How To Ensure All Voices Are Heard At Your Next Big Event

While it’s a wonderful thing to have senior leaders create a vision for their organization, they still have to “sell” that vision to their teams, and their teams to theirs, and so on.  The thing is, it’s difficult to be passionate about a vision you didn’t take part in creating. 

What if everyone in your organization had an opportunity to have their voices heard and included your company’s vision?  By having a personal stake in it, wouldn’t they be far more likely to do their part to achieve it? GEO Funders thought so. That’s why they gave all 800 attendees at their annual conference an opportunity to add their aspirations for GEO’s future to a large graphic wall. The timeline of their first 20 years was drawn in advance, providing a foundation and springboard for ideas for the future.  Then the question, “What are your aspirations for the next 20 years” was posted nearby for members to write their ideas on post-its.  

I synthesized those ideas along with themes from listening to the keynote speakers, and drew out the collective vision.  Attendees had the opportunity at any point throughout the 3-day conference to add to or build on the emerging vision.  Seeing their vision emerge in real-time created excitement, buy-in, and solidified their passion for the future they want to create together.

GEO Funders will use this graphic to share their collective vision with all of their members and stakeholders.  And what a great way to promote their next conference!

The finished wall is eight feet tall by sixteen feet wide.