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Prepared for CUCollaborate, attn. Ben Hering
A proposal to design and facilitate CUCollaborate's CEO gathering in Washington, DC on February 27, 2027.
Year two decides whether the CEO gathering becomes a fixture. Your CEOs can sit through AI panels and vendor demos at any conference. They cannot get first-hand answers from the peers next to them anywhere else: what their counterparts have tried, what worked, what failed, and who to call on Monday. Build the half day around that.
I see three ways to run the room. I recommend the third; the first two stand on their own.
Track A
The Knowledge Hunt
My engine
I adapted this method from frog's Collective Action Toolkit and have run it with credit union boards and leadership teams. It's simple, and it works.
Round one: every CEO writes an emerging-tech problem they haven't cracked, posts it to the wall, and walks the gallery. The relief is immediate; nobody is stuck alone.
Round two: anyone who has solved a problem on the wall tapes their fix on top, with their name and contact. The wall becomes a live map of the shared problems, the fixes people have run, and who to call.
The thinking comes from the room instead of a stage. CEOs leave with named peers and a solution or two worth trying.
Track B
The Solutions Showcase
Your idea, built out
You floated credit unions pitching their solutions to each other, judged, with a prize. The instinct is right: stakes and concrete solutions beat abstract discussion. A straight contest, though, turns peers into competitors, rewards polish over substance, and leaves everyone not pitching as a spectator.
So I'd run it as a showcase. A curated few present solutions they've deployed and the results they got, and the room mines each one for what transfers to their own shop. Recognition goes to standouts; nobody leaves empty-handed.
Track C
Recommended
Hunt, then Showcase
The two combined
Run the Knowledge Hunt first to surface the problems and show who has solved them, then showcase a few of those solutions. The presenters respond to problems the room just named.
You asked how a virtual version would work. I'd build a FigJam board for this exchange and run it live over Zoom: the same surface-the-problems, share-the-solutions structure, adapted for video instead of a flat webinar.
It runs once before DC; we pick the timing together. It warms up the group so February isn't a room of strangers, collects the problems early so the in-person day starts deep, and gives you a reason to stay in touch with the invite list.
We align on the outcome and the format. I design the session end to end: the prompts, the room setup, the timing, the facilitation script, all tuned to your CEOs and the emerging-tech theme. If we run the Virtual Exchange, it happens here.
I facilitate and carry your brand. Your team hosts and stays with your clients; I keep the conversation candid, keep it moving, and get the value onto the wall and into people's phones.
You get a clean capture of everything that surfaced, ready for your team to use: the solutions, the connections, and the problems nobody in the room has solved yet. You already have the analysts to take it further; I hand it over usable.
Pricing is à la carte. Pick what fits.
| Item | What it includes | Investment |
|---|---|---|
| On-site Facilitated Exchange | Full session design, half-day facilitation in DC, and a post-event readout. Format is your pick: Knowledge Hunt, Solutions Showcase, or the recommended hybrid. | $15,000 + travel |
| Virtual Exchange (add-on) | A FigJam board designed for this exchange, and a facilitated live session over Zoom before the event. | $6,000 add-on $7,500 standalone |
Book both together for $19,500 total, plus travel.
Travel to DC (flight, lodging, meals) is billed separately at cost.
Terms: 50% on signing, 50% on delivery.
You know my work, so I'll skip the résumé. A room of senior people trading real problems is the work I love. I'd be glad to run it for your CEOs.
Brent Dixon