Author Archives: Andy Fluke

Transpartisan Review Issue #2 Now Available

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I’m excited to announce the latest issue of a project produced by a handful of members and friends of NCDD – The Transpartisan Review #2. Originally introduced to the NCDD community last fall at our NCDD 2016 conference, The Transpartisan Review is a new digital journal dedicated to sharing thoughts and insights from the growing transpartisan community.

In our second issue, The Transpartisan Review takes an introspective look at the state of politics in the US and examines the potential transpartisan engagement has in finding solutions for this troubled time. Executive editors Lawrence Chickering and James Turner explore the effect the transpartisan impulse has on political engagement, taking a comprehensive look at the current political climate in the United States through the lens of their “Transpartisan Matrix”.

This issue of The Transpartisan Review also includes several articles on a variety of topics, including contributions from distinguished NCDD members Pete Peterson & Michael Briand (who also served as managing editor), and shares an account of a Living Room Conversation focused on transpartisan issues. Not only are they effective conversation starters, but these features represent the continuation of a dialogue the editors of the journal are encouraging with and between its readership.

You can read the entire issue online or download it for free at the journal’s website, www.transpartisanreview.com, and while you’re there, we invite you to read Chickering and Turner’s Transpartisan Notes, a series of short-form articles on current issues written with a transpartisan perspective.

You can look forward to more critical contributions to the work of bridging our nation’s divides in future issues of The Transpartisan Review and from this great team of NCDDers and transpartisan leaders in the coming months.

Introducing The Transpartisan Review

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In case you missed it in all the commotion of the past month, I want to encourage you to check out an important project launched on Inauguration Day 2017 by a handful of members and friends of NCDD – The Transpartisan Review.  I had the pleasure to join the team behind this new publication a few months ago, lending my skills as designer and editor, and I’d like to share a bit more about it.

Originally introduced to the NCDD community last fall at our NCDD 2016 conference, The Transpartisan Review is a new digital journal dedicated to sharing thoughts and insights from the growing transpartisan community.

In its inaugural issue, The Transpartisan Review explores the “transpartisan moment” we find ourselves in after the latest presidential election. Executive editors Lawrence Chickering and James Turner posit that we have reached a turning point in the history of our democracy – a transitional phase – which is offering us an opportunity to replace the “partisanship” splitting our country with a new form of political engagement incorporating the best features of left and right.

Alongside this assessment of the current political climate, this first issue of The Transpartisan Review shares several articles on a variety of topics, including contributions from distinguished NCDD members Joan Blades, Mark Gerzon, and Michael Briand (who also served as managing editor). It examines perspectives from the political side of NCDD’s #BridgingOurDivides campaign with articles contemplating how to be a better neighbor, an alternative approach to foreign policy, and even a different way to look at terrorism – all from a perspective that seeks to go beyond the traditional left-right divide.

Not only are they effective conversation starters, but these features represent the beginning of a dialogue the editors of the journal hope to encourage with and between its readership as we all gather to discuss the impact the new administration will have on the United States and the rest of the world.

You can read the entire issue online or download it for free at the journal’s website, www.transpartisanreview.com, and while you’re there, you can also check out Chickering and Turner’s Transpartisan Notes, a series of short-form articles on current issues viewed through a transpartisan lens.

You can look forward to more critical contributions to the work of bridging our nation’s divides in future issues of The Transpartisan Review and from this great team of NCDDers and transpartisan leaders.

The Bridge Alliance Presents “Moving America Forward”

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updraft_logo_borderThe Bridge Alliance, an NCDD 2016 All-Star Sponsor, is hosting a free event in Washington DC this Thursday, September 15th exploring many of the same issues we will tackle together in Boston this October.

Moving America Forward, co-sponsored by the Bridge Alliance and Updraft America (an art installation to be unveiled alongside the event featuring 10,718 paper airplanes symbolizing a desire to rise above partisan politics), will feature a panel discussion on How To Bridge the Partisan Divide. 

Moderated by author and journalist, Cokie Roberts, and featuring members of the Bridge Alliance, the panel will “present alternatives to the partisan narrative that permeates the political process and there will be presentations by organizations representing a cross-spectrum of civic engagement and collaborative problem-solving that is already present across America”.

The event is free but requires an RSVP and will be held at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center (4400 Massachusetts Avenue Northwest, Washington, DC) beginning at 7:00 pm.  Visit the Updraft America Reception page on Eventbrite to learn more and sign up!

Learning from Feedback Frames: An Innovative Decision Making Tool

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Feedback+Frames+logoLong time NCDD member Jason Diceman is introducing an accessible new tool for public engagement this summer called Feedback Frames. His project is a great example of the innovation and creativity inherent in our network, and we thought the strategies he’s using to leverage social media, crowdfunding, and crowdspeaking platforms would be useful one for other NCDDers to learn from.

The love child of a polling station and a game of Connect Four, Feedback Frames offers a fun and flexible way to gather input from participants at large or small group events. Featuring private voting, built-in validation, flexible data-gathering, and quick visual results, this highly adaptable tool offers an elegant solution to group think and the bandwagon effect that can adversely affect any deliberation program.

Creator of Idea Rating Sheets, originally called Dotmocracy (featured at NCDD2006), Jason serves as Senior Public Consultation Coordinator for the City of Toronto. He has led public consultations for some of the City’s most controversial and high profile infrastructure studies, including downtown separated bike lane installations, the redesign of Front Street at Union Station, new roads and bridges in Liberty Village, contentious multi-use trails, and the Gardiner Expressway financing.

Jason is about to launch an Indiegogo campaign to support the manufacture of Feedback Frames, and he’s tapping into every modern tool and technique he can find to get the word out.  Having started with more traditional media (check out his humorous Prototype Video below), Jason has now turned to Thunderclap to make sure he can get his crowdfunding endeavor off on the right foot.

thunderclapThunderclap is especially useful for smaller programs which can’t effectively encourage the critical mass needed to benefit from the power of Twitter, or Facebook, or even the likes of Tumblr. Thunderclap is very much the “Kickstarter” of social media, but instead of pledging money a supporter pledges their social connections. When a project successfully hits its goal, Thunderclap will “blast out a timed Twitter, Facebook, or Tumblr post from all your supporters, creating a wave of attention.” Referred to as “Crowdspeaking” platforms, Thunderclap and its competitor, the more economical Headtalker, have been around a while and provide interesting companion services to crowdfunding projects. Both are interesting strategies that may be useful for helping NCDDers launch or promote their projects.

And Jason is facing the same problem all limited-budget social entrepreneurs face: how do you get the word out and make your great idea a reality without a second mortgage and an exclusive diet of ramen noodles? Of course, Jason could use all the “likes” and “upvotes” NCDDers can give him, so visit his project on Thunderclap at www.thunderclap.it/projects/39641-feedback-frames-are-coming if you’re interested in showing your support.

But even if you don’t support it, we encourage our members to take note of Jason’s strategy for getting this D&D project out there into the public eye. We think there are some good lessons from this kind of effort that can apply to all of our members.

Learn much more about Feedback Frames at www.feedbackframes.com.

Day One “Short Talks” at NCDD 2014

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New to this year’s NCDD national conference, Friday’s Short Talks will provide conference participants the opportunity to hear directly from leading innovators and thought leaders in the field.   Scheduled from 1:00 to 2:00 pm on our first day, we’ll have ten rooms set aside for two “back-to-back” repeated sessions, so that attendees can choose two of the ten short talks.

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With topics including “lessons learned in the course of carrying out a multi-year, multi-project CDC public engagement initiative” presented by Roger Bernier and Caitlin Wills-Toker and Vinita Singh’s talk on “adapting the World Café method to an Indian context,” conference-goers will be exposed to a wide variety of pratical, on-the-ground dialogue & deliberation experiences.

Our presenters have been asked to prepare a 10- or 15-minute talk, facilitate some Q&A, and then repeat the talk and Q&A with a new group after a 20-minute break during which attendees can move to another room.   These speakers represent a wide variety of agencies including the Hawaii State Senate and the Center for Disease Control, are joining us from throughtout academia with faculty from Penn State, Colorado State, and the Universities of Georgia & Arizona, and are sharing the experiences of a variety of non-profits such as Journalism that Matters, the National Dialogue Network and We the People.

short_talk_two

For a full list of topics and speakers, visit the Short Talks page in the event’s section.  For an overview of Day One activities, including our plenary on “mapping our field” and our always popular D&D Showcase, check out the conference schedule.

Peek Into NCDD’s Past Conferences

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Here at NCDD, we are in full-on conference planning mode, working closely with our incredible planning team to organize what we hope will be our best conference yet. (Learn more about NCDD 2014 here.)

One of my roles is to design the guidebooks, and I thought this would be a good time to share the guides from the previous conferences. If you’re thinking about joining us in October, these will give you a sense of the kinds of great programming, workshops, speakers, and networking we have in store for you!

2012 Guidebook — Seattle, WA

“The NCDD conference in Seattle was an extremely useful chance to meet others in the D&D field. Everybody makes the time to go, so everybody you could need to meet is there. I don’t know of another opportunity like it.”
– Amy Lee, Kettering Foundation

Learn more about the Seattle event • Download the 2012 Guidebook

2010 Resource Guide — Regional Events

“It was inspiring to connect with so many people working to bring authentic public engagement to the world through state of the art deliberative processes. I was heartened to see so many civic leaders and schools of public policy there, as well all of the grassroots, networked groups who are changing the face of democracy even as I write. Well done all!”
– Kathryn Thomson, PublicForums

Learn more about the Regional Events • Download the Resource Guide on Public Engagement

2008 Guidebook — Austin, TX

“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.”
– Avril Orloff, Project Manager for Canada’s Philia Dialogue on Caring Citizenship

Learn more about the Austin event • Download the 2008 Guidebook

2006 Guidebook — San Francisco, CA

“I had an exceptional experience at the conference, learned so much, and made many good connections. As was true the first time around, you and all the teams did a remarkable job at collaboratively building an event that did a lot of things for a lot of people. As the organizer, I’m sure you didn’t get to see but a tiny fraction of all the good things, but rest assured there were many at every turn.”
– Pam Korza, Animating Democracy, Americans for the Arts

Learn more about the San Francisco event • Download the 2006 Guidebook

2004 Guidebook — Denver, CO

“I just wanted to let you know what an amazing conference it was in Denver. It deepened my understanding of D&D and I met many wonderful people. I believe events like this help strengthen and grow, not only the D&D community, but the work of conflict resolution and democracy world-wide. It was the best organized conference I have ever attended. You and those that helped you did an amazing job.”
– Stephan Gilchrist, Portland State University

Learn more about the Denver event • Download the 2004 Guidebook

2002 Guidebook — Washington, DC

The first National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation was a revelation to many attendees. It was a highly participatory, high-energy event which brought dialogue and deliberation practitioners, scholars and activists together across models, topics, regions, applications and philosophies. We prepared quite an extensive 3-ring binder for all attendees, full of lists of resources, a glossary, and full participant bios. Though more roughly designed than our latest conference guidebooks, people still talk about “the binder,” the contents of which formed the basis of what eventually grew into our extensive Resource Center.

Learn more about the DC event • Download the 2002 Conference Report

Another good way to get a sense of what NCDD 2014 will be like is to check out the videos from the last conference!

NCDD 2014 – Meet the Team!

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Just a sampling of the many great people involved in this year's event!

Just a sampling of the many great people involved in this year’s event!

Hands down the best part of planning and running our National Conferences on Dialogue & Deliberation is working with the people, both staff and volunteers, who come together to make these events amazing.  This year’s conference in the Washington, D.C. area is no different, with almost 50 members of our community offering their precious time and knowledge to make sure we bring you the best event we possibly can.

NCDD2014_blog_post_badgeWe have a page dedicated to this fantastic team, and the photo above only shows a sampling. Sandy Heierbacher is the conference director again this year and Courtney Breese is back as our unflappable and ultra-capable conference manager. These two work together to keep all kinds of plates balanced in the air.

Marla Crockett is heading up the local team this year, facilitating a great group of DC area volunteers who are handling local outreach, field trips, and arts at the conference. And Polly Riddims is back once again to manage logistics for the conference — something she has done beautifully since the first NCDD conference in 2002. Roshan Bliss is coordinating our on-site volunteers again this year, and is also serving as our youth outreach coordinator. Many others are coordinating different aspects of the conference planning, so do check out the team page.

I also want to look back at past events and thank again those who helped us get to where we are today.  We still have our planning team list from NCDD Seattle on the site.  It’s so great to see so many friends returning for our current event.  I wish I could share the list of volunteers and advisers from our 2010 regional events but there were just so many of them and, since they were working independently much of the time, no master list was collected.  But you know who you are!  Thanks for the crazy times!

As with our Seattle event, NCDD 2008 Austin’s planning team is still online, but for our 2006 San Francisco, 2004 Denver and 2002 Washington DC events you’ll need to dig into the guidebooks or reports from those conferences for the list.

To everybody — past and present — to those who joined us for just one event, and those who’ve worked with us over the years, and, yes, even those crazy enough to stick with us from the very beginning…

Thank You!

Audio of our July Confab call on “event closings”

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Confab bubble imageYesterday, 50 NCDDers joined us for our July 2014 Confab call on “Event Closings” featuring four all-star practitioners: Lisa Heft, Adrian Segar, Tim Merry and Susanna Haas Lyons.

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On this Confab, we tackled a very practical challenge that many of you face, and that NCDD itself faces every time we plan a national conference: how to plan and execute effective closings at participatory events. All four of our featured guests have extensive experience closing large-scale events using approaches such as Open Space, World Cafe, Conferences That Work, Art of Hosting and 21st Century Town Meetings.

NCDD’s director, Sandy Heierbacher, reflected on some of the ways we’ve closed past NCDD conferences, and outlined a few of the challenges we’ve faced — like dealing with people filtering out to catch flights, not wanting to over-structure the closing but needing to accomplish various goals, expecting too much of participants after the event, and more.

Though the hour went very quickly, our presenters and participants dug in further on the companion Hackpad page. At www.tinyurl.com/confab7-14, you’ll find a rich conversation on what you need to take into consideration when closing participatory events and conferences (as well as many great ideas, best practices, and resources)! We recommend you taking a look, and adding your own insights over the next few days.

Learn more about NCDD’s Confab Calls and other events (including our upcoming National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation this October in the DC area) in our Events Section.

And just for fun, here’s the photo journal that was shown during our closing session at the 2008 NCDD conference in Austin!

NCDD 2014 Partner: League of Extraordinary Trainers

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NCDD is proud to announce that The League of Extraordinary Trainers has signed on as a Partner of the 6th National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation…

The League of Extraordinary Trainers are seven highly seasoned practitioners who have designed and presented some of the most powerful and recognized training in public participation, collaboration, consensus, high stakes communication, and facilitation in the world today. The League (known initially as the US Trainers’ Consortium) are practice leaders, developers and founders of the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) and its spectrum, principles and ethics.

Specializing in the IAP2 Training program, the League of Extraordinary Trainers offers two courses, including (new for this year) a revamped IAP2 Certificate Program.  More information and their 2014 schedule can be found below…

IAP2 Foundations Program

Foundations in Public Participation was designed with the input of successful practitioners who work with diverse populations and divergent circumstances throughout the world. This course will let you hit the ground running, armed with the knowledge and confidence you need to plan and execute effective initiatives for any area in which you may be working.

September 8-12  -  Fort Worth, TX
October 27-31  -  Chicago, IL

Emotion, Outrage and Public Participation EOP2

This practical, hands-on workshop is a fresh mix of lecture, video, small and large group discussion and authentic, real world exercises that give you the answers, tools and ability to prevent problems, manage the tough public issues that you face and keep your organization on track and moving forward.

October 6-7  -  Las Vegas, NV
October 16-17  -  Austin, TX
December 4-5  -   Chicago, IL

Note: Discounts are available for NCDD members.  To take advantage of the NCDD Member Discounts contact them directly at info@extraordinarytrainers.com or 720-237-9175.

You can learn a lot more about The League of Extraordinary Trainers by visiting their website and when you meet the good folks from the league at the conference this Fall, please thank them for helping make NCDD 2014 possible!

Interested in Sponsoring the Conference?

Over the next few months leading up to NCDD’s 2014 National Conference (held this year at the Hyatt Regency in Reston, VA just outside DC), we’ll be highlighting the work of our event sponsors on our news blog, on social media, and on our listservs.  Those interested in helping us create our best event ever can learn more about sponsorship opportunities by downloading our 2014 Sponsorship Info PDF.

We also recommend you check out Seattle’s sponsors to get a sense of the fantastic organizations that step up to support NCDD events — and check out the guidebook from NCDD 2012 to see how sponsors are featured.

NCDD 2014 Co-Sponsor: National Dialogue Network

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NCDD is proud to announce that the National Dialogue Network is joining us as a Co-Sponsor of the 6th National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation…

One of the great pleasures of working with people in our community is watching their ideas take root and grow.  It’s even more gratifying to see ideas presented at our events take on a life of their own.  The National Dialogue Network got its start at our Seattle conference and was eventually chosen by our members as one of the winners of the NCDD’s 2012 Catalyst Awards.

National Dialogue Network introduction video from John Spady on Vimeo.

The National Dialogue Network seeks to coordinate collaborative local conversations into mindful national dialogue. Its design and function is meant to strengthen local civic infrastructures that, collectively, can reveal deeper insights into the national scale awareness of participants. NDN does not consider itself a “scientific poll” in the typical sense because it utilizes the opinions of self-selected participants. But, like voting itself, results and insights are an accurate representation of all who chose to participate.

The NDN network is a nonpartisan, voluntary working group of practitioners, educators, and researchers in the fields of public engagement, governance, creative leadership, civic renewal, dialogue, deliberation, and participatory decision-making in public issues. They’re building a voluntary civic infrastructure that connects conversations across the U.S. among folks who wish to examine a difficult and complex community issue with others who see the situation or challenges from differing perspectives, disciplines, or ideologies.

You can learn a lot more about National Dialogue Network by visiting their website and when you meet the good folks from NDN at the conference this Fall, please thank them for helping make NCDD 2014 possible!

Interested in Sponsoring the Conference?

Over the next few months leading up to NCDD’s 2014 National Conference (held this year at the Hyatt Regency in Reston, VA just outside DC), we’ll be highlighting the work of our event sponsors on our news blog, on social media, and on our listservs.  Those interested in helping us create our best event ever can learn more about sponsorship opportunities by downloading our 2014 Sponsorship Info PDF.

We also recommend you check out Seattle’s sponsors to get a sense of the fantastic organizations that step up to support NCDD events — and check out the guidebook from NCDD 2012 to see how sponsors are featured.