. Its community visioning and planning model incorporates Appreciative Inquiry (with an emphasis on intergenerational collaboration), Open Space Technology, the World Café, and asset based community development. This approach has inspired the creation of Imagine and other community planning projects spanning six ... (continue)

The purpose of the White House’s Open Government Directive (OGD) is to change the culture of federal agencies so that they are more transparent, participatory, and collaborative. The OpenGov Playbook (at www.opengovplaybook.org) is a place for open government practitioners at the federal, state, and local levels to share questions and effective practices about the Directive. Knowledge about the OGD is spread out across the Web; the primary purpose of this wiki-based site is to serve as a useful directory to those resources. The Playbook also ... (continue)

Future search includes a planning process and a 16 to 18-hour meeting usually including two overnights. Participants discover a set of shared values or themes (common ground) and build new dynamics such as inclusion and collaboration into their organization or community. Future search ("future search" is not capitalized) is not owned by anyone and all are encouraged to use the process and experiment with it. It is supported by a network of people called the Future Search Network. It is an open system process, which means it considers anyone a necessary participant who can affect, is affected by or has important information or experience related to the task at hand. (continue)

The OSLIST worldwide email listserv is a discussion list for Open Space practitioners and friends from everywhere (really)... perhaps the most active and easiest place to connect with the living Spirit of Open Space and the OS community. From the very beginning (1985), Open Space Technology has been free and freely available. But there is a cost -- that we freely share what we are learning. The mechanisms of sharing are multiple including training programs, public presentations, private emails and most especially in the online community known as the OSLIST. (continue)

Founded by Tom Atlee, CII promotes awareness of co-intelligence (a shared, integrated form of intelligence) and of many tools and ideas that can be used to increase it. CII's website is loaded with excellent, useful resources. (continue)

Open Space Technology, created by Harrison Owen, is a self-organizing practice that releases the inherent creativity and leadership in people. By inviting people to take responsibility for what they care about, Open Space establishes a marketplace of inquiry, where people offer topics they care about, reflect and learn from one another, to accomplish meaningful work. It is recognized internationally as an innovative approach to creating whole systems change and inspiring the best in human performance. (continue)

This 116-page guide was developed for public bodies such as local authorities, government departments or other statutory agencies who commission or deliver participatory processes; those with similar roles in the voluntary and private sectors; and people who want to know what to expect when they get involved in decision-making processes. This document is the first publication from UK-based Involve. It is based on research funded by the Home Office Civil Renewal Unit during 2004/5. Involve aims to create new systems that enable people to influence decisions and get involved in actions that affect their lives. (continue)

Since 1997, Open Futures has facilitated 63 large group events involving 4,176 participants or an average of 66 people per event. Open Futures specializes in six large-group, whole system processes: Open Space, Future Search, Giant Mind Maps, Vision Search, Strategy Search and the Perth Process. In 2003, they published The Large Group Facilitator's Manual and, using the manual as a professional platform, Open Futures offers open training workshops or customized workshops in understanding, planning and running large group events involving from 20 to 500 people. (continue)