January 20th Dialogue Circles Training A Success

How can we as facilitators create structures and practices that that will contribute to the ability of a group to deeply listen to each other, even if they have very different views? How do you kindly re-direct participants who have diverged from a set of group agreements designed to contribute to a respectful dialogue? How can your notes capture the essence of what people are saying so that the event can be summarized?

These are the skills that thirty-three people learned on Saturday 1/20 during our dialogue circles training. The Zeidler Center led us through a day-long process of learning how to facilitate dialogue circles using the methodologies they have been successfully using in Milwaukee for ten years.

The next part of the process is to give our facilitators a chance to put these skills into practice. C4CS and the Zeidler Center are exploring opportunities for large-scale community dialogues in the Madison area, and we welcome invitations from our community both big and small.

We’d like to give a special thank you to our event sponsors: Madison Gas & Electric, Summit Credit Union, and Community Shares of Wisconsin. An amazing lunch was generously donated by Food Fight Restaurant Group, and cooked by volunteer Don Prather from Craftsman Tap and Table. Visit this great restaurant or contact Food Fight Restaurant group to cater your next event. THANK YOU!