Participatory Dialogue
After Action Review (AAR)
Structured debrief with four questions for learning immediately after any project: what was planned, what happened, why the gap, and what to do differently next time.
Appreciative inquiry
Appreciative inquiry is an organizational and community change methodology that begins from what is already working well to build the desired future, rather than analyzing problems and deficits.
Art of Hosting
A facilitation framework for hosting meaningful conversations at scale. Integrates World Café, Open Space, and Circle practice to harvest collective wisdom from groups of 20 to 150.
Body map
Body mapping is a participatory visual research method in which participants create a life-size representation of their own body to explore their experiences, emotions, identities, and stories through drawing, color, and symbol.
Civic Dialogues
Structured conversations between citizens and institutions on specific policy issues, with explicit mechanisms for public input to influence concrete decisions.
Customer Journey Mapping
Visualize a person's complete experience with your service step by step, uncovering emotions, pain points, and improvement opportunities at every touchpoint.
Deliberative Poll
Combines a scientific survey with facilitated deliberation to measure how public opinion shifts when citizens engage with balanced information and genuine peer dialogue.
Delphi method
The Delphi method is a structured consultation technique that collects and synthesizes the judgment of a group of people through successive rounds of questionnaires and anonymous feedback, progressively converging toward an informed consensus.
Design Thinking Workshop
Innovation methodology in 5 phases: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test. Learn to facilitate Design Thinking workshops centered on people's real needs.
Favorite Little Things
Favorite Little Things is a warm participatory activity that invites people to share the small everyday moments that bring them joy, building connection and appreciation within the group.
Film Society
Film Society is a participatory activity that combines a collective film screening with a facilitated critical discussion to foster empathy, reflection, and shared meaning-making.
Fishbowl discussion
Fishbowl is a participatory dynamic where a small group dialogues in the center while others observe, promoting active listening, multiple perspectives and deep reflection on complex topics.
Focus Group
Qualitative research method: moderated small-group discussion to explore participants' perceptions, attitudes, and lived experiences on a specific topic in depth.
Force field analysis
Force field analysis is a participatory analysis tool developed by Kurt Lewin that helps a group identify the forces driving a desired change and those restraining it, in order to design strategies that strengthen the former and weaken the latter.
I Like, I Wish, I Wonder
I Like, I Wish, I Wonder is a participatory activity where people reflect on a shared experience by expressing what they appreciated, what they would improve, and what questions they are left with, creating a space for honest feedback, learning, and connection.
Lean Coffee
Self-organized meeting format where participants propose and vote on topics at the start, then use time-boxing to keep the most valued conversations first.
Liberating Structures
33 interaction microstructures that replace conventional meetings, distributing participation equally so every voice contributes — not just the loudest.
Lifeline
The lifeline is a biographical narrative activity in which participants trace their personal or group history along a timeline, marking key moments, turning points, and the learning that brought them to the present.
Make a Wish
Make a Wish is a participatory dynamic in which a community identifies meaningful wishes or needs that can be addressed collectively, votes on one of them, and organizes collaborative actions to make it come true, gathering support from individuals, organizations, and local businesses.
One Sentence a Day
One Sentence a Day is a participatory activity in which each person contributes one short sentence every day to collectively build a record of shared thoughts, emotions, or reflections over a set period of time.
Open space
Open space (Open Space Technology) is a group self-organization methodology in which participants themselves create the agenda, choose the sessions, and define the topics of work, radically liberating collective intelligence without a pre-established program.
Oxford Debate
Two teams argue opposing sides of a motion while the audience votes before and after. Measures each side's persuasion power and builds critical thinking and argumentation skills in any group.
Participatory Service Blueprint
A co-design tool that maps a service's full anatomy — visible interactions and backstage processes — built together by the people who use and deliver it.
Public Consultation
Formal process for collecting public input on proposed decisions before they are finalized, with explicit links between what was heard and how it shaped the outcome.
Reading Club
Reading Club is a participatory activity where a group of people gathers to share impressions, ideas, and reflections based on a common text, fostering conversation, active listening, and collective learning.
Restorative circle
The restorative circle is a structured community practice developed by Dominic Barter that brings together those who caused harm, those who were affected, and the community around them to build mutual understanding and co-create agreements for repair and forward movement.
Socratic debate
The Socratic debate is a participatory activity that promotes critical thinking and collective learning through open-ended and reflective questions.
Sprint Retrospective
Agile team practice: structured session at the end of a sprint to examine what worked, what didn't, and commit to concrete improvements for next time.
Talking stick
The talking stick is a dialogue facilitation practice rooted in Indigenous traditions of North America that grants the right to speak only to the person holding the object, ensuring that every voice in the circle is heard with respect and without interruption.
Technology of Participation (ToP)
ICA facilitation system with three core methods — ORID Focused Conversation, Consensus Workshop, and Action Planning — to move groups from reflection to committed action.
Think – Pair – Share: Individual Reflection, Pair Dialogue, Group Sharing
A 3-step dynamic that activates everyone's participation: think alone, talk in pairs, share with the group. Guarantees equitable engagement in education, training, and facilitation at any scale.
Voice of Customer (VoC)
Research method for capturing what customers actually need and experience — in their own words — and translating that insight into concrete product and service improvements.
World Café
A structured conversational process where small groups rotate between tables and layer ideas collectively. Surfaces shared intelligence and consensus in groups of 20 to 100+ people.