Designing Powerful Public Conversations
By jesikah maria ross. There’s an alchemy when people get together face-to-face to ponder a tough issue and what to do about it. Good conversations are game changers. They help us connect with the topic, see issues in a new light, and shift how we relate to people different from us. All that impacts our willingness to work together to solve wicked problems. Democracy is not a spectator sport and if we want our world to be a better place then a diverse array of people need to participate in community problem-solving. Creatively designed public conversation events invite the kind of participation through which the wider public can respectfully explore a thorny topic together. Public radio stations, in our role as community conveners and storytellers, are uniquely positioned to make these events happen. But how? Here are ten strategies I developed while designing a series of public conversations called Hunger in the Farm-to-Fork Capital as part of Capital Public Radio’s multiplatform documentary project Hidden Hunger. My ideas are informed by The World Café, literary salons, and my own experience throwing big parties. These strategies …
