$~~~~$In 1995, a group of business and academic leaders met at the home of Juanita Brown and David Isaacs in Mill Valley, California. None of them had any idea they were about to create a social innovation that 11 rapidly around the world. $~~~~$The group was supposed to have a large-circle discussion in their beautiful garden. Unfortunately, it started pouring. With their plan12 by the rain, the two dozen participants squeezed into the living room. They broke into small, intimate table conversations, recording their insights on paper tablecloths. They periodically stopped their conversations to switch tables so the insights and ideas might 13 and deepen. As they moved from one table to another, they noticed new ideas emerging from the discussions. This in turn enriched subsequent rounds of conversation. Over the course of the morning, the innovative discussion process 14 a new form of collective effort that transformed the depth, scope, and quality of their discussion. The World Café was created. Since that rainy morning in Mill Valley, the World Café approach has been applied to multi-group discussions and cooperative actions by businesses, industries, and educational institutions around the world.