A note regarding the calendar: Calendar events will be populated on this calendar during the week of July 6th. While we’re adding them to the calendar, please refer to the list below to view workshop descriptions and tentative dates.
Calendar times are shown in Eastern time.
Table of Contents
- WNA core workshop series
- Talking about Values With Nuance workshops – Registration open now
- *NEW!* Special topics workshops
- Workshops in the Works
- What’s Next Community Roundtable – Registration open now
- *NEW!* Info sessions for WNA & What’s Next Community Mini-Grants – Registration open now
Workshops
What’s Next core workshop series
Our core What’s Next workshop series focuses on various parts of a “What’s Next, America” initiative: organizing, planning and gathering participants; facilitating the discussions; monitoring your work’s impact; and moving from conversation to action. These were piloted in June and the series will be offered again beginning in August. Workshops can be attended equally well as a full series or as single workshops. Click the arrows for more info.
Note: Dates listed in this section might shift slightly until Zoom registration links are added.
Organizing “What’s Next?” Initiatives
Join us for a free workshop on organizing and convening “What’s Next” conversations. You’ll hear from experienced practitioners and also have a chance to begin “workshopping” your own plan for what it would look like to convene a What’s Next initiative in your community or context. This workshop will be interactive – bring your questions and your ideas!
- Monday August 10th at 3pm Eastern – Registration link to be added soon
- Want to see what it’s about sooner? Watch the recording of our pilot version of the workshop here
Facilitating “What’s Next?” Discussions
Join us for a free workshop on facilitating “What’s Next, America?” conversations. This workshop will help participants prepare to facilitate What’s Next, America? discussions. We will explore how facilitating What’s Next, America? conversations is both similar to and different from facilitating other types of deliberative conversations. The workshop is designed to be interactive and help participants build on their own past experiences – in facilitation or otherwise. Please feel welcome to bring your own insights as well as questions!
- Tuesday September 1st at 2pm Eastern
- Want to find out more sooner? Watch the recording of the pilot version here
Capturing Impacts in Your Community’s “What’s Next?” Initiative
Join us for a free workshop on moving from conversation to action in What’s Next initiatives. Come learn about the “why” and “how” behind capturing impacts of local What’s Next initiatives. We’ll share new tools and strategies for capturing or “evaluating” impacts that make it both useful and fun, and we’ll talk about how to easily integrate these into the What’s Next process.
- Tuesday October 6th at 4pm Eastern
- For more sooner: Watch the recording of the pilot version here
“What’s Next?”: Moving from Conversation to Action
Join us for a free workshop on moving from conversation to action in What’s Next initiatives. We’ll discuss how the What’s Next process and accompanying tool, resources and collaborative learning opportunities support communities in moving from deliberative conversation to locally-determined action. We’ll hear from practitioners of deliberative talk-to-action initiatives from across the country about their experiences and how this transformation looks on the ground.
- Thursday October 22nd at 4pm Eastern
- Rather not wait? Watch the recording of the pilot version here
Workshops on Talking about Values with Nuance
Talking about Values with Nuance: A Workshop and Demonstration Forum
- Two upcoming dates (each date includes the same content – workshop plus demonstration session):
- Can’t make these? Watch the recording of a previous introductory workshop for the process here
Special Topics Workshops
Check out our new slate of new workshops! Offerings include workshops related to What’s Next, America? initiatives, as well as trainings and interactive sessions on participating in, facilitating, and framing deliberative discussions.
Note: Dates listed in this section might shift slightly until Zoom registration links are added.
Experiential Workshop: Practice Facilitating Deliberative Discussions
An interactive workshop in which participants will practice strategies for facilitating deliberative discussions and responding to facilitation challenges.
- Wednesday September 23rd at 2pm Eastern
3-Part Issue Framing Workshop
Learn to frame a deliberative discussion guide and begin framing your own guide. Three part-series.
- Tuesday September 15th at 2pm Eastern
- Tuesday September 29th at 2pm Eastern
- Tuesday October 20th at 2pm Eastern
NIFI Forum Series
Starting in August, we’ll be hosting a series of three separate virtual deliberations using NIFI issue guides. If you’ve never experienced a National Issues Forum, or if you’re considering using a NIFI issue guide in the future, attending one (or more!) of these is a great way to see what it’s all about! We’ll also be looking for guest facilitators who are interested in co-facilitating the forums or breakout groups, so if you’re interested please email Dawn at dharfmann@nifi.org
- Thursday August 13th at 6pm Eastern – Registration link to be added soon
- Wednesday October 28th at 6pm Eastern
- Tuesday December 15th at 6pm Eastern
Workshops in the Works
We’re always thinking about and developing new workshops and collaborative learning opportunities. Below are some that are in the works. If you’re interested in talking about or potentially contributing to any of these, please email us: dharfmann@nifi.org
- Reaching a Broad Range of Participants and Partners – Convening and Community Mapping – likely to be scheduled for August/September
- Adapting and Localizing NIFI Issue Guides – likely to be scheduled for October/November
- Communicating about What’s Next: Storytelling and Media – likely to be scheduled for November
- “What’s Next” in College/University contexts – likely to be scheduled for November
- “What’s Next” in K-12 contexts – likely to be scheduled for January 2027
What other workshops would you like to see?
If there are topics you’d like to see covered in upcoming workshops, please submit any ideas here.
What’s Next Community Roundtable
These interactive monthly gatherings (previously known as the What’s Next Community of Practice) support sharing of insights, experiences, and emerging questions and learnings across the network of “What’s Next?” leaders and deliberative practitioners – including those most experienced and those just starting out. Each Roundtable meeting we’ll devote time to the following:
- Connection
- Learning from each other
- Group problem-solving/troubleshooting
- Informing future learning/collaboration opportunities
What this looks like (click for more)
Often our Roundtables will feature leaders of a “What’s Next?” initiative from across the country or other another experienced deliberative practitioner who kicks off the conversation by sharing insights and stories. Other times we’ll focus together on a tricky topic related to deliberative talk-to-action initiatives like What’s Next (ex.: reaching participants with diverse life experiences; “What’s Next” in college/university or K-12 settings; navigating challenging facilitation situations; the use of AI in deliberative practice; etc. Suggest any topic ideas using this form.
If you’re wrestling with a question or challenge related to starting or working on a What’s Next initiative, or related to deliberative talk-to-action work more generally, bring it along! And, if you’d like to be sure we reserve enough time to discuss it, please email Dawn ahead of time at dharfmann@nifi.org.
These gatherings are designed to invite conversation and connection, so please bring your ideas, questions and input! All are welcome, whether this is your first time learning about deliberation or community-based work or you’ve been doing this work for decades.
Upcoming Roundtables:
- Thursday July 30th at 2pm Eastern – Register here
- Thursday August 20th at 6pm Eastern – Registration link to be added soon
- Friday September 18th at 2pm Eastern
Intro to “What’s Next, America?” and the “What’s Next” Community Mini-Grant Fund
In these info sessions we’ll share about the newly announced “What’s Next, America?” Community Mini-Grants and how they fit into the broader “What’s Next, America?” initiative. We will leave plenty of time for questions. Whether you’re a community leader, community member, educator, deliberative practitioner, or just interested in learning more, all are welcome!
Upcoming info sessions:
- Tuesday July 28th, 2-3pm Eastern – Register here
- Friday August 14th, 1-2pm Eastern – Registration link to be added soon
Other Ways to Connect
Don’t forget about the other opportunities to connect with us off the calendar as well!
Schedule a call. Want to schedule a time to meet individually? Sign up for a time slot here.
WNA Team Coaching Sessions: Intensive ~1-3 hour long sessions with NIFI staff and/or collaborators to support your team at any point in the “What’s Next?” process. By appointment, starting in the fall. Please reach out to us if you think this might be helpful for you and your “What’s Next?” co-leaders. Email Dawn at dharfmann@nifi.org.
Email us: Anytime! Contact Dawn at dharfmann@nifi.org