Our Gatherings
The Physical Meetings at Critical Junctures
Nothing beats catalyzing a network more than physically gathering them in one place. A gathering allows people to emotionally connect as well as practically get on the same page. Some very complicated or difficult work is best done in a concentrated fashion and so works best face-to-face. However, gathering large numbers of people is expensive and time consuming. There’s always a lot of logistics involved. So we keep our gatherings to a minimum, only when we really need them:
Beginning: We physically bring the network together to kick off the challenge and help initially define the problem and the ultimate vision of where we want to end up. We design a process that treats everyone as a participant – no division between speaker and passive audience. Everyone is pushed to contribute whether in plenary discussions, breakouts for working groups, or in side interviews.
Middle: A full challenge should have several gatherings interspersed with serious work online. After the kickoff and online brainstorming, a second gathering should focus on integration. Here a smaller group could immerse for several days and connect the dots between what’s been done and identify the gaps.
End: After more online work, towards the end the challenge, a third physical meeting is needed to make some hard choices about the best ideas to have emerged that could actually solve the problem. An endgame like this can get contentious, and will require compromise if not consensus. To do that, people need to look each other in the eyes.
Our Last Gathering
Our Last Gathering
The Clean Energy Kickoff
More than 200 Innovators Kick Off Next Agenda’s Clean Energy Challenge. For those who could not make it to the kickoff to Next Agenda’s Clean Energy Challenge, we thought you would appreciate a brief report out on what was a hugely successful day. More than 200 experts and innovators from diverse fields gathered in San Francisco’s Presidio in late September for the day-long working meeting. It was a terrific turnout: roughly half those invited showed up to help start the ambitious but necessary effort to figure out how America could get all its electricity from clean energy as quickly as possible.
What's Next
What's Next
From Next Agenda
What you see on this website is just the opening stage of our six-month Clean Energy Challenge, and the beginning of Next Agenda’s long-term plan to help take on a range of 21st Century challenges and do our part to help transform America and the world.
