Convenings

Collaborating to foster collective action and impact

The enormous challenges of our era are all interconnected, demanding collaboration. Unlike conferences or panels, convenings afford individuals and organizations the opportunity to probe, dissect, and address consequential issues communities are confronting. For more than 40 years, we have helped design, lead, and evaluate convenings of all sizes and formats for nonprofits, foundations, and corporate clients around the country.

Our intentional, step-by-step approach is rooted in purpose, driven by imagination, and always customized.  

Clarifying and Strengthening the Reason to Convene

We start here by using the following set of questions to determine if a convening is the right tool to meet your goals, and utilize our diagnostic tool to analyze whether you or your organization have the credibility, cachet, diverse network, and financial resources to be the agent of change. 

⇒ Is there a clear need for a convening? 

⇒ Is this an issue that would benefit from a diverse group event? 

⇒ What is the change you wish to foster through this convening?  

⇒ What is the true cost of the convening (including implicit costs to participants) and does the value justify the costs? 

Defining Desired Outcomes

Once we have agreed on the intent, and the need and ability to convene, we determine what you hope to achieve, which often crosses multiple categories, including:  

• Reputation 
• Capacity 
• Connection 
• Salience 
• Action 

Designing and Running the Convening

We specialize in effective agenda development, group facilitation, rapid-cycle feedback and event adaptation, and have experience with a range of different convening modalities and audiences. Everything we put into place is done through an equity lens, taking into account how different participants may experience various aspects of a convening differently. 

Determining Lessons Learned

The learnings do not end with the conclusion of the convening; we establish clear outcomes, how to apply them, and create post-convening interventions designed to leverage their values.