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World Café Explained

About 2 years ago By Potentia

World Cafes

​You might have seen us bang on about world cafés a lot these last couple of years. And if you haven’t been to one, you might have also wondered what these evenings are all about. So, with us hosting TWO world café events during Techweek22, it’s the perfect time to go through what you can expect on the night.

What is a world café?

The hint is in the name. World cafés are unstructured and informal, with a series of small tables spread out across the event space (similar to a café setting). Hosted by industry experts, each table has a different topic/theme, and is covered in a large sheet of paper with different coloured markers to capture ideas on the go.

At the beginning of the evening, attendees break off into smaller groups and rotate around said tables every 10-15 minutes. With each rotation, groups are mixed up to bring attendees out of their shells – giving them the opportunity to meet new people whilst encouraging contribution from everyone. As well as taking away learnings and tips, separating the tables like we do also gives attendees the platform to share their own experiences.

We tend to go with 6-8 attendees per table, but this can be adjusted depending on the number of people you have on the night.

*We’ve adapted the world café methodology a little bit to suit the events we are running, but you get the idea!

Why do we use them?

When we launched our student-led community (Taitamariki Potentia) in 2020, we wanted to host events that rangatahi would want to be a part of. What we soon found was that your typical panellist or presentation-style events wouldn’t cut it with our mostly Gen Z audience. While rangatahi still wanted to learn and connect at events, we found that the unstructured and informal style of world cafés was better suited to students!

What are our upcoming world cafés focused on?

During Techweek22 (16-22 May), we’re hosting TWO world cafés…one in Auckland and the other in Wellington as part of the launch of our Taitamariki Potentia community in the capital.

Wellington – Tuesday 17th May @ 5pm

Each table will focus on ONE particular part of the career haerenga (journey), as well as tackling many of the real issues that our rangatahi face while trying to break into and progress their careers in Aotearoa’s workforce:

  • Navigating your entry into the tech workforce

  • Delivering in your first six months

  • Journey to your first promotion

  • Your first leadership role

  • Enhancing your mana and identity in senior management

Auckland – Thursday 19th May @ 5pm

Each table will focus on a particular part of the student lifecycle, from high school to institutions of higher learning and beyond:

  • Career options at high school

  • Career aspirations in your first year of university or higher learning

  • Getting ready for internships in years 2/3

  • Preparing for a job in your final year of studies

  • Career planning after graduation

If you (or any students/graduates in your network) are keen to come along to either of our world cafés, register now via the links above to secure your spot.