single-session work for boards and conferences
Speaking & Workshops
Some governance challenges call for months of sustained work. But a single session can clarify roles or help shift a board's perspective.
Keynotes and half-day workshops for nonprofit executive directors and board members
Speaking & Conference Workshops
Conference attendees sit through a lot of sessions. The ones they remember are the ones that named a problem out loud, gave them a frame for thinking about it, and sent them home with a working idea they can bring to their board on Monday morning.
That’s our bar for every speaking engagement, whether keynote or half-day conference workshop. Our sessions bring our Assembled or Built?™ framework and the 3 Ws + ACE Qualities™ to conferences, nonprofit associations, and professional convenings serving executive directors, board members, and the staff who support them.
Common keynote and workshop titles include “Assembled or Built?: Building the Board Your Mission Needs” and “The 3 Ws + ACE Qualities: A Practical Frame for Board Composition,” plus custom sessions on the chair/ED partnership and other governance topics.
Who This Is For
- Conference planners building a track for nonprofit executive directors and board leadership
- Nonprofit associations putting together annual or regional convenings, including pre-conference workshops or breakout sessions
- Professional convenings looking for a keynote on board governance, board development, or the chair/ED partnership
- Foundations or capacity-building organizations hosting their grantee networks
Investment
Two formats available, sized to fit how conference schedules vary. The 45 to 75-minute format works as a keynote anchoring a conference track or as a single-topic breakout session. A half-day workshop works as a deeper pre-conference session. Invoiced at booking.
- Keynote or Single-Topic Breakout Session: 45 to 75 minutes - $1,500
- Half-day workshop: 3 hours - $3,500
Travel and expenses billed separately.
questions?
Looking for a specific governance topic for your event?
Who This Is For
- A board that has named a specific governance issue and wants focused work on it
- A board chair or executive director who wants outside facilitation for a topic the board needs to tackle
- A new board cohort that wants grounding in board member responsibilities before serving
- A board entering a strategic planning year and wanting alignment on a specific governance question first
Who This Isn't For
- Boards that need a full development cycle across months. Board Foundations or The Board Build™ are sized for that.
- Boards in active conflict that need mediation. A workshop assumes the board can engage productively together; mediation is a different kind of intervention.
- Boards looking for a one-time motivational session. A workshop produces working agreements that the board has to follow through on.
Investment
$1,000 to $2,500. Invoiced at booking.
- Board meeting session: 60 minutes - $1,000
- Focused workshop: 90 minutes - $1,500
- Half-day workshop: 3 hours - $2,500
Travel and expenses billed separately.
Topic-driven nonprofit board training for the issue your board has already named
Board Workshops
Some boards know exactly where they’re stuck on a specific governance issue. A workshop is the right fit when the board has named the topic and needs someone to lead them through it.
We design every workshop for individual board work, around the issue the board brings us. Common topics include fundraising culture, role clarity, recruitment, board member responsibilities, and governance fundamentals. We work with the board and ED together, so they all leave the room with agreements they helped shape.
Workshops are sized to fit how boards actually meet. A 60-minute session can slot inside a regular board meeting. A 90-minute session works as a standalone evening or alongside a meeting that’s already on the calendar. A half-day handles more substantive issues and gives the board real time to work through what surfaces.
We sometimes incorporate LEGO® Serious Play® methods when they complement the dialogue happening in the room. The methodology can surface dynamics that traditional discussion formats miss. Not every workshop uses it; the call depends on the group, the issue, and what would actually serve the room.
What's Next
What Comes After A Workshop
Some boards come for a workshop, get what they came for, and call it done. Some discover the workshop surfaced something bigger and step into a Board Foundations engagement, or The Board Build for a full development cycle. Some return next year for an Annual Board Retreat, to reflect back on the year and plan the next; it’s a natural single-day touchpoint after a workshop has surfaced something worth coming back to.