The Sensemakers Club is a community-powered education space where curious people come to grow without performing or pretending to have it all figured out.
Are you a sensemaker?
A sensemaker is someone who helps people understand complex, messy, or ambiguous situations and turn that understanding into better decisions and action.
It’s not a job title.
It’s a role someone plays when clarity is needed. Some people make sense for a season, and some of us are professionals and hobbyists.
You might be a sensemaker if you...
- Translate between teams
- Fix structural issues no one else sees
- Clock patterns others don’t
- Care deeply about clarity and inclusion
- Question what’s next
- Maintain systems that prevent chaos
- Document what others skip
This week at the club
Our discussion groups meet on video live every weekday, below is this week’s schedule. See full calendar.
2 PM ET AI Field Notes
Hosted by Dan Cooney
Bring real AI experiments and questions to compare notes, spot patterns, and learn together as the technology evolves.
2 PM ET Making Sense of Change
Hosted by Laura Chance & Skipper Chong Warson
Explore how change works across scales, contexts, and goals so we can better understand, navigate, and shape it.
2 PM ET Ethics Open Mic
Hosted by Brenda Ray & Vladimira Girginova
A confidential, free-flowing space where sensemakers bring real ethical dilemmas to think through together with a supportive peer hive-mind.
2 PM ET Making Sense of Other Humans
Hosted by Erin Rodat-Savla & Karen Brothers
Think together about why working with people can feel so exhausting and how to better read dynamics, navigate conflict, and build healthier collaboration in teams and communities.
3 PM ET Shitty Maps (Member’s Only Workshop)
Taught by Joe Elmendorf
Learn to share rough maps of your thinking to invite better input and collaboration before the work is finished.
1 PM ET Sensemakers Salon Planning
Hosted by Abby Covert
A meeting for members who want to volunteer to help plan and produce the free, public Sensemaker Salon event happening May 15.
2 PM ET Making Sense of Complexity & Chaos
Hosted by Matt Arnold
Help gather techniques on how people make sense of complex situations by gathering, interpreting, and acting on knowledge together in both structured and uncertain environments.
What’s going on?
March 16, 2026
Every Monday our Chief Sensemaker, Abby Covert, sends out a recap of last week’s sessions. Below are some highlights from her most recent email to members:
Abby Covert
Chief Sensemaker
Last week was a whirlwind of fun. We had a super lively crowd in the Analog Leap experimenting with techniques in attentional looking. Members seem to really be enjoying this series led by Uday Gajendar, this month a member even stepped up to lead an experimental ice breaker.
Another highlight of last week was our Design Jam, the results of which are the new website you are reading this on. Special shout-out to Holly Schroeder, our amazing user researcher, who has helped make these sessions extra valuable/muppet-filled.
Speaking of getting involved, did you know our upcoming Sensemakers Salon is entirely member-organized? On Friday March 20th at 1 PM I am running a session for any members who want to volunteer to help organize this year’s salon.
We also have the second of Joe Elmendorf’s Shitty Maps workshop on Thursday March 19 at 3 PM. Last week we had the finale of Rebecca Hathaway’s 3-part series Designing Your Sensemaker Stats. Both are excellent examples of Community-Powered Education in action.
It’s a good thing we got a new website, because dang team we are doing some awesome stuff and now we can show it off.
Themes from last week:
- OMG we are getting a new website, everybody stay calm.
- The stories we carry about competence, security, and being seen
- Presence, attention, and slowing down to actually see
- The case for lowering the bar: in drawing, mapping, and facilitation
SPECIAL EVENT
May 15, 2026
12 to 3 PM ET
Sensemakers Salon
The Sensemakers Salon is a FREE half-day of soulful activities, mutual aid workshops & discussions that matter to our members, but open to the public.