On November 14th, 2023, KFUNIline and eXpand held their annual World Café, which not only served as an introduction to the "World Café" workshop method but also provided a possibility for the various departments of the practice firms to exchange views on relevant issues.
The World Café is a method that aims to enhance the dialogue between the participants of a seminar or conference. Several tables are set up at which a fixed number of participants take place, usually around 4–5 people. These groups discuss a predetermined topic for a set period of time, for example, 20 minutes, and record their findings on a piece of paper at the table. When the time is up, the participants move to another table to continue the discussion and add further thoughts. At each change, a hostess or host remains at the table to offer the new participants a link to the previous discussion and to moderate the conversation. Once all participants have visited all the tables, a final round with all participants takes place, in which the most important findings from each table are briefly summarized.
The relaxed "coffee house atmosphere" of the World Café is intended to enhance the informal dialogue between the participants and offer the opportunity for everyone to contribute individually. In addition, the World Café enables the exchange of ideas between different departments, and everyone can contribute some ideas to a different department.
Through the exchange of information between the different departments, networking and synergy effects can be identified, which can help to further optimize the business activities of the two practice firms.
This year, the merger also played a central role in the World Café. During the discussion rounds, it was worked out which departments require close cooperation to successfully fulfill the challenges of the merger. Ideas were also collected on how the workflows and processes should be organized from January 2024. The dialogue between the various departments and practice firms played a key role in ensuring that a merger of "the best of both worlds" could be achieved in January.