The Development & Climate Days held at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COP) 19 in Warsaw, Poland (16-17 November 2013) continued its tradition of bringing together a diverse range of experts for intensely participatory learning, dialogue and networking. This event convened over 200 negotiators, policy-makers, scientists, funding agencies and development practitioners. The highly interactive, out-of-the-box programme featured 'Lightning Talks', a new experiential learning game about loss and damage, and a session on 'Challenges and Innovations from the Field'. Each of these sessions aimed to foster an environment of collaboration among participants and inject serious fun into the climate and development dialogue processes. This paper introduces some of the participatory tools and methods applied by the Global Environment Facility and the Climate Centre during the Day 1 programme and considers their effectiveness in serving the purpose of the event. The paper identifies key success factors and limitations with a view to informing the design of future events that may seek to apply new methods for eliciting dialogue and promoting peer-to-peer learning between diverse stakeholders.
