We had a great time with you at the 2012 National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation, and it sure seems like you did, too! Here are some of the great things attendees had to say in their evaluations. We also asked our participants what they liked most about the event and have collected and shared those responses below as well…
Quotes from Participants
“A truly fabulous conference. Pretty much everyone there is someone I want to get to know. Great blend of interaction and new content as well as head and heart focused work. I look forward to the next one!” - Linda Blong, DDPE Certificate Program at Kansas State University
“I have never been at a conference where I felt so inspired and learned so much. Everyone I met was a font of good information that they generously shared.” - Mary Gelinas, Cascadia Center for Leadership
“Where else can you collide with social entrepreneurs, scientists, journalists, film-makers, business owners, academics, artists, students, engineers, actors, electeds, consultants, social profit leaders, public servants, graphic recorders, techies, videographers, philosophers, lawyers, executives and more who are also agents of transformation?” - Christine Whitney Sanchez, Innovation Partners International
“NCDD Seattle was a rare moment to experience a combination of learning and connecting with people from broad geographic and rich experiential backgrounds who share a common commitment to dialogue and deliberative democracy. It was well worth my time and effort to attend.” - Murray Mollard, Facilitator, Vancouver, Canada
“I felt more hope for humanity after hearing about all the proposals for process and creating more productive environments for dialogue and deliberation to occur. I left with many leads on connecting our work to a broader audience nationally, and with ideas on how to do my work even better. Thank you for bringing this together, and I hope it can continue for many years to come, as it is obviously needed.” - Corrine Bruning, E-Democracy.org
“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
“I cannot say enough great things about NCDD!! This organization was so supportive, engaging, and inspiring. I am transitioning from graduate school to the world of a practitioner, and NCDD helped me feel like there were real partners out there who I could go with questions and concerns, or who I could connect with to check in, brainstorm with, and learn from in the future. I felt like the participants at this conference were excited to see more people in the field, and wanted to do all they could to support the learning of their peers. It was such a joy to be a part of, and I am very much looking forward to the day when I get to be the practitioner at an NCDD conference who offers a helping hand to new talent in the field. Thank you for wonderful introduction to this amazing organization!” - Vanessa Roebuck, MS & MPA ’13 University of Oregon
“The “C” could just as well stand for “Connections.” Bring what you have discovered, your curiosity—and a box full of business cards!” - John Perkins, Keep the Change Seattle
“NCDD Seattle was appreciative, inspiring, experiential, and great good fun!! I am energized, enlightened, and atuned for listening, talking, and learning – I could not have expected more!!” - Greg Mowat, GTM Transformations LLC
“What an amazing event – the conference was extremely well organized with a diverse set of workshops to choose from along with an incredibly diverse group to network with. I especially appreciated the fieldtrips. The one I went on to the Seattle waterfront turned out to be interesting, educational, and fun.” - Vicki Totten, St. Edward’s University
“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
“This was my first NCDD conference and the best conference I have ever attended (and I have attended so very many!). The theme, building a more robust infrastructure in our practice, communities and country, is timely and in need of continual attention and collaboration. I have wanted to attend the bi-annual NCDD conference since the first one, but my schedule didn’t permit. Now, this conference will be a priority in my life and I will do my best to schedule other important activities around it! Thank you to the core planning team, the generosity of the sponsors, the two delightful emcees, the plenary session participants, and the fabulous, well-presented, relevant, and inspiring workshops.” - Manju Lyn Bazzell, The Co-Intelligence Institute
…and, as promised…
“I have never been at a conference where I felt so inspired and learned so much. Everyone I met was a font of good information that they generously shared.” - Mary Gelinas, Cascadia Center for Leadership
“Where else can you collide with social entrepreneurs, scientists, journalists, film-makers, business owners, academics, artists, students, engineers, actors, electeds, consultants, social profit leaders, public servants, graphic recorders, techies, videographers, philosophers, lawyers, executives and more who are also agents of transformation?” - Christine Whitney Sanchez, Innovation Partners International
“NCDD Seattle was a rare moment to experience a combination of learning and connecting with people from broad geographic and rich experiential backgrounds who share a common commitment to dialogue and deliberative democracy. It was well worth my time and effort to attend.” - Murray Mollard, Facilitator, Vancouver, Canada
“I felt more hope for humanity after hearing about all the proposals for process and creating more productive environments for dialogue and deliberation to occur. I left with many leads on connecting our work to a broader audience nationally, and with ideas on how to do my work even better. Thank you for bringing this together, and I hope it can continue for many years to come, as it is obviously needed.” - Corrine Bruning, E-Democracy.org
“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
“I cannot say enough great things about NCDD!! This organization was so supportive, engaging, and inspiring. I am transitioning from graduate school to the world of a practitioner, and NCDD helped me feel like there were real partners out there who I could go with questions and concerns, or who I could connect with to check in, brainstorm with, and learn from in the future. I felt like the participants at this conference were excited to see more people in the field, and wanted to do all they could to support the learning of their peers. It was such a joy to be a part of, and I am very much looking forward to the day when I get to be the practitioner at an NCDD conference who offers a helping hand to new talent in the field. Thank you for wonderful introduction to this amazing organization!” - Vanessa Roebuck, MS & MPA ’13 University of Oregon
“The “C” could just as well stand for “Connections.” Bring what you have discovered, your curiosity—and a box full of business cards!” - John Perkins, Keep the Change Seattle
“NCDD Seattle was appreciative, inspiring, experiential, and great good fun!! I am energized, enlightened, and atuned for listening, talking, and learning – I could not have expected more!!” - Greg Mowat, GTM Transformations LLC
“What an amazing event – the conference was extremely well organized with a diverse set of workshops to choose from along with an incredibly diverse group to network with. I especially appreciated the fieldtrips. The one I went on to the Seattle waterfront turned out to be interesting, educational, and fun.” - Vicki Totten, St. Edward’s University
“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
“This was my first NCDD conference and the best conference I have ever attended (and I have attended so very many!). The theme, building a more robust infrastructure in our practice, communities and country, is timely and in need of continual attention and collaboration. I have wanted to attend the bi-annual NCDD conference since the first one, but my schedule didn’t permit. Now, this conference will be a priority in my life and I will do my best to schedule other important activities around it! Thank you to the core planning team, the generosity of the sponsors, the two delightful emcees, the plenary session participants, and the fabulous, well-presented, relevant, and inspiring workshops.” - Manju Lyn Bazzell, The Co-Intelligence Institute
…and, as promised…
76+ Favorite Things About NCDD 2012 Seattle
As shared by conference participants during the event evaluation process.
- The networking and small table discussions. I got to meet a slew of fascinating people. The more particpatory and interactive sessions. Eric Liu’s and Pete Peterson’s plenary sessions.
- It was the mix of plenary/workshop/showcase/catalyst planning.
- Interesting and inspirational stories of how public participation can be turned into public engagement.
- Very good, intentional use of our time with well structured sessions that modeled the deliberative process.
- Almost everything. Wonderful to reconnect with people I know well and awesome to meet new people. Great sessions. Learned so much.
- The people. The great choices of workshops.
- People in attendance.
- Hearing examples of tools and techniques; meeting other practitioners; familiarizing myself with the latest publications and practices.
- Building a better understanding of and connection with the NCDD community.
- Location. Excellent hotel and meeting facilities.
- Learning about a number of developments in the field.
- Topics, networking.
- Friendly atmosphere – realy enjoyed the idea of having a D&D bootcamp!
- Variety of workshops. Great participants! Field trip to South Park Bridge.
- Meeting new folks with new ideas.
- Opportunities to take breaks and network. Good location.
- Eric Liu, the people.
- The choice of sessions, the friendliness of people, the diversity of people, the location of the event.
- Breaks (networking) and Pete Peterson’s talk.
- Relevance of overarching topic and questions to current projects I’m working on.
- Quantity and quality of the sessions to choose from.
- Very well organized and timed.
- The people – their passion.
- The thoughtfulness and intentionality of connecting theory and practice in the conference itself. Providing opportunities to meet others. The opening ceremony with the Native American prayer and song. Great speakers.
- The sessions were excellent, providing much practical information.
- In-depth conversations that were encouraged in a couple of the breakout sessions I attended. The opportunity to explore content AND connect with new people from across North America.
- Fellow attendees.
- The chance to learn about so many different D&D events and initiatives, particularly from civic society groups.
- Opportunities to connect with and learn from peers.
- Concrete examples of community engagement.
- Workshops and field trip.
- The diversity of participants that gathered around a provocative theme.
- The plenary sessions and some of the workshops; The Tour of South Park Bridge.
- The broad range of workshops.
- The chances to talk with other attendees and hear about their projects and organizations.
- Opportunities for connection. The food was really good to (and the hotel).
- The workshops. The multiple opportunities to share with other attendees (through structured small group work). I learned just as much from fellow participants as I did from “official” presenters.
- Topics, exposure to new ideas.
- For me the value derived from spending three days thinking and talking about public engagement with other interested professionals. The diversity of backgrounds and professions of participants made it that much richer. I never get that opportunity anywhere else. Food and service in the hotel were great.
- The usual: networking and learning about stuff.
- Good range of workshops.
- I really liked all the different formats for the sessions.
- Hearing about all the work.
- Group works cards session.
- The morning plenary on the first day.
- Workshops, experiential plenaries, graphic recording, networking opportunities (including showcase), field trips — all of it!
- Learning about different approaches to D&D. Meeting lots of people doing this work in different ways and different places.
- Time to talk and listen.
- Meeting kindred spirits from all over the world.
- The city, the site, the number of attendees, the organization.
- Highly informative sessions with an emphasis on particpatory engagement.
- Storytelling/talking about my work with others; neighbourhood tours.
- Very well organized and thought out, great incorporation of multiple ways of learning, interacting, etc.
- The diversity, the experiential opportunities mixed with informative sessions.
- The workshop on Loops and Turtles, as well as the networking time.
- Meeting so many people and having the opportunity to share our decision making software with folks who really understand the pressing need for it.
- Interesting people.
- I liked the overall design and the quality of the workshops.
- The smaller sessions.
- Quality of the attendees, their knowledge and wisdom, and format of the sessions, allowed enough time to get into some depth.
- Getting acquainted with the spectrum of professional facilitators, researchers, and beyond that make up the dialog and deliberation field.
- Workshops, quality of the people on stage and off.
- Table discussions.
- Seeing the network of members really engaged in learning with each other. Multi-modal approaches — including graphic depiction of conference journey.
- The size & general atmosphere. Compared with the thousand-person conferences I usually attend, this was refreshing.
- Specific examples of public engagement, especially in the local government area.
- Having the opportunity to share a project I am involved with. Also the open networking times were the best (e.g. during the “showcase” slot).
- Plenaries were interactive not just lectures. Long breaks in between things, so not too rushed with time to talk to people. Field trips were great. Loads of thoughtful and skilled people attending!
- It was inspiring. Very well organized & executed, ran like clockwork. The venue was fabulous!
- Range of perspectives. Willingness to share knowledge. Smiling faces.
- Video presentations.
- Meeting folks, networking and comparing notes with others who are doing the same work all over the country.
- Workshops, and connecting with colleagues.
- Seeing and meeting people in person. Overall logistics. Venue. Programming.
- Seeing people and the workshops.
- Great breakout sessions held by entertaining, informative session leaders.