• Co-creating + Collaboration

    We believe the ultimate potential and power of any convening lie in the collective untapped knowledge and experience of the participants, and we strive to tap that vast store by maximizing dialog, creativity and idea exchange.

  • Do you self-identify as a Capacity Builder? Are you interested in connecting at a peer level with others who do related work? Capacity Builders Convergences are envisioned as a collaborative and supportive environment to connect the broad range of practitioners who enable other organizations to strengthen strategies, principles, practices and sustainability. We aim to explore and promote open principles and collaborative approaches around methodologies and practices that can be applied to our work.

  • Strategic Resourcing and Policy for Open Hardware

    Strategic Resourcing and Policy for Open Hardware

    Aspiration partnered with the Gathering for Open Science Hardware (GOSH) community and the Open Source Hardware Association to organize three participatory online workshops that explored open hardware strategies with a diverse range of funding institutions. These interactive working sessions connected open hardware (OH) and open research funders with OH and Open Science Hardware (OScH) practitioners to develop guidance on strategic and sustainable investments in the field. The meetings followed a policy working session Aspiration co-designed and facilitated on Supporting International Expansion for Open Hardware.

Aspiration Events

Aspiration is a global leader in the design and delivery of innovative gatherings for nonprofit and non-governmental audiences.

Our event philosophy and facilitation focus on maximizing collaboration and peer sharing, while making sparing use of one-to-many and several-to-many session formats such as presentations and panels. We believe the ultimate potential and power of any convening lie in the collective untapped knowledge and experience of the participants, and we strive to tap that vast store by maximizing dialog, creativity and idea exchange.

We build agendas around participant-driven dialog and collaboration that connect all the stakeholders in strategy, design and development processes, and model our events to reflect the diverse and network-oriented nature of the communities we convene.  Our approach prioritizes concrete and tangible outcomes that engender rich post-event collaboration and meaningful impact.

Please see our white paper on our event philosophy and methodology. We maintain a wiki documenting our facilitation model and welcome questions, contributions and other feedback.

Upcoming & Recent Events

We are grateful that our calendar stays fairly full. Bookmark this page, where you can find out what's on the horizon, and be sure to signup for our emails to stay up to date!

Upcoming Event
November 19-21, 2025 // Preservation Park, Oakland California USA
Recent Event
November 20-22, 2024 // Preservation Park, Oakland California USA
Our Sharing Model

Aspiration is an open knowledge organization and all our event methodologies and resources are published under open licenses.  We encourage re-use, invite contributions, and are always happy to discuss general practices and specific questions.

Read our paper on Creating Participatory Events >

"It was my first Dev Summit, so I had no idea what to expect, but it was so worth it and I'm extremely happy I came."

Participant, Dev Summit
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