Want to have conversations that actually change things?
You’re in the right place.
Step 1: Learn a new kind of conversation
We offer welcoming, interactive trainings for people who want to work toward material change through person-to-person conversations that dismantle fear & division
Intro Session:
What kind of conversation do you want to have?
Tuesday, February 10
6:00 - 7:30 p.m. ET
Something is urgently missing from our ability to talk to each other. The more critical the topic, the less possible it feels to communicate about it. If that’s true for you, join the New Conversation Initiative (NCI) in the next evolution of its Deep Canvass Institute training program to identify the conversations you want to have. We’ll ground you in the conversation principles that gave rise to deep canvassing and how you leverage those foundational skills across a range of conversations including recruitment, activation, listening, and deep canvass persuasion.
Skills Session #1:
Curiosity, Non-Judgment, & Fighting Assumptions
Tuesday, February 24
6:00 - 7:30 p.m. ET
Saturday, February 28
12:00 - 1:30 p.m. ET
Join us for a deep dive into the power of curiosity, cultivating a non-judgmental mindset, and avoiding assumptions about others in our conversations. Whether you’re looking to recruit people, activate them, bridge divides or create the conditions for people to shift their views, it starts with these three essential skills and mindsets.
The same session will be offered twice. Please choose the date/time that works best for you.
Skills Session #2:
Vulnerability & Honesty in Story Exchange
Tuesday, March 3
6:00 - 7:30 p.m. ET
Saturday, March 7
12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
Sharing stories and connecting around our lived experiences in a vulnerable way is at the heart of powerful, connected conversations. But vulnerability sits differently for each of us depending on our identities and what our life experiences have been. Join us to explore and practice storytelling and vulnerability in a supported training environment so you can leverage the impact of the stories you want to tell and elicit from others.
The same session will be offered twice. Please choose the date/time that works best for you.
Skills Session #3:
Identifying & Processing Underlying Conflict
Monday, March 9
6:00 - 7:30 p.m. ET
Saturday, March 14
12:00 - 1:30 p.m. ET
In conversations, we spend a lot of time on the surface, arguing about facts and opinions we’ve heard on the news, but never really understand the underlying emotional conflicts that drive our beliefs and the beliefs of others. Join us to learn more about identifying core underlying conflicts, and how to approach processing those conflicts by focusing on the things we’ve actually experienced rather than what we’ve heard on the news.
The same session will be offered twice. Please choose the date/time that works best for you.
Step 2: Work the skills in conversations
Community of Practice
Tuesday, March 17
6:00 - 8:00 p.m. ET
Save the date for the launch of our monthly Community of Practice where individuals, activists, and organizers who’ve completed our Skills Series can gather in community for peer learning, relationship-building, coaching, and continued practice to turn their skills into conversations in their communities about the issues they care most about. To attend the community of practice, you must complete the introductory session & all three skills sessions above.
The Community of Practice is open to anyone who’s completed the Skills Series above. Invitations will follow the series.
Join for A Recruitment Shift
Thursday, March 19
6:00 - 9:00 p.m. ET
This session will give individuals, activists & organizers the opportunity to apply their skills in a recruitment context. We’ll announce the topic and action we’re recruiting for in advance, and will prepare you to join a live phones shift where you’ll be trained in our deep canvass-based recruitment & activation script, with the opportunity to debrief and ask questions at the end of the shift.
RSVP to come in 2026.
Join For A Deep Canvass Shift
Saturday, March 21, 2026
12:00 - 4:00 p.m. ET
This session will give individuals, activists & organizers the opportunity to leverage their skills in the context of a deep canvass conversation. We’ll announce the topic and action we’re calling about in advance, and will prepare you to join a live phones shift where you’ll be trained in our deep canvass script, assigned to small pods of callers led by an expert trainer, and experience a full debrief at the end of the shift.
RSVP to come in 2026.