Here are the five great handouts from “The Wisdom Council: A Tool for Empowering 'We the People'” – facilitated by Jim Rough and Deanna Martin at the 2006 NCDD Conference in San Francisco.

Here is the full workshop description:
Imagine all of citizens in your community talking together creatively and collaboratively about the big, important issues. Convening this kind of conversation holds the promise of raising our collective intelligence, consciousness and wisdom on issues like healthcare, traffic, our educational system, and violence. The Wisdom Council is a new democratic tool that promises a grassroots way to develop near-unanimous strategies and the will to implement them on the issues that matter to you and your neighbors. It offers the prospect of engaging all in one, heartfelt, creative conversation that is ongoing, moving people beyond partisanship to serving the public interest. There have been a number of successful experiments with the "Wisdom Council" in cities, schools, among homeless people and in various organizations. Come hear about the growing number of experiments that demonstrate this new process really works – like in the Department of Agriculture of Washington State, at Salmon Bay Elementary School in Seattle, and at a local food co-op. Join us for an introduction to the process and learn how you might implement a Wisdom Council in your community.

The Handouts:

• An 18-slide PowerPoint presentation on the Wisdom Council process – access presentation
• A two-page Word document comparing dialogue, deliberation, and the Dynamic Facilitation's "choice-creating" – access document
• Another two-page Word doc, this one with a chart comparing traditional facilitation with dynamic facilitation – access document
• A three-page Word doc describing both Dynamic Facilitation and the Wisdom Council process – access document
• A 6-page PDF article by Jim Rough called "Transforming the Public Conversation" which wasn't handed out, but which the facilitators planned to include as the follow up to the session – access article

Jim Rough and Deanna Martin
(2006)

This very meaty 151-page final report to the Hewlett Foundation by Elena Fagotto and Archon Fung includes detailed case studies on West Virginia’s National Issues Forums, Public Deliberation in South Dakota, Public Deliberation in Hawai’i, and Connecticut’s Community Conversations about Education. Elena Fagotto presented a workshop on her research at NCDD’s 2006 conference called “Embedded Deliberation: Moving from Deliberation to Action.” She decided to share the report with the NCDD community since many of her workshop participants requested it.

NCDD 2006 session description for “Embedded Deliberation: Moving from Deliberation to Action”
In this session, Elena Fagotto will present findings from an ongoing research project based at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government investigating the connections between embedded deliberation and action. She will first introduce the concept of embedded deliberation, and how embeddedness can lead to action. We will also analyze different arenas in which deliberation can become embedded – from non-profit organizations, to academia and state legislatures.

We will then examine the role of deliberative entrepreneurs, and areas in which public deliberation can promote public action and policy change. Throughout the presentation, fieldwork evidence will be used to support the theory and provide concrete examples for the audience. There will also be opportunities for participants to engage by reflecting on new arenas for embedding deliberation, or examples of action not contemplated in our findings. This workshop offers new ideas for those interested in exploring opportunities to promote action through public deliberation.
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Also download Elena’s 30-slide PowerPoint presentation for the workshop, entitled Public Deliberation and Action: Key Findings. The PowerPoint provides a nice overview of the research results and you may find it easier to digest.

Final Report for the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, submitted by the Taubman Center for State and Local Government and John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. April 14 (2006)

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This 5-page PowerPoint document was created as a handout for the workshop entitled “Collaborative Governance in Local Government: Choosing Practice Models and Assessing Experience” given by Terry Amsler, Lisa Blomgren Bingham, and Malka Kopell at the 2006 NCDD Conference in San Francisco. The session addressed how civic engagement practitioners can assist local governments in thinking systematically about and choosing among the various forms of civic engagement in public decision-making. Using this and other documents, Kopell described a year-long process to involve the Menlo Park, California community in decisions about a sustainable funding strategy for city-provided services.

Malka Kopell – Community Focus

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This 10-page document was distributed during Jim Knauer and Paul Alexander’s workshop of the same name at the 2006 NCDD Conference in San Francisco. Deliberative dialogue can be used across the curriculum to integrate civic education without sacrificing disciplinary content or traditional learning objectives. The document not only outlines Democracy Lab (an online deliberation program for college students) and where it is headed, it also outlines existing research on dialogic pedagogy, describes William Perry’s Scheme of Intellectual and Ethical Development, and explores the relationship between deliberative dialogue and learning.

Here is the full description of Knauer and Alexander’s workshop:
If dialogue and deliberation are to lead to social transformation they must also become the basis for educational transformation. Drawing on three years of experience with Democracy Lab in high schools and colleges, presenters will share their experiences and explore a theory and practice of dialogic pedagogy. Dialogic strategies are used across the disciplines to improve the achievement of traditional teaching and learning objectives while also preparing students for active citizenship in a stronger democracy.  Democracy Lab provides pedagogically structured dialogue on public issues for instructor adoption as a course requirement.  Students participate in small asynchronous groups with others from several schools and from courses in various disciplines.  A 10-week NIF-style agenda includes instructional modules, research tasks, group reports and action possibilities.  Presenters will invite, share and discuss strategies for dialogic learning and the relation of dialogic learning to traditional objectives and to civic engagement.
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James T Knauer, PhD is Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania, Founder of Democracy Lab. Paul Alexander, PhD is Director, Institute on the Common Good, Regis University.
James T Knauer, PhD and Paul Alexander, PhD
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What is the role D&D people play in society’s evolution? How can we call forth our potential for helping society evolve to be more conscious, effective, and wise? Tom Atlee and Peggy Holman asked these questions during their popular workshop at NCDD’s 2006 conference in San Francisco. Download their handouts – a 7-page paper by Tom, a 10-page chapter from The Change Handbook by Peggy, and a 3-page document featuring three diagrams….

Here is the full description of Tom and Peggy’s workshop:
What is the role D&D people play in society’s evolution? How can we call forth our potential for helping society evolve to be more conscious, effective, and wise? For 13 billion years evolution, has been driven by the interaction of diverse entities — physical, biological, and social.  A few hundred thousand years ago, language emerged and began evolving, and conversation began to arise out of and powerfully feed the evolution of human society. We D&D folks are the beneficiaries of thousands of years of learning how to do conversations well. We have know-how that can reduce human dependence on force, guile and chance. During the session we shall consider what it means to be evolutionary agents as we strive to address the crises around us. A bigger evolutionary Story is unfolding, in which D&D has a profound role to play. Join us for an experiential exercise, presentation, and dialogue.

Here is the introductory paragraph from the 7-page PDF document written by Tom Atlee entitled “The Role of Conversation in Evolution“…
Evolution and conversation are close cousins. Both are “process” — and they embody each other. Evolution is the ongoing process of change. If we want to consciously and intentionally change our social systems, we need to talk together about it. The more inclusive, wise and productive our conversations are, the more powerful and positive the changes will be. It is no accident that the conversational dimension of our work is usually called “process.” Conversation is our way of being in process and evolving together. Given the many crises that are emerging today, high quality conversation is an essential evolutionary force.

A 10-page PDF of Part 3 Ch 66 of The Change Handbook (2006, Berrett-Koehler Publishers) entitled “From Chaos to Coherence: The Emergence of Inspired Organizations and Enlightened Communities” was also made available to participants. This chapter outlines Peggy Holman’s thoughts on the future.

Also download the 3-page PDF document featuring these three diagrams:

• A Sweet Spot: in the Evolution of Consciousness and Social Systems
• Search for Fitness: Evolution and Collective Intelligence in Human Systems
• Conscious Emergence In Social Systems