The Sensemakers Salon
May 15th 2026
12 to 3 PM ET
The Sensemakers Salon is a half day of soulful activities, mutual aid workshops & discussions that matter to our members.
During this member-led gathering our members share useful skills and knowledge through short-formed, fast-paced, casual sessions.
What happens at the Salon
The Sensemakers Salon is built around short, participatory sessions led by members of the Sensemakers community.
Instead of long presentations, the event features a series of compact learning experiences designed to spark ideas and conversation.
During the Salon you can expect:
- Short workshops led by community members
- Skill-sharing sessions and practical demonstrations
- Interactive discussions and experiments
- Opportunities to learn something new in a low-pressure environment
Sessions move quickly and cover a wide range of topics — from sensemaking practices and facilitation techniques to creative tools, professional insights, and personal experiments.
Why we host the Salon
The Sensemakers Club is built on a simple belief:
Everyone has something worth teaching.
The Sensemakers Salon creates space for members to step forward and share their knowledge, curiosity, and experiments with the wider community. It is a core pillar of our effort to build Community-Powered Education.
It’s also a place where people can try out ideas, practice teaching, and learn from peers in a supportive environment.
Many of our community’s most interesting conversations and collaborations begin at the Salon.
Who attends the Salon?
The Sensemakers Salon is open to anyone who enjoys learning from thoughtful peers.
Attendees often include:
- Information architects
- Designers and researchers
- Content and knowledge strategists
- Data and governance practitioners
- Facilitators and educators
- Curious people who enjoy learning new ways to think and work
You don’t need to be an expert to attend — you only need to be curious.
Want to lead a session next year?
One of the special things about the Salon is that the event is 100% planned by and led by members of the community. If you have an idea, tool, practice, or experiment you’d like to share, the Salon is a great place to try it out.
Sessions are short, informal, and designed to spark conversation rather than deliver polished presentations.
2026 Salon Agenda
Friday May 15 2026
12 to 3 PM Eastern
Every spring our members submit their ideas for salon sessions. We have a volunteer curation team that decides what ends up in the Salon. We also have a volunteer team who plans, markets and runs the show.
This year's event is Choose Your Own Adventure -- featuring 4 30-minute sessions in which each attendee will pick from 2 potential choices of host and topic.
SESSION 1
12:10 - 12:40 PM Eastern
Choose Between:
Chad Reick
Find Your BIG Rocks
Before you can align your life, you have to know what truly anchors it. In this reflective workshop, you’ll explore what matters most and learn to spot the signs when you’re living your values and when you’ve drifted off course. Expect honest conversations, practical tools, and maybe a few lightbulb moments about what balance really looks like.
Matt Arnold
When Does “Good Enough” Become Good Enough?
How do high-performing teams know when to stop perfecting and start acting? This working session uses a framework called the Group Bullseye to explore the invisible infrastructure that keeps teams coherent — and to ask together when friction is a sign something's breaking, and when it means something's actually working.
SESSION 2
12:50 - 1:20 PM Eastern
Choose Between:
Samantha Sanford
An Exercise in Un-sensemaking
Forget structure. Forget logic. In this creative, anything-goes session, you’ll get your thoughts out of your head and onto the page. No editing, no overthinking. Inspired by The Artist’s Way, this free flow writing practice helps untangle mental knots, uncover hidden connections, and leave you feeling clearer… or at least a little lighter.
Bill Dorman
Linguistic Empathy
Words carry different meanings across roles, disciplines, and everyday lives. This session helps you develop linguistic empathy—making sense of contextual language. Strengthen cross-functional understanding and improve how you communicate across boundaries.
SESSION 3
1:30 - 2:00 PM Eastern
Choose Between:
Sammy Voelkel
The Assumption Lab: How We Fill in the Gaps
This interactive session uncovers how quickly people make assumptions and how differently the same cues can be interpreted. Through playful experiments and group reflection, you’ll gain awareness of cognitive bias, learn to navigate ambiguity, and leave with tools for clearer, more empathetic communication.
Rebecca Hathaway
Your Sensemaker Character Sheet
Channel your inner game designer and craft a “character sheet” for yourself. Using the tools of storytelling and play, you’ll map your skills, quirks, and motivations like you’re sketching a character in a world you’ve built. The result? A clearer sense of how you show up, what connects your roles, and how to own your unique sensemaking style.
SESSION 4
2:10 - 2:40 PM Eastern
Choose Between:
Abby Covert
Sensemaking The Game
What if learning to navigate power dynamics and complex systems felt more like play? In this fast-paced, dice-based experiment, you’ll step into stakeholder strategy as a game of thoughtful moves and trade-offs. You’ll surface assumptions, test approaches, and discover how structured play can sharpen real-world decision-making.
Joe Elmendorf
Shitty Maps: The Trojan Horse for Real-Time Sensemaking
What if your conversations could build their own structure as they unfold? This session introduces “shitty maps,” a low-friction way to turn abstract discussion into something you can see, question, and refine together. Using quick, imperfect visuals, you’ll practice making sense of ideas in real time — helping teams move from talking past each other to actually thinking together.
Join the Conversation
The Sensemakers Salon is free to attend and open to anyone curious about sensemaking and community learning.
May 15th 2026
12 to 3 PM ET
Come share ideas, explore new tools, and connect with thoughtful practitioners.
Reserve your spot and join the Salon.
