Feel the Room · Early 2027
Make it worth showing up for.
A practical half-day workshop for anyone who organises meetings, events or gatherings, whether or not “event” is in their job title.
Do you organise board meetings, policy briefings, workshops, general assemblies, team days or stakeholder meetings? Bring one real gathering you are working on and leave with practical improvements you can use immediately.
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.
Better attendance. More useful participation. Stronger results.
Recognise the situation?
You keep bringing people together. Nobody taught you how to design the experience.
Organising gatherings may be only one part of your job. You still have to persuade people to attend, keep the room engaged and make the time together count.
“Why would anyone come?”
The invitation has gone out, but registrations are slow. People need a clearer reason to give up their time and attend in person.
“Why has the room gone flat?”
Energy drops after lunch, the same people keep speaking and networking feels awkward. The programme is full, but participation is thin.
“Did we achieve anything?”
Everyone was busy and the meeting ran to time, yet it is hard to say what changed or whether the right voices were heard.
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?
Leave with a better plan for a real gathering
Start with the purpose and the people
Define what the gathering needs to achieve and what participants need before, during and after it.
Strengthen participation and energy
Find practical changes to the invitation, programme, interaction, breaks and connection that make the time together more useful.
Improve your own example
Use the participant-journey workbook to develop concrete improvements for a meeting or event you organise.
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, apply the tools to a real gathering and compare approaches with other organisers. You are also welcome without an upcoming event and can work with the workshop examples.
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 bring people together, even if you would never call yourself an event professional.
You might be a policy officer, communications manager, office manager, project manager, association professional, secretary, coordinator or team lead. Your gathering might be a board meeting, policy briefing, general assembly, workshop, team day or stakeholder event.
Event professionals are welcome too
You do not need formal event training to join. If you already work professionally in events, the workshop gives you a fresh, human-centred way to improve participant experience, engagement and energy.
If you are mainly looking for budgeting, procurement or technical production training, this workshop has a different focus.
Bring one real gathering
Improve it during the workshop.
Bring a meeting or event you are planning, have recently organised or want to improve. You will apply the ideas directly to it. You are also welcome without an upcoming event and can work with the workshop examples.
- Does the format support what you need to achieve?
- Why should people attend, and what do they need from the gathering?
- Where might participation or energy drop?
- Whose contribution are you missing?
- What small change would make the experience more useful?
Better design does not always mean adding more. Often, it means making a few deliberate changes to work you already have to deliver.
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 workbook 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 improve. 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. If you are planning a meeting or 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
Make the next one worth showing up for.
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 bring people together for.
Complete the short form to join the early-2027 waiting list. Tell us about the meetings, events or gatherings you organise and what you would most like to improve. 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.
