[Oe List ...] John Stringham

[Charles or Doris Hahn]

Hi Dick,
This is one of the most moving pieces I have seen in a long time.  Thanks!  It 
takes me back to our many years in Europe, even though our beginning work was 
not nearly as astounding as Stringhams.  Thanks again,
Charles Hahn




________________________________
From: Richard Alton <dick_alton at hotmail.com>
To: Dialogue Wedgeblade <dialogue at wedgeblade.net>; Order Ecumenical 
<oe at wedgeblade.net>
Sent: Sun, March 13, 2011 8:58:16 PM
Subject: [Oe List ...] John Stringham


Ah, John Stringham! We worked together in two great European undertakings. 
Actually, I can now say they were two of the best things I have been involved 
with. First, John was able to get the German government’s bi-lateral arm, GTZ, 
to sponsor  conferences annually for 3 years on the role of NGOs in Global 
Development. John, obviously, did all the heavy lifting with the government in 
designing a project proposal and reporting. We would gather together about 50 
people from around the world each year (I remember one year we had the Prime 
Minister of Zambia as well as the World Bank present). John was a giant in 
getting all these things lined up. 

 
The second big project that I worked on with John grew out of a very successful 
facilitation job the ICA had done with the Dutch Royal Tropical Institute 
(KIT)’s 50th year celebration. KIT had been very impressed. The best of our 
European ICA facilitators came and were scribes for each session. Then each 
morning the scribes would present what they heard and what it told us about the 
future. The dialogue following the scribe’s reports then became the highlight of 
the Conference. In fact, the scribe dialogues became the Conference. KIT asked 
ICA to take a contract to help design and consult with all their future 
conferences. John and I were the two people who worked with the Dutch Institute. 
We would spend a week each quarter in Amsterdam to help plan upcoming 
conferences. We designed facilitated dialogue within a context of having people 
of stature give lectures. Again John was brilliant in arguing the fine points of 
facilitated dialogue and how that could be mixed with expert panels. John’s law 
background as applied to facilitation was amazing to behold.
 
 From there, John went on to collaborate with a group of Dutch Nobel Prize 
Winners focusing on developing youth dialogues. 

 
If one thing stands out about John for me, it was his ability to go head to head 
with some of the best thinkers of the world on how to engage people in serious 
dialogue. How do we turn conferences into real learning experiences?

Richard H.T. Alton International Consultants and Associates 'building global 
bridges' 166 N. Humphrey Ave, Apt, 1N Oak Park, IL 60302 T:1.773.344.7172 
richard.alton at gmail.com Don't let the fear of striking out hold you back Babe 
Ruth
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