Feel the Room · Early 2027
Spot the friction before your participants feel it.
A practical half-day workshop for professionals who organise meetings and events, whether or not it is their main role.
Bring an event you are planning and use the morning to work on it. Examine how the format supports your purpose, where participants can contribute and what your team needs to deliver it well.
The next Brussels round is planned for early 2027. Join the priority list to hear the date first and help us choose the best timing.
Early 2027 · 09:00–13:00
Central Brussels · Expected fee €395 + VAT
10–15 people
Free to join. No commitment to book.
One morning to improve work you already have to deliver.
Recognise the situation?
Your event can be perfectly organised and still not work for the people in the room.
You have booked the speakers and finalised the programme. But participants may still struggle to find their way around, follow the discussion or meet the people they came to see.
“When can I contribute?”
You have invited the right stakeholders, but the format gives them little opportunity to contribute. The people you most want to hear from stay quiet.
“Why am I here?”
Sessions cover the same ground, or there is little chance to join the discussion. At the break, people are left wondering how to start a conversation.
“Can someone fix this?”
The programme leaves no time for people to move between sessions. Your team spends the day recovering lost time and cutting the discussion short.
Two views of the same event
You plan the event. Your participants live through it.
Organisers tend to start with what needs arranging. Participants see a sequence of moments they have to navigate. Feel the Room helps you consider both.
Organiser view
What do we need to deliver?
- Programme
- Speakers
- Venue
- AV
- Catering
- Invitations
- Logistics & suppliers
Participant view
What will I experience?
- Invitation & registration
- Pre-event communication
- Finding the venue
- Arrival & welcome
- Knowing what to do
- Participation
- Transitions & breaks
- Connection
- Departure & follow-up
Look at the event from the first invitation to the final follow-up. You will learn to map that experience, known as the participant journey, and use it to make planning decisions.
What changes by 13:00?
What you will be able to do after the workshop
See the whole experience
Map what happens before, during and after an event. Notice where people could feel confused, excluded, rushed or disconnected.
Find changes that matter
Identify changes to the welcome, the programme or the information you send out that would make the event easier to follow and take part in.
Take the method with you
Use the participant-journey toolkit to review future events and spot problems that could put your team under unnecessary pressure.
A focus on participant experience
The focus is the experience of the people in the room, rather than budgets, venue sourcing or supplier checklists.
How the morning works
You will work through the method and examples, then practise using the tools in a realistic event simulation. There will be time to ask questions and compare experiences with other organisers.
An example of the approach
From a full programme to a useful discussion
Illustrative example, not a client case study or a reported result.
An association wants members’ views on a policy proposal. The draft programme gives most of the time to presentations, with questions at the end.
Look at the participant’s experience
A member arrives ready to contribute but spends most of the session listening. By the time questions open, there is little room to explain a concern.
Identify the mismatch
The event is meant to gather views, but the format gives priority to presenting information. A full room would not, on its own, tell you whether members had been heard.
Test a different design
Send background information in advance, shorten the presentation and give small groups a clear question. Decide how their contributions will be captured and followed up.
Apply the same questions to your own event. What do participants need to do? What might get in their way? What could you change, and how would you check whether it helped?
Who it is for
You organise events where people’s experience matters.
You might work in communications, an association, policy, programme management, stakeholder engagement, diplomacy or event delivery. Events may be your whole job, or just one part of it.
You do not need formal event training
You already know your audience and the events you organise. The workshop builds on that knowledge. Experienced organisers can also use the morning to take a fresh look at familiar events.
If you are mainly looking for budgeting, procurement or technical production training, this workshop has a different focus.
Bring your next event
Work on something you already have to deliver.
If you are planning an event, bring it along and apply the tools to it. You are also welcome without an upcoming event. We will help you consider questions such as:
- Does the format support the purpose of the event?
- Where does the programme lose energy?
- Whose contribution are we missing, and how could we invite it?
- What would make communication or participation easier?
- Where are we creating avoidable pressure for the team?
Better design does not always mean adding more. Often, it means spotting a problem early enough to make a small change.
Practical details
One morning in Brussels.
- Date
- Early 2027. The exact date will be chosen after we review waiting-list preferences.
- Time
- 09:00–13:00
- Location
- Central Brussels. The venue will be confirmed before booking opens.
- Language
- English
- Group
- 10–15 people; maximum 15.
- Included
- Snacks, participant-journey toolkit and certificate of attendance. Lunch is not included.
€395 + VAT
expected fee per person
Thinking of bringing a colleague?
Tell us in the form. We expect to retain the 10% discount for the second participant from the same organisation.
Free to join. We will confirm the date, venue and final fee before inviting you to book.
Planning ahead?
Join the list now and tell us what you would like to work on. When booking opens, you will have the full details to discuss internally before deciding.
Your facilitators
Meet Johanna and Chiara
Johanna Roodt
EVENT DESIGN · FACILITATION · WELLBEING
Johanna is a facilitator, trainer and consultant specialising in human-centred event design, participant experience and event mental wellbeing. She works with associations, event professionals and organisations on participant experience and the wellbeing of the teams delivering events.
Chiara Ceccarelli
BRUSSELS EVENTS · STAKEHOLDERS · DELIVERY
Chiara brings experience of events in Brussels and the EU environment. Her work focuses on event formats, stakeholder experience and the practical demands of delivery.
“People remember how an event made them feel. Organisers remember whether it nearly broke them.”
Before you join the list
A few practical questions
What language is the workshop in?
The workshop is in English.
Do I need an upcoming event?
No. You are welcome without an event in the diary. You can practise with the workshop examples and simulation. If you are planning an event, bring it along and apply the tools to it.
Where will it take place?
In central Brussels. We will confirm the venue and exact date before booking opens.
What happens after I join?
We will review timing preferences and contact the waiting list first when the early-2027 date is confirmed. You can then decide whether to book. Joining is free and does not guarantee or reserve a place.
Feel the Room · Early 2027
Give your next event a closer look.
Half-day workshop · Central Brussels · 10–15 people
JOIN THE PRIORITY LISTBe first to hear when the date opens, with no obligation to book. You can also ask Johanna and Chiara a question.
JOIN THE FEEL THE ROOM PRIORITY LIST
Tell us what you want from the next round.
Complete the short form to join the early-2027 waiting list. We will contact you first when the date and venue are confirmed. Joining is free and does not commit you to booking.
We use your details to plan the next round and contact you about Feel the Room. Read our privacy information.
