4.1. Planning together

A convening is the result of teamwork that engages not only the hosting programme/team but also most of the Operations and Organisational development teams: People, Systems and Operations, Finance, Tech, MEL, as well as NetDev, Comms and Resource Mobilisation (ResMob).

With this in mind it is critical to have clear processes, workflows and procedures that can accompany and facilitate the realisation of collective efforts.

The manual intends to apply an organic approach to various elements that make up a successful convening, and making visible the interdependencies that exist between the various tasks that influence the timeline. This is critical to ensure that the most discriminated participants (see visa application) have enough time to be supported for travel and can participate meaningfully, and that all contracted services as well resource persons have the adequate administrative and content information.

4.1.1. Convening implementation

This manual will address the implementation cycle of an in-person convening in detail.

For online and hybrid convenings please review particularly the relevant sections from APC guidelines on planning and designing online events as well as APC hybrid events guide 101.

Developing a programme and a schedule

For APC-led or co-led convenings, the point of contact is responsible for the concept note addressing the purpose of the convening and its key elements. They select the external facilitators or other resource persons supported by the Ops manager on issues concerning subcontracts and procurements.

They will introduce the Ops core team or APC Ops programme staff to consultants as well as partners and participants, share the registration survey link to all participants or inform the Ops core team via logistics[@]apc[.]org or the Ops programme staff of the need to reach out to facilitators, other invitees, local partners and so on.

It is important to ensure continuous communication between the person or team focusing on developing the convening programme and the schedule and the operations staff responsible for all logistics and other administrative tasks. This will ensure timely response and the ability to verify the correspondence between what is desired and what is available and possible within the time-frame and the allocated resources.

For APC-wide convenings, the point of contact leads the development of the APC overall strategy and session applications.

To ensure smooth and continuous communication between the point of contact and the operations staff responsible for all logistics and other administrative tasks, it is advised that the point of contact schedule and hold at least three coordination meetings: