The document summarizes a workshop on knowledge cafes and knowledge sharing. It discusses how knowledge cafes work, including the process of running one with small group discussions and a facilitator. Barriers to knowledge sharing like silos and lack of processes are addressed. The value of conversations for sharing knowledge and gaining understanding is emphasized.

1. Gurteen Knowledge Café Masterclass Pretoria South Africa November 2008

2. The birth of the Gurteen Knowledge Cafe London, September 2002

5. Photographs

6. Introductions

8. Business is a Conversation

12. Conversation “A mechanistic and unproductive exchange between people seeking to defend their own views against one another” “A frank exchange of ideas or views on a specific issue in an effort to attain mutual understanding” Debate or dialogue?

16. Conversation/Questions

17. Gurteen Knowledge Café Process

29. Conversation/Questions

30. Lets run a Knowledge Cafe

34. The Challenge of Knowledge Sharing What prevents us from sharing our knowledge more effectively? How might we overcome these barriers?

35. Business is a conversation Here's a definition of that pesky and borderline elitist phrase, 'knowledge worker'. A knowledge worker is someone whose job entails having really interesting conversations at work. David Weinberger The Cluetrain Manifesto

36. Business is a conversation The characteristics of conversations map to the conditions for genuine knowledge generation and sharing: they're unpredictable interactions among people speaking in their own voice about something they're interested in. David Weinberger The Cluetrain Manifesto

37. Business is a conversation People implicitly acknowledge that they don't have all the answers (or else the conversation is really a lecture) and risk being wrong in front of someone else. And conversations overcome the class structure of business, suspending the organization chart at least for a little while. David Weinberger The Cluetrain Manifesto

38. Business is a conversation If you think about the aim of Knowledge Management as enabling better conversations rather than lassoing stray knowledge doggies, you end up focusing on breaking down the physical and class barriers to conversation. And if that's not what Knowledge Management is really about, then you ought not to be doing it anyway. David Weinberger The Cluetrain Manifesto

39. Café Conversation How do you encourage open conversation in business?

40. Lunch

41. Applications of the Café

48. What applications do you see for the Knowledge Café?

53. Some examples of Cafes

54. ISN Knowledge Café The knowledge café has led to a dramatic improvement in terms of inter-team dialog, collaboration and knowledge sharing. Many internal work processes are now being overhauled for the better as a result of these knowledge cafes and we have seen an explosion of new ideas and initiatives on the part of staff at all levels of the organization. Simply put, the knowledge cafe format has empowered all our staff to speak up and take the initiative in ensuring the successful development of the ISN. Chris Pallaris, Chief Editor ISN, Zurich

59. Tips and techniques

66. The tables

77. Other Conversational Tools

84. Thank you!

85. www.gurteen.com David Gurteen Gurteen Knowledge Tel: +44 1252 812 878 Email: david.gurteen@gurteen.com