Just one more week until the National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation kicks off in downtown Denver! We hope you are getting as excited as we are and even more so after you see some of our featured speakers! We have a dynamic lineup in store for all three days that will elevate exciting innovative civic practices happening across the country, explore how to broaden the reach of this field, and catalyze us for our work moving forward. You won’t want to miss this event! The late registration rate starts this coming Saturday, October 27th, so make sure you register today!
In addition to our great speakers, NCDD2018 will be filled with over 60 fantastic workshops which will span a wide range of subjects, plentiful networking opportunities, 30+ presenters during our engaging D&D Showcase event, and so much more! Remember we also have six exceptional pre-conference sessions being offered on Thursday, November 1st, that we strongly encourage you to check out. Take advantage of the pre-conference calm and more intimate space to learn and meet more folks passionate about D&D and engagement!
Our Featured Speakers
Derek Okubo – Executive Director of the Agency for Human Rights and Community Partnerships, City and County of Denver
Derek Okubo is a Colorado native and Executive Director of the Agency for Human Rights and Community Partnerships. The agency acts as a conduit of communication and convener of problem solving among local government, non-profits, businesses and residents. Derek attended the University of Northern Colorado and graduated with a degree in Psychology and double minors in Communications and Sociology
Justine Lee – Co-creator and Head of Partnerships, Make America Dinner Again
Justine Lee is the co-creator of Make America Dinner Again, and as Head of Partnerships, has developed relationships and worked collaboratively with organizations, media, and communities with similar missions, including appearances on NPR, WMAL-DC, and the BBC. In addition to MADA, Justine is a marketer and has ten years of experience managing and producing content for top creative firms, startups, nonprofits, and large tech companies.
Rev. Dr. F. Willis Johnson – spiritual leader and author, Holding Up Your Corner
Rev. Dr. F. Willis Johnson is a spiritual entrepreneur, elder in the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church, and adjunct faculty at Methodist Theological School of Ohio. Recognized as a scholar- practitioner, Johnson authored Holding Up Your Corner: Talking About Race in Your Community, and is a sought after thought-leader who empowers individuals and communities towards prophetic response- healing, justice and reconciliation.
Courtney Hartman – singer, songwriter, and guitarist, Slow Tours
April Struthers – organizational consultant and facilitator, Slow Tours
Colorado native, Courtney Hartman, is a Grammy nominated singer, songwriter and guitarist. April Struthers is a consultant, coach, facilitator, and owner of Wit Works, Ltd. The two have been exploring how to set up an anti-ageist, community building, slower-than-usual tour (based on the slow food movement) to allow time for deeper relationship between musicians and community.
Fatima Ahmed, Student, Lakehead University
Fatima Ahmed is a graduate of the Peace & Conflict Studies program at the University of Waterloo and current student at Lakehead University in Ontario. She recently served as the summer program director for Heart to Heart, a peace-building summer camp facilitating dialogue between Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel. Fatima is a mediator and has extensive experience in cross cultural dialogue from her work around the world.
John Steiner, Co-Founder and Board Member, Bridge Alliance
John Steiner is a meshweaver, transpartisan leader and creative consultant, often with his wife and working partner, Margo King. He is one of the national leaders of the current effort to take the transpartisan movement to scale. He currently works full time helping to build, catalyze and serve this emergent, transpartisan/bridging field as a co-founder and board member of the Bridge Alliance, as co-founder and co-director of the Bridge Summit, and as a board member of the Mediators Foundation and BridgeUSA.
Wendy Willis, Exec. Director, Deliberative Democracy Consortium
Wendy Willis is the Executive Director of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium and the founder and director of Oregon’s Kitchen Table in the Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University. The winner of the Dorothy Brunsman Poetry Prize, Wendy is also a poet and essayist, and writes at twowomenandarepublic.com. She has published two books of poems, and her next book of essays, These Are Strange Times, My Dear, is forthcoming in February 2019. Wendy is an NCDD Board Member.
Watch this teaser video if you haven’t seen it already! Looking forward to seeing you all here in Denver!
Here’s what you need to know: 
Do not miss the plenaries! Our opening plenary will feature “lightning talks” by civic innovators to spark inspiration and will include a networking activity to assist every attendee with identifying goals for the conference and beyond. On Saturday and Sunday, we will be focusing the plenaries almost exclusively on connecting, by using Open Space and Pro Action Cafe, respectively, for folks to propose the topics and ideas they most want to connect with others about!
Konveio helps change agents, community-builders and forward-thinkers turn their collaborations into action, not just a PDF! The software is a digital outreach platform that turns bland PDFs into actionable websites to better convey ideas, collect feedback and spark action. Konveio is one of the easiest-to-use engagement tools on the market. Users simply upload their PDFs to an online viewer so others can read and navigate them in their browser. They then add maps, videos, charts, and other rich content to make it more insightful and easier to explore. Finally, they can ask for feedback using embedded surveys or comments directly on the document.
Tech Tuesdays are a series of learning events from NCDD focused on technology for engagement. These 1-hour events are designed to help dialogue and deliberation practitioners get a better sense of the online engagement landscape and how they can take advantage of the myriad opportunities available to them. You do not have to be a member of NCDD to participate in our 
Your favorite online event on the art and practice of facilitating in virtual environments is back!
Americans of all stripes are stepping up to address the growing cultural crisis of hyper-polarization and animosity across divides. Together we can turn the tide of rising rancor and deepening division with widespread conversations in which we #ListenFirst to understand. Supported by 100+ organizations, National Conversation Project promotes monthly conversation opportunities as well as National Weeks of Conversation.
