The Referendum: Respect and Reconciliation
Thursday 4 September 2014

Written and audio transcripts of the Keynote conversations are available here.

Click here for the video recording of William Ury’s session.

Grassmarket Community Centre, 86 Candlemaker Row, Edinburgh EH1 2QA

Open to all – View Programme and Poster

Collaborative Scotland is holding a Day of Dialogue exactly two weeks prior to the referendum, to encourage people to reflect on how to handle the lead up to the referendum, and to look ahead to the period afterwards – understanding the need to work collaboratively and with reconciliation in mind.

A highlight is a video link to William Ury in the US. Ury is a Harvard Professor, international negotiator, adviser to presidents and co-author of the biggest selling book on negotiation, Getting to Yes, and author of one of its follow up texts, The Power of a Positive No.

Among those also lined up to participate in different conversations throughout the day are:

• Douglas Alexander MP, shadow foreign secretary
• Andrew Wilson, former SNP MSP and commentator
• Peter Lederer CBE, Chairman of Gleneagles Hotel
• Jane Wood, Chief Executive of SBC
• Josh Littlejohn, social entrepreneur, founder of Social Bite
• Dr Alison Elliot OBE, chair Land Reform Review Group and Associate Director of the Centre for Theology and Public Issues at the University of Edinburgh
• David Melding AM, Deputy Presiding Officer of the Welsh Assembly
• Conor Murphy MP and former Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly
• Dan Macdonald, businessman and sponsor of N56
• Alastair McIntosh, ecologist and writer
• Rev Richard Frazer, minister of Greyfriars Kirk

A Midnight Vigil at Greyfriars Kirk will conclude the day as we anticipate the transition from September 18 to September 19, whatever the outcome, and commit to continuing with respectful dialogue.

Please register here. It will be helpful for us to know if you’d like to come for all or part of the day.

You can read John Sturrock’s announcement of the event here.