Coffeehouse Conversations

While reading Respect by Richard Sennett I read the following which I think is a great idea and would love if some Coffee shop would try it out for an evening. Any takers?

“In the cafes and coffeehouses of eighteenth century Paris and London, for instance, strangers felt free to speak face to face. You entered, sat down at any table, took a coffee, and talked, whether you knew the others at the table or not. You spoke using a theatrical language and gestures which would hardly have been appropriate at home. The somewhat artificial character of coffeehouse speech permitted strangers come to the city from the provinces or from other countries to share a common language, and so exchange information, to find out what was happening-it was the reason insurance companies like Lloyds of London began as coffeehouses-but not to know one another better as individuals.”

 

It’s very like Open Space in it’s concept but without any particular theme. I once attended an Open Space training weekend and a discussion arose among about 15 of us which began to be monopolised by one or two individuals. As it was OS I was empowered to simply get up and walk away without any explanation. I did it and still remember that wonderful feeling of empowerment. One by one everyone else left too and joined other conversations that were going on around the hotel. Unfortunately the individual did the same and those conversations leaked a bit too. There was no conflict, just polite refusal to acquiesce to manipulation.

Mind you I just got this image of myself in full blog mode and everyone else excusing themselves and leaving.