EXPERIENCE DESIGN FOR GATHERINGS
who actually remembers a panel?
who actually remembers a panel?
︎︎︎
too many events could have been an email. experience design is the work of making sure yours couldn't.
i start from the people in the room, what they see walking in, what they feel by hour three, what stays with them a year later, and build backwards from there: the arc, the sequence, the small things that decide whether eighty strangers become a group or only share a space.
people remember how a gathering felt long after they've forgotten what was said there. that feeling mostly doesn't happen by accident. it's designed. the feeling here is a lever, not the goal. it does its work later, in what people decide and follow through on.
︎︎︎HOW?
a gathering starts way before anyone arrives, usually with the first message about it. i treat the communications as part of the design.
from there, it's the emotional and substantive architecture, and the small decisions that carry more than most people think. at one summit i ghost-handwrote eighty welcome notes on behalf of the c-suite, one waiting in each person's room on arrival. at another, i had a choir director step in midway through the programme, because a group that makes sound together stops performing and starts showing up.
gatherings that work strike a balance between choice for the people in the room and a firm hand orchestrating the ride. i begin with what you're intending to achieve, and compose the experience that gets you there. a lot of this craft is engineering serendipity. we can't script the conversations people will have, but we can design the conditions carefully enough that the best unplanned moments find their ways in.
︎︎︎WHO?
i've designed and directed many fellowships end to end, shaping the cohort, building the arc across months, curating the programming, and producing the communications.
the experiences i've built span foundation grantees, corporate leadership teams, universities, investigative journalists, and social enterprises. i've been responsible for multi-day gatherings from the first concept down to the evaluation.
alongside the events themselves, much of my work has focused on the longer task of network building and community weaving.
i design in english, german and spanish.
︎︎︎OFFERING
gatherings & experiences
dinners, conferences, summits, retreats and offsites reshaped so they're worth the time, worth the travel, worth the room. designed to be run by you, or facilitated by me.
dinners, conferences, summits, retreats and offsites reshaped so they're worth the time, worth the travel, worth the room. designed to be run by you, or facilitated by me.
fellowships
designing and directing business- or mission-driven fellowship programs end to end: the selection, the programming, the communications.
network building & community weaving
the connective work that keeps a group together after the event ends. i design with a community, not for it, on the principle of "nothing about them without them," meeting people where they are rather than where i'd like them to be, so a cohort becomes a community and stays one.
full production
the whole thing taken off your hands. concept, venue scouting, programming, scripting, logistics, including the details most organizers don't spend time on.
boring is a design choice, and so is the alternative.
︎︎︎WORKING TOGETHER
“ALLOWS PEOPLE TO FULLY LEAN IN AND SHOW UP”
“We relied on the expertise and toolbox of Johannes to build an inclusive four-day intergenerational conference, which he also helped execute as a facilitator on stage. Working with Johannes came with a plethora of insights around interpersonal dynamics and activities design. If you need great experience design or facilitation, we wholeheartedly recommend his services. He is a warm person and a true professional, and I am grateful that I have had a chance to work with him.”
Elmira TarivierdiievaDirector of Leadership Programs,
Hillel Deutschland
“OUR GO-TO COMMUNITY BUILDER.”
“Johannes is our go-to community-builder. He was also the architect and facilitator of our first international community summit, guiding our team and overseeing an event agency to produce a remarkably productive and touching experience for +80 people.”
Luisa Maria SchweizerProgram Director,
Alfred Landecker Foundation