Fellowships and Convenings/

Convening Design at The Rockefeller Foundation

Convenings have enormous potential to drive impact. For decades, global leaders have come together at The Rockefeller Foundation’s convening spaces — including the renowned Bellagio Center — using convening as a tool to map the landscape of emerging fields, forge new alliances, discover breakthrough pathways to impact, and accelerate collective action in addressing the world’s toughest challenges.

Many convenings never achieve their full potential. We’ve all attended a gathering where participants were distracted or disengaged. Where we didn’t connect meaningfully with the content. Where there was a missing crackle of energy between the participants. Where the conversation in the room is inspiring, and nothing happens afterwards.

Intentional design can bridge that gap. Design enables a convening to achieve its full potential in the moment. More importantly, it creates the greatest chance of achieving a long tail of impact afterwards.

panelists speak at the Africa Xchange conference during a session on lessons from the private sector.

Through our experience, we’ve learned a great deal about designing strategic convenings that foster authentic interaction and impact. Read more about our approach and philosophy.

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How Design Generates Better Results

Strategic design realizes the full potential of gathering a particular group of people, in a particular moment.

  1. Design builds clarity and confidence on “what comes next” by defining the arc of the work, how each milestone uniquely moves it forward, and what role stakeholders will play.
  2. Design transforms interested parties into committed coalitions by creating a memorable shared experience that forges trust and sustains the work.
  3. Design advances the work further than what is otherwise possible by eliminating ambiguity and providing a structured framework for achieving success during and after the convening.
  4. Design enables bridging across differences by encouraging and supporting creative tension.
  5. Design keeps participants present and energized by centering real human learning and communication styles.
  6. Design provides an objective sounding board for strengthening thinking on the best use of a convening to achieve a strategic goal.
  7. Design creates alignment among critical stakeholders by surfacing and resolving divergent perspectives among the planning team.
  8. Design builds capacity and confidence to adapt in the room by sharpening the “north star” and providing tools to constructively change course.

What Conveners Are Saying

Design shapes the power of a sharp purpose, fosters shared ownership through co-creation, balances structure with spaciousness, and builds the confidence to pivot when it matters most.

  • Your purpose statement just eliminates the fluff and the ambiguity of what you’re trying to do. If you can’t say it in one sentence, then you’re not going to be effective.
    Andrew Sweet
    The Rockefeller Foundation
  • The approach emphasized engagement through interactive formats, which encouraged deeper interaction among participants and made full use of the venue's setting… This co-creation approach not only enhanced the relevance of discussions but also fostered a sense of shared ownership. As a result, conversations were more targeted and impactful.
    Tristan Ace
    AVPN
  • The convening design approach was immensely helpful in building the overall structure, providing ideas for interactive sessions, and thinking through scenarios to mitigate common challenges. It helped us fight the urge to 'over schedule' our daily agenda and provided a framework to ensure we received the feedback we needed to meet our objectives.
    Keri Browder
    Prime Coalition

Convening Design Resources

  • Convening Guide: A comprehensive introduction to the practice of convening design and convening production for planning and running a seamless gathering. 
  • Convening Design Blueprint: A tool for refining your thinking on convening purpose and participant experience, to be used as an input to your agenda.
  • Purpose Sharpening Worksheet: A tool for crafting a clear, sharp purpose statement for an impactful convening.
  • Top Tactics: A curated set of proven tactics to engage participants and achieve your convening goals, with links to individual tactics worksheets that provide a step-by-step guide for implementing each top tactic, along with a printable participant worksheet as relevant.
  • How to Choose a Facilitator: A guide for helping you select the right facilitation model for your convening.
  • Convening Momentum Builders Guide: A set of tools for sustaining momentum and impact after your convening.
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