Online World Cafe

I’ve been doing online youth work even before the pandemic as most of ‘my’ young people were...let’s just say...a few miles away. Now many activities are being adapted to the online including the interaction between youth workers and youth so I can be more involved again. Today I was part of my first online World Cafe and its goal was to help Baia Mare’s bid for becoming European Youth Capital in 2023 (we’re in the finals).

I’ve said it before and I will say it again and again - World Cafe is my favourite consultation method. I love love love LOVE it. It’s such a simple way to get ideas out of people, discover the real needs of a community and it’s fascinating how ideas generate more ideas. The concept was unaltered by the online version. However, I realised I missed one thing - the sound of voices from the other groups and the intimacy granted by that. When it’s only you and four people talking surrounded by silence… it’s not the same.

But that’s enough from me. I discovered that for young Eve this was the first World Cafe. Moreover, she facilitated the discussion for her group. I wanted to hear her thoughts and here they are:

'This is not how I imagined my first World Cafe will be, but here I am! I didn't even know what I was supposed to do, but still, I accepted the role of facilitator. We were grouped and that's how my facilitator work started. I was so nervous that I won't be able to keep up with the interlocutors and I won't manage to write down everything they're saying. Buuut I succeded, actually it came out quite well! The 'facilitator job' was rather interesting and I'm surprised I've handled it well! I think I also 'love love love LOVE' World Cafes!!!'