​The workshops are a core part of the National Conference on Dialogue and Deliberation. We have two blocks of concurrent sessions daily, and this year will have over 60 sessions in total. The overall schedule can be found at ncdd.org/2023schedule.html.

Below is an alphabetical listing of the first round of sessions. More sessions will continue to be added, and in the coming days the schedule of workshops (dates, times, locations) will be shown on the conference workshop page at: www.ncdd.org/2023workshops.html.

We have several exciting announcements to share about the upcoming 9th National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation (#NCDD2023) happening October 13-15th in Atlanta, Georgia! Read on below to learn about: additional preconference opportunities on Thursday October 12th, the overall conference schedule that just went live, a heads up to reserve your room at the discounted hotel block rate before rooms are all booked up, and reminder to submit D&D Showcase proposals.

Pre-Conference Event Updates
As we previously announced, we are hosting several great pre-conference events on Thursday October 12th and have just added a few more opportunities. We hope you will come a little early to the conference and check out some of these great sessions and events. There will be several full and partial-day pre-conference workshops scheduled to provide more intensive learning opportunities:

• Interactivity Foundation Collaborative Discussion Coach Training (9:00 - 3:00pm)
• Avoiding Confirmation Bias (1:00 - 5:00 pm) - NEW! 
• Embracing Silence in Dialogic Practice (1:00 - 3:00 pm) - NEW! 
• Deliberation Bootcamp (3:00 - 5:00 pm)

Learn more and register for these pre-conference sessions at: www.ncdd.org/2023preconf.html.

NCDD Conference Schedule Now Available
The NCDD conference schedule has just gone live on our site! The schedule shows you the overall flow and focus of the conference, as well as start and end times, what meals are provided, and each day’s activities. In addition to the aforementioned preconference sessions, we plan to host additional events on Thursday including an informal meet & greet mixer you won't want to miss out on! We are planning a packed program and workshop line up throughout the three-day conference time including highlights such as:

• Friday: D&D Showcase and Reception, Dinner and a Fight event, and a Student Facilitator Summit.
• Saturday: Film Screening for The Abortion Talks, and several additional adventures and conference activities (details coming soon).
• Sunday: Powerful closing plenary and a student facilitator post conference convening. 

These are just some of the starting highlights with more announcements coming soon. Read the schedule-to-date and learn more at: www.ncdd.org/2023schedule.html.

Reserve Your Room ASAP to Secure Discounted Rate!
Friendly reminder to those joining us at the conference to make sure you book your room ASAP if you want to access the discounted room block rate. While the discount is available until mid September, rooms are filling up fast at this rate and we wanted to give attendees a heads up to book sooner than later if you want to stay at the same hotel the conference is located. 

The conference will be held at the Crowne Plaza Atlanta Perimeter, 4355 Ashford Dunwoody Road NE, Atlanta, GA. In order to get the conference rate, please book your room via this link here: Crowne Plaza Atlanta Perimeter - NCDD 2023 Room Block. Learn more about travel and lodging at: www.ncdd.org/travel--lodging.html.

Last Call for Showcase Proposals!
NCDD is excited to announce that we’ll once again be holding our popular “Dialogue & Deliberation Showcase” during NCDD2023 and we are looking for presenters! Submit your showcase proposal by Monday August 14th to be considered!

The D&D Showcase is a lively reception and networking event that provides an opportunity for select individuals and organizations in our field to showcase some of the leading ideas, tools, projects, and initiatives in dialogue & deliberation with conference participants all in one space. We know that these ideas, tools, and initiatives are all designed to help us overcome some of the challenges facing public engagement. This year, we want to organize those presenting around the challenges their work helps those in the field to overcome.

Submit your proposal at:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdhkRQ7JB1weLurEFHlxhbsUszDi2l7aD9LmHNBIu5yZhTocQ/viewform

** Stay tuned to the NCDD blog in the coming days as we start to announce the workshop sessions! **

ONE WEEK left to purchase #NCDD2023 tickets at the Early Bird registration rate! NCDD2023 - The 9th National Conference on Dialogue and Deliberation will be happening October 13-15 in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Join us for the one of the premier events connecting the dialogue, deliberation, and public engagement community. Our national conferences bring together leaders and practitioners from across sectors to share our work with one another, explore new innovations in practice, and tackle the challenges we face. Due to the pandemic, we placed a hold on hosting this loved event, and now we are able to convene again in person! If you would like join us for this exciting event, now is the best time to get your tickets at the Early Bird rate. 

Early bird registration is $480 and is available until Wedsnesday May 31st! After that, regular registration will be $580. This is the only time tickets for the conference will be available at this low rate, so make sure you secure yours before they go up next Wedsnesday. Whether you are have been working in dialogue, deliberation, and public engagement for many years or you are a newbie to the field - our conferences have something for everyone! 

Learn more about NCDD2023 at: https://www.ncdd.org/ncdd2023.html.

The Interactivity Foundation, one of our wonderful NCDD2023 Conference Platinum Sponsors, recently shared several announcements, including the release of IF’s Biannual Report (Oct 2022 – April 2023) with updates on the Collaborative Discussion Project. IF is also accepting nominations for their 'Pilot Coach Training for Undergraduate Students' program, taking place this fall. And applications are now being accepted for the 'Bridging Differences in Higher Education Learning Fellowship' until May 22nd. Learn more about these opportunities and more in the post below, as well as IF's site here. ​

Interactivity Foundation’s Biannual Report​ - ​Integrating IF’s 3 Core Mission Areas

Dear collaborative discussion friends and partners:
We are interrupting our regularly scheduled newsletter to share with you the Interactivity Foundation’s Biannual Report, Oct 2022 – April 2023. In this report, we describe IF’s programming across all 3 mission areas (education, community conversation, and developmental discussion) during this reporting period. We are sharing it with you to help illustrate how the Collaborative Discussion Project continues to develop and fits within the broader mission of the Interactivity Foundation. As always, feel free to reach out if you would like to learn more or connect with our other programming, activities, resources, or content. Enjoy!

Upcoming Events

• The Interactivity Foundation is organizing a 3-part interactive, small group conversation series, exploring dimensions of The Economy & Democracy. Join us for the third session on Wednesday, May 17 at 2pm (EDT). [stay tuned for the summary like this one from session 1 - linked here]
• The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley is offering the Bridging Differences in Higher Education Learning Fellowship. This is a great opportunity for any leader in higher education — faculty, administrators, staff, or students — who wants to foster more constructive dialogue and understanding on US college campuses. Recipients will be be part of a 8-month facilitated virtual learning community from September 2023 to April 2024. The application deadline is May 22, 2023. Learn more and apply today!
• The School of Public Affairs at American University is hosting an online conversation about dialogue and pedagogy, “Can We Talk? Defining, Practicing, and Protecting Dialogue in Higher Education” on June 13th and 14th from 1pm – 5pm (EDT). Over the two days, this event will have four 90-minute sessions, each beginning with a short keynote followed by an interactive facilitated discussion. All are welcome! Register here.
• We are also accepting nominations for our Pilot Coach Training for Undergraduate Students which will take place this fall. Space will be limited. You can learn more or nominate a student by emailing me at esw@interactivityfoundation.org.
  ​ 

Looking forward to collaborating,
Shannon Wheatley Hartman & the Collaborative Discussion Team

Learn more: https://www.interactivityfoundation.org/interactivity-foundation-biannual-report-april-2023/ 

The National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation team has made the decision after receiving numerous requests to extend the workshop call for proposals deadline to next Monday, May 8th. This will be our final deadline! 

We want to give folks who need it an extra week to finalize their submissions, and we heard that having time over a weekend will be helpful. We hope this gives you the time you need to put those sessions together and get it in so our team can review it. 

The conference sessions are 90-minutes long. We have more information about sessions and the full details of what we look for on the Call for Proposals page here. The application to submit session proposals is available linked here.  

Find potential co-presenters and/or float your ideas by others via the Collaborative Document and the NCDD Main Discussion listserv. 

If you have been looking for collaborators but haven’t identified anyone yet – we encourage you to submit your proposal anyway. Our team may be able to suggest potential co-presenters or connect you with others proposals for a similar session.

We have also received some questions about when applicants will hear back, and the timing of it with the early-bird deadline. We are hoping to send our final decisions out no later than Friday, May 26th. Our team is already reviewing the proposals we have received. As for the early-bird, we have not made a final decision, but will be considering how to best address this in the coming weeks. If the cost of attending the conference is the only barrier to joining, we do offer scholarship support. Check out the scholarship form linked here.

Thank you for the enthusiasm and support of this conference – let’s make this our best yet!

NCDD is excited to announce our next webinar featuring NCDD Member Org EnCiv! Join us on Tuesday, December 13th from 1-2pm Eastern/10-11am Pacific for this FREE webinar sharing more about the development of EnCiv's "Undebates" tool.

EnCiv is a nonpartisan organization looking to challenge sensationalism and polarization in civic discourse by offering social technologies that power widespread, cross-partisan discussion and better decision making. In this webinar, we'll be joined by David Fridley and Adolf Gundersen who will provide us with an overview of their latest tool, Undebates, and talk with us about other discussion processes where a platform of this sort could be helpful. He'll also discuss one such effort, called the Unroundtable. 

Register today to join us!

EnCiv - Undebates for Organizations
For organizations that are run democratically, getting members to participate - meaning vote, is a challenge.  They are forced to compete for people's attention from all the usual sources - social media, mass media, even streaming media.   EnCiv will demo a new tool that allows organizations to create "Undebates" for their elections.  It automates the process recording video Q&A with candidates and assembling it into an interactive viewer for voters to review on their own schedule and quickly decide, and it can be shared on social media, and embedded on a website.  The same process can also be used to present differing views on ballot measures.

For now, you are able to create an account and try it out for free. In this webinar we are also looking to brainstorm other forms of discussion processes to adapt this to, including what we call an "Unroundtable."  The challenge is to create connection between people at large scale when they can't all be in the same place at the same time.

Learn more about EnCiv and the Undebates tool at www.enciv.org/undebates.

Those who joined NCDD for our 20th Anniversary Celebration last week were the first to hear our big announcement - the National Conference on Dialogue and Deliberation is back! After a hiatus due to COVID, we are so thrilled to reconvene our signature event in 2023.

​And, we shared another important opportunity that you'll want to read on to learn more about. 

About the Conference
NCDD 2023 will be held October 13-15, 2023 at the Crowne Plaza Atlanta Perimeter. A beautiful location perfect for the highly interactive conference, we are so thrilled to bring our event to the Southeast US for the first time! This will be a wonderful opportunity to connect with practitioners in the region, as well as showcase some of the wonderful work being done in the Atlanta area. 

If you haven't attended an NCDD conference before but want to learn more, check out this link.

Opportunity - Join or renew in 2022 to get the very best rate!
At our anniversary event we made another big announcement. We will be offering the lowest rate on conference registration to NCDD members whose dues are in good standing in 2022. That means if you have been thinking about joining or are behind on renewing your membership, now is the time to do it!

NCDD members all received discounted registration for our conference, but this is a special opportunity we're offering for an even deeper discount if you join or renew by December 31st. This helps support NCDD as we start what will be a very busy year, and gives you the very best deal on the conference!

Stay updated on the conference at our new event page: NCDD 2023

We can't wait to gather together with you all in 2023!

This Thursday, November 17th at 4pm Eastern/1pm Pacific, NCDD is hosting a 20th Anniversary Celebration. Don't miss it - register to receive the webinar information! 

Please join us to Reflect, Recommit, Renew, and Reconnect to our community of practice and the vital work we do in communities and organizations to promote empowering opportunities for engagement.​

This event will feature speakers from different areas of the network and look back at 20 years of community. We'll also be making a special announcement that you won't want to miss!

We are inviting you to gather with us to celebrate our 20 years of collaborative impact and to recommit to being a vital member of the NCDD community of practice, both gaining from and giving to this community. And we are asking you to renew your support of NCDD and the possibilities we create together. 

Register to join us today: bit.ly/NCDD20th

Join MetroQuest on Wednesday, October 19th for a webinar titled Optimizing Online Surveys for Diverse and Equitable Public Engagement. The webinar will be hosted by Dave Biggs, Emily Margitan, and Gerard Penalosa, all three from our very own MetroQuest. This webinar brings together experts on virtual public engagement to discuss the most effective strategies for designing surveys that support diverse and equitable participation. They will unpack how planners can utilize online surveys as part of a deliberate effort to build diversity, equity and inclusion.

Dave Biggs, Chief Engagement Officer at MetroQuest, will share some of his research on how diversity and inclusion are distinct and necessary elements for developing equity in the public participation and planning process. Emily Margitan and Gerard Penalosa, Customer Success Managers at MetroQuest, will discuss the tactics and strategies behind several online public engagement surveys that have been effective at supporting diverse and equitable participation. They’ll use exceptional examples from agencies such as Minnesota Department of Transportation, Virginia Department of Transportation, Oregon Metro, Texas Department of Transportation, and firms including WSP and Michael Baker International.

In this webinar, we will explore:

• Great survey design that supports diverse and equitable public engagement
• The differences between equity, diversity and inclusion
• Tactics for optimizing outreach into diverse or hard-to-reach communities
• Real life examples from top agencies and firms

As practitioners of dialogue, deliberation, and public engagement, it is important that we continue to improve our facilitation practice by learning new skills, understandings, and considerations for designing and facilitating conversations.

In the below sessions at this year's Summer Learning Springboard, participants will learn how to be self-reflective and intuitive. Register today to widen your skillset.