I’m enjoying using Meetup while in New York. There’s a constant flow of opportunities to find interesting people at events large and small in Manhattan. The alerts come through regularly during the day – and I am always surprised at the wide range of interests. I suppose that’s the beauty of living in a big city.
At the end of the week I was alerted to a group called “Conversations New York” via Meetup. 
While I’ve been in New York I’ve been researching what part conversations play in greasing the wheels of my start up business,Climbing Fish. I’ve been reading a book called “World Cafe – Shaping our Futures through Conversations that Matter”. The process outlined in the book is tried and tested on groups – and is an inspired way of getting conversations going. I’m working out how to apply this to the one-to-one connections that Climbing Fish intends to make. We’ve drafted in the thinking of the test group from Bath that tried out the Climbing Fish pilot this autumn – all who did our survey have been given a copy of the book.
I went along to the Conversations New York session at Penn Station (in a table at the back of TGI Fridays). It was a diverse group (as would be expected from the melting pot of New York) – all committed to getting the art of conversation going in New York. They have a lovely statement that outlines their aims:-
IMAGINE…
Hundreds of New Yorkers coming together in small groups of neighbors
and fellow citizens to discuss topics of intensive interest…
Hosted at no cost and at convenient locations and times…
Aided by simple guiding principles…
Inspired by the city’s grand tradition of robust conversation…
Our vision is to inspire, organize, publicize, facilitate and celebrate
a renaissance of healthy dialogue in New York City
At that small table were people dedicated to Socratic Learning, getting fellowship for seniors in the population through conversation, diversifying the conversations of blind people from just always talking about fund raising, simply getting people to “Talk to me”, encouraging the immigrant population of the Upper West Side to start conversations again in the Hungarian Pastry Shops and generally stop technology separating us.
I’m hoping that in my time in New York to help the group with its aims. They are already excellent catalysts for the conversations of New York. On their site – there is a calendar of monthly events, and they track the activities of over 50 groups creating conversations in New York. If you are in New York – please take a look at the calendar and join the conversation!
As I said in my last post “I’d like to help you explore through conversations with strangers your undiscovered genius, maybe add fire to your “mild rage” or give you a whole new perspective. I believe this could change you, the people you meet and maybe the world for better – and help us all rediscover our art!” These guys are doing a great job at this.
The group is truly committed to open, diverse conversations. Ron Gross, the inspiring Chairman of the group, expressed it well: “We work hard at making sure conversations are open to all – we know how easy it is for birds of a feather to flock together. We need different perspectives.”
Watch this space for more words and pictures on the Conversations of New York…
