As part of the 2009 conference, ideas and comments were collected to answer the question:

How do we use dialogue and deliberation to make stronger communities and healthier democracies?

Here is list of all the written comments that were submitted via a Dotmocracy wall and a Sunday plenary brainstorm, roughly organized by theme:

General

1. If we all engage in more dialogue and deliberation we would have more success and positive outcomes in all our endeavors.
2. We need to provide time for thoughtful attention to attend to one another's concerns and to develop a big picture.
3. Provide opportunities for various forms of communication.
4. As participants and facilitators we need to practice active listening and to be open to where the conversation needs to go.
5. Dialogue needs to be a central point of decision making instead of an afterthought.
6. We need public spaces where people can come and talk about ideas.
7. Good dialogue and deliberation is messy. Conflict is likely to arise and it must be embraced as an opportunity to find deeper understandings.
8. We need to move past superficial topics to engage deeply in issues that matter.
9. Dialogue can help diverse groups build understanding of their view, how they feel and what they need.
10. There are many methods of dialogue and deliberation that facilitate understanding between divides and can produce excellent results for society.
11. Dialogue can help bring transparency and discover truth for those involved.
12. Only with changes in the ways that citizen involvement is institutionalized will democracy be strong.

Best Practices, Academic Theory, & Study of the Field

1. Models for dialogue and deliberation have more similarities than differences.
2. Be transparent and explicit about the terms of engagement.
3. Involve stakeholders in design of the process they are to be engaged in.
4. Ontario Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) demonstrate some best practices for engaging the public.
5. Consultation and public engagement require multiple and hybrid ways to facilitate real participation. Social media has potential for public engagement, especially with youth, but is no substitute for face-to-face conversations.
6. Two-way communication with stakeholders needs to happen in many different ways, including in person, in print and online.
7. Participants who contribute to public engagement should be made aware of the impact of their input.
8. Dialogue should also include action, visuals and other forms of learning, because just talking can get boring.
9. Bring people together, dialogue, build relationships, tap in the knowledge of people, use what's already there, build on top of it and contribute to social change.
10. Dialogue can be as simple and cozy as a potluck. 
11. It needs to be fun.
12. There needs to be funding so that deliberations can be a regular occurrence.
13. Dialogue can occur without deliberation, but effective deliberation can only occur in a dialogic manner.
14. We need further evaluation to better understand the practice of effective dialogue.
15. Start with small scale communities to build relationships and learn the process of "staying in" the conversation (even when it's difficult).
16. Involve leaders from the community to work with you and build their capacity to continue practicing dialogue and deliberation long after you leave.
17. A town hall style meeting where audience members line up at a microphone to ask questions is not really a dialogue.
18. Dialogue done with clarity, real proposals and does not go astray from participants, promotes communal work in a way that leads development.
19. Solutions are to be found within the community.

Youth

1. Young people can be extremely successful dialogue and deliberation organizers and facilitators.
2. Giving encouragement to youth to participate in the community and give them scholarships for their further education.
3. Youth are not just the future, they are the present!
4. Youth do have a voice and we can express it.  If we stand up and voice our opinion change will happen.

Online Engagement

1. Online tools have great potential for 'scaling up' dialogue and deliberation work, enabling people to take on provincial, national, and even global issues.
2. Internet tools can help provide greater transparency and accountability.
3. There are still many barriers for some people to effectively use online technology, such as: access to computers (especially as home), language barriers, computer literacy, the expense of high speed Internet, lack of time (e.g. single working mother).
4. Use Facebook as a platform for engaging people in dialogue & deliberation.

Diversity of Voices/ Under Represented Voices

1. Involve more than the "usual suspects" in conversations.
2. Each person perceives things differently and thus it is important to engage with wide variety of people who each bring in their own view and ideas.
3. Here the voices of people with a "lived experiences" such as youth, poverty, homeless, etc.
4. There are no "hard to reach" populations - just sets of people who have been excluded from or ignored by public decision-making.
5. In moving forward to create change in engagement we have to ensure that we aren't leaving people behind.
6. Learn to adapt to the diversity of individuals and incorporate cultural sensitivity.
7. Honour & seek diversity and be inclusive of the whole community.
8. Go to people where they are. Don't expect them to come to you.
9. Learn how to have conversations with people who use different words.
10. Bringing people together creates connections and bridges across groups and 'worlds'. The cross pollination of ideas produces insights that are greater than the some of their parts.
11. Find ways for individuals from different stakeholder groups & levels of power to spend time in one-on-one conversations sharing their hopes, best experiences & challenges.

Role of Government

1. Public officials can no longer act as if government can solve public problems single handedly; they need to tap the insight of citizens.
2. Only the federal government has the power to affect change because they have the most money.
3. The public needs to have a process in which we can have a transparent dialogue with elected persons.
4. Public consultation should be like elections: instead of leaving it to government to consult the public on a voluntary basis, we need an institutionalized process that obliges government to engage citizens on a regular basis.
5. Public policy must include the public.
6. All levels of Ggovernment  policy-making need to include powerful and informing community conversations

Other (Off-Topic)

1. Housing Communities across Canada should work with CMHC (Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp) to convert their rental stock to tenant owned condominiums where possible and appropriate.
2. Build more housing not more parks for people to sleep in!
3. People are always making decisions for themselves so its so patronizing to say "How are we going to get everyone on Facebook" etc.
4. I like the dynamic used for the decision making for the improvement of building repair and improvement
5. The housing corporation approach to improve the direct communication with the tenants' claims and the way the organize the presentation
6. Establish a central web site for voting reform.

SUGGESTIONS & COMMENTS FOR C2D2

1. Hosting local dialogues in (every) city neighbourhood - at homes, coffee shops, pubs.
2. Tennant of TCH was able to do their own presentation dialogue and deliberation , letting our input....
3. I feel like I won't burn out with all the complaining at our building's coffee meetings
4. Hearing about the community that worked together and have Wychwood Barn as an example for us
5. Joining together with voices from the street and speaking about real situations - and justice organizations made a mistake in planning to meet at Barns
6. What I like most was the speech of Dr. Carolyn of the Liberal party of her work and experiences in relation about women, children
7. The diversity of tenants
8. I learned about melanin
9. Eg. black is not a race, it is a colour
10. I learned about Six Nations rights: issues
11. I learned about the conference system
12. The chance to learn about unique projects from the people who are actually doing it!
13. To connect with other youth
14. We learned that every community has silent voices and that there is many language and ability barriers out there!
15. Were thankful for C2D2 giving us the space when problems arose and also even when the night was over they still let us present and stood by us
16. I also learned about the suffering of Aboriginal people, which touched me and needs to have a solution
17. Schedule the workshops so that two good workshops are not conducted at the same time
18. Make another image of the cover page of C2D2 to impact more
19. The facilitators spoke very fast. They need more time to explain their presentation. <!--[endif]-->