You may know of ‘Kitchen table conversations’ as the model employed by Voices for Indi to mount Cathy McGowan AO’s highly successful election campaign in 2013.

It is a model of civic engagement that revolves around one simple idea: that engaging people in the kind of open and honest dialogue that women have had around kitchen tables for centuries has the power to create real change.

It was originally developed by Executive Director of the Victorian Women’s Trust, Mary Crooks AO, alongside a small group of concerned citizens in Victoria in the 1990s. The Trust has compiled a free, downloadable guide to kitchen table conversations that is available to all who are looking to organise around the issues that affect their community.

The guide includes:

• A history of the kitchen table conversation model
• An overview of the practical steps required to successfully run the model
• Eight key steps for running the kitchen table conversation
• Templates to use at community meetings