It started with a phone call.
We were talking about convenings, as we often do, and we started listing them. The list kept growing and growing (like a guest list that gets away from you). Somewhere in that conversation, we realized two things: we needed to sharpen what we actually mean by convening, and there are far more ways to come together than most of us ever reach for or even consider.
That conversation became A Convening Formats Guide: 28 ways people come together, defined through the Culture of Convening lens. Today, we’re sharing it with you.
First, a little honesty
In August, when we celebrated passing 100 subscribers, we told you some things were not ready yet. This guide was one of them.
We’ve also been quieter since then, and we want to name that. We’re learning to build Culture of Convening at a pace that matches our capacity. That is its own practice in what we write about: designing for the people doing the work, including us. Thank you for your patience and welcome energy. We think you’ll find it was worth the wait.
Why a guide
Since April, we’ve been writing toward a few big ideas. This guide brings them together in one place.
In our very first piece, What Is a Convening? (And What Isn’t One?), we named the two questions that define every convening: What is the intent? and Who is being centered? When both answers are clear and aligned, you have a convening.
In The Spoken and Unspoken Rules of Every Room, we wrote about the invisible agreements everyone navigates and no one names. The guide calls this the shadow contract.
In The Difference Between Being Invited and Belonging, we made the case that an invitation gets someone in the room, but belonging is what keeps them there. Belonging is architecture, not a feeling, and it requires intentionality in the budgeting and planning.
And in When the Format Is the Problem and There Are More Ways to Convene Than You Think, we argued that the format is the container, and the container shapes what is possible inside it.
Those four ideas make up the Culture of Convening lens.
The guide applies that lens to 28 formats, from the meeting and the retreat to the market, the concert, the funeral, and the protest. If you’ve been reading along, you’ll recognize threads from The Big Conference Is Broken, The Barber Shop, the Salon, and the Spaces We Don’t Call Convenings, and Convening Confessions from a Conference DJ.
Start with the free cheat sheet
The cheat sheet puts all 28 formats on a single page, each with a short definition. It’s free for everyone. There’s a dark version for your screen and a light version you can print and pin up at your desk or in your office.
Use it before you plan. Scan the list and ask yourself: Is the format I defaulted to actually the right container for what the room needs?
👉🏽 [Download the free cheat sheet]
https://www.cultureofconvening.com/cheat-sheet
Subscribe to get the full guide
The full guide goes deeper. For each of the 28 formats, you’ll find:
What it is, in plain language
The Culture of Convening lens: our perspective on what makes the format work, fail, or get misused
Real examples, so you can spot the format in your own life and work
The full guide is for subscribers, and subscribing is free right now. If you’re already subscribed, it’s waiting for you here: https://www.cultureofconvening.com/guide. If you're not, now is a great time to join the Culture of Convening Crew, our name for this growing community of people redefining how we come together.
👉🏽 [Subscribe to get the full guide]
Built to travel
We made this guide for individuals, organizations, businesses, and event planners working to design convenings that serve the people in the room. With holiday parties, galas, retreats, and year-end planning and budgeting on the horizon, share it with your team, your planning committee, or the friend hosting a gathering this season. Quote it, use it, and let us know how it shows up in your practice.
Next week, we’ll share a video about how this guide came to be, starting with that phone call.
We’d love your input: Which format surprised you? Which one are you planning right now? Tell us in the comments.
Redefining the tradition of coming together, where every identity, experience, and perspective belongs.
– Carmen and Gregory
P.S. This conversation is better with more people in the room. If the guide sparked something for you, forward this to a colleague, a fellow facilitator, or that friend who’s always the one holding the space. And if someone sent this to you, welcome. Subscribe so you can get the full guide and don’t miss what’s next.
Thank you for creating the beautiful guide! As I was perusing it, I wondered how a family reunion would be classified, or if it is a combo of convening types?