DiaMeet: Two Meetings On How To Do Participative Dialogue

In the upcoming two months, I'll attend and speak at two conferences, one hosted by Procedere (attention: change of website right now) and one by the Network for Community Spirit.

The central theme at the Procedere conference in the Protestant Academy of Loccum (Germany), March 13th to 15th, is eminently important to me: the competences of facilitators. There are several questions that will be defined and discussed:

• HOW do we do it: finding visions, shaping and coping with change, and solving conflicts?
• What are important basic skills and tools?
• What are capabilities and capacities of facilitators?
  
• What kind of competency in the sense of responsibility or (informal) "jurisdiction" does a facilitator need?
• What are elements of the proficiency or mastery of facilitators?
  
• What mix of theoretical and practical knowledge do we need?
• What kind of training or curriculum is required to attain these competences?

The whole conference is set up as an exploratory search conference for answers. The organizers have based the program around a basic model of participative procedures that is close to my model of an organized dialogue. What they want to get at is a comprehensive understanding of competences which includes skills and tools in the sense of qualifications, but goes beyond that towards proficiency, mastery, and the competencies and responsibilities negotiated with the client. My own input will address the strategic dimension of procedural competence.

More than 60 practitioners and theorists from German speaking countries are expected to attend. Download the program in pdf here, and pass it on to people who are interested.

While Procedere asks "How can we do it?", the conference hosted by the Network for Community Spirit asserts "Yes, we're doing it". It's billed as the 2nd Munich Expert's Forum on Methods and takes place from the 3rd to the 5th of April, 2009 in Munich. The Forum, sponsored by an impressive list of institutions, will address different forms and formats of citizen participation in shaping societal change.

My own input, together with Wolfgang C. Goede, on "From Blair To Obama - International Examples of Political Participation" will be opening the conference. What's really worth checking out is the draft of the Munich Rules Of The Thumb For Participation, an input by the organizers that will be discussed at the conference.

I'd love to meet you there!