One of the hallmarks of a Future Media Lab. event is the use of The World Café Format to prompt and promote discussions. This format, which divides large groups into smaller, diverse tables and uses short rounds of conversations driven by specific questions, enables participants to have in-depth conversations with others at his/her table to develop insights that are later shared with the entire group.

The way it works:

Future Media Lab. conferences are generally divided into three distinct parts:

1. Keynote Presentations
2. Workshop Sessions
3. Panel Discussion

The keynote presentations are aimed at setting the scene of the conference by introducing the topics to be discussed and/or providing context, background information or specific case studies. Previous Future Media Lab. events have had such keynote presentors as Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission; Michael Maness, Vice-President of Journalism and Media Innovation at the Knight Foundation; and Michiel Buitelaar, COO Digital Media at Sanoma Media Netherlands.

After the scene is set, participants are asked to break into workshop groups. They are divided into small groups seated around a table. A moderator presents a specific question to the groups, for instance “what will the future media landscape look like in 2050?” and “how can innovative funding models help media companies expand their business?” The participants then have 20-30 minutes to discuss the question, with a table host “harvesting” the ideas shared in order to present it later to the bigger group. Once the 20-30 minutes are up, the participants switch tables for the next round of questions, ensuring that each round introduces participants to different groups of people.

When the workshop rounds are over, the information discussed in the small groups is harvested, and individuals are invited by the moderator to share insights or other results from the conversations they had at their table. We also display the “mind maps” that are created at each table around the venue, to provide further inspiration throughout the day.

Closing the event are panel discussions, which are meant to take the ideas discussed throughout the day and put them into a larger context.