World Cafes and Graphic Facilitation

Day 2: Adding More Value to World Cafe Events

    Nick Payne, an independent graphic recorder with World Cafe experience shared with us his approach to recording a World Cafe Event. After leading us through a short WC (Essential Question: "Is Graphic Facilitation Essential At World Cafes?"), Nick rocked the IFVP world by saying "Content Is NOT King!". (Nothing like confusing us newbies, I just learned yesterday Content IS King!), and off we went.......

    Lots of folks at the the WC conversation tables seemed to feel GF adds value, but isn't essential to a successful WC.  For Nick, the point of  a WC is to have a conversation, and to that end he uses graphic facilitation to create a memory of time and place, identify themes and  help the group reflect.  Prior to the actual conversations, Nick roams the room graphically capturing people chatting informally - he then posts these vignettes along the base of the wall graphic. As the group progresses through 3 different sets of questions, Nick retrieves the table drawings following each set and works to synthesize and draw out themes for recording on the wall graphic. (While he synthesizes and draws themes, the group is heading into the next set of questions). By the time the group gets to the last question, Nicky is working pretty speedily in order to finish an entire wall graphic to be used for group reflection.  And I mean speedily.

     If you like the chaos of synthesizing on the spot and under pressure, this approach might be useful. I liked that Nick clearly identified the added value that an overall wall graphic can bring. Faces along the lower border reinforce eventfulness (my new fave word), and synthesizing the information for the group visually takes the table drawings a step further, and of course a large visual representation of the process offers a way to reveal the process for reflection. But this is a challenging approach and not for the timid. You'll need to be good at pulling together words/ideas/pictures from the table drawings (which by the way, will be going in all directions!) and willing to sacrifice some aesthetics as the process accelerates towards the end. It is essential? Probably not. Does is add value? Most definitely.

Deborah Page