​​About the Conversation Collaborative
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​What is the The Conversation Collaborative ("CC")?
​​The Conversation Collaborative is an emerging business consortium designed to:
  • ​​Move projects, initiatives and ideas forward by bringing together large groups of people who care about them.
  • ​​Catalyze and strengthen communities and networks that currently exist or are waiting to be born.
  • ​​Create a new set of opportunities for large-group dialogue that pushes the boundaries of the field, provides settings to practice different ways of being in conversation and opens new channels for paid engagements and fundraising.
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​How does CC accomplish this purpose?
​​Groups of people who share a common passion abound and can be convened with ease via a multitude of existing networks. CC can provide such groups with an infrastructure for engagement: a container in which to weave relationships, develop inspiring ideas and move into collaborative action.  
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​​The consortium consists of a network of people skilled at designing, convening and hosting "emergent" conversations for large groups, both virtually and in-person. A group of "producers" takes the lead in initiating a project in collaboration with one or more  organizations, networks and/or communities. 
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​​CC focuses on conversations that create "emergent space" for: 
  • ​​Connectors of people and ideas to flourish and be valued.
  • ​​Tapping collective intelligence and resources.
  • ​​Practicing compassion and empathy; hosting opportunities to become more skilled at deep listening, suspension of judgment, etc.
  • ​​Addressing the great challenges of our age by helping to "hospice" old paradigms and "midwife" new ones, in service to the vision of a world that works for all.
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​How are CC engagements structured?
  • ​​One or more organizations or networks partner with CC for an engagement and are identified as "lead partners." They are typically promoted as the main hosts and conveners. CC gathers a "production team" and is identified as the "producer" of the engagement.  
  • ​​Engagements may be organized as a specific, limited number of events or as an ongoing series of live conversations, e.g. weekly or monthly.
  • ​​Core conversational processes include Open Space Technology, World Cafe and Appreciative Inquiry, as well as variations inspired by the principles these approaches embody. 
  • ​​Projects use some combination of: 
  • ​​Online spaces for "asynchronous" text-based dialogue, which may be at the site of an organizational partner, a group set up specially for the engagement on a popular platform such as Slack, Facebook or LinkedIn, or a website created for that project. 
  • ​​In-person conversational gatherings, which can be either CC-hosted/facilitated events that are centrally convened or a number of self-hosted gatherings for which a template is designed.
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​​The financial structure can vary greatly depending on the needs and resources of the organization, community or network that is the "lead partner" and the requirements of the CC production team that is convened. ​+See this pad​ for more information.
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​How can I get involved with CC?
​​Partner with us to produce an engagement. What are the potential or actual projects, initiatives or ideas you care about? What communities and networks are you a part of, or do you see as "waiting to be born?"  If you could tap into the collective wisdom of a large group of people that care about such subjects, what questions might they help to answer that could make a difference?
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​​Suggest ideas for engagement proposals. Think about an actual or potential organization, movement, initiative, community, group, collaboration, etc. that is at an inflection point, i.e. that it is ripe for tapping into some collective wisdom, energy and resources. Now imagine you could convene one hundred people who share your passion and commitment around this same opportunity. What might they be able to accomplish in this terrain? 
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​Who Is Part of the Conversation Collaborative?
​​CC founder ​+Ben Roberts​ partners with a number of other conveners and change agents in different configurations for different engagements. What makes this a "collaborative" is the emphasis on partnership, as opposed to a conventional client/consultant relationship. In an ideal engagement, Ben works with other conveners, sharing leadership and ownership of the work.
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​Contact Us
​​Email: ben@conversationcollaborative.com, or post something to our ​+CC Collaboratory​.
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