Find Common Ground and Innovate Together
IOTC helps large, multi-stakeholder groups discover agreement and unite to accomplish shared goals—Every person can participate, fully and meaningfully—No one needs to compromise their views, yet all can feel connected to each other and to common purpose—At work or in community, people can look forward to meetings with enthusiasm!
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom expresses excitement to IOTC staff while mayors from 70 world cities meet to frame the United Nations Urban Environmental Accords.
Make Effective Collaboration Real in Your World
IOTC's fully-participatory, self-managing large-group processes help groups of all kinds—government entities, communities, businesses, NGOs and others—achieve goals effectively, while building broad buy-in among even the most diverse stakeholders.
IOTC can help you bring dozens, hundreds or even thousands of diverse people together to:
- build a community
- form a coalition
- generate and implement a shared vision, strategy or plan
- design a product
- shape a policy
- deepen a conversation
- build a relationship network
- hold a productive and inspiring conference
When every person participates, energy, unity and productivity soar.
IOTC works around the world—in many cultures, at levels from local to international, and in all areas of activity and industry—to make the most of what every individual, organization and community has to offer.
Look below and throughout this site to find out which IOTC programs and service offerings best fit your goals.
On one sunny afternoon, hundreds of neighbors share visions of the community of their dreams.
IOTC Programs and Service Offerings
Neighborhood Assemblies Networks
IOTC's vision for participatory democracy is about how "we the people" can join together in neighborhoods, cities, regions and nations to create the world we dream of. IOTC envisions a world where citizens everywhere regularly assemble in their neighborhood communities to develop shared vision and action in service to the local and the wider world. We foresee the day when people everywhere recognize the neighborhood community as a basic unit of democracy, creating a stronger foundation for representative government and bringing everyone the dignity, meaning and sense of belonging that come from contributing directly to a shared vision for local and world community.
Creating beautiful neighborhood public squares and centers that provide a shared place for informal and formal gathering, and a focus for the public life, arts and traditions of the community. IOTC process joins the physical-design aspects of place-making with cohesive community building.
Government and Public Engagement
We assist government agencies in working with community, non-profit and business sectors to develop satisfying, broadly-supported public initiatives. We also work internally with agencies to create greater alignment and more effective collaboration.
Organization Development and Strategic Planning
IOTC helps your diverse internal and external stakeholder groups engage with one another to build the shared strategic vision, coordinated implementation plans and individual commitments necessary for effective organizational action and sustained follow-through.
Participatory Conferences
Why settle for talking heads alone? In addition to conveying information, your large meeting or conference can build collaborative relationships among attendees and produce exciting action outcomes. Conferences are much easier to plan, more exciting for participants, and more productive for everyone involved.
Coalition Building
We can help your coalition to form rapidly and unify around a coordinated strategy and implementation roadmap.
Salons and Community Conversations
Whether for others or on its own, IOTC convenes regular salons involving unusual mixes of people in innovative conversations that lead to exciting breakthroughs and unexpected collaborations.
Leadership Development Workshops
IOTC's experiential-learning workshops develop effective communication and relational skills, individual self-awareness, and the power to influence others based while supporting greater personal authenticity.
Skill Training for Convening Groups
We can train you and your community or organization in how to engage large and diverse groups to build relationship networks, develop shared vision and create collaborative action roadmaps.
"A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm." - Henrik Ibsen
New!
A Community-Creating Community Center
IOTC is partnering with residents, local organizations and county officials to develop a self-supporting, community-run Community Center in El Sobrante, California. The effort supports the goals of IOTC's Agora Project and NAN programs. More ...
Stories of
Community
A busy city street was transformed into a giant outdoor-café. Hundreds of neighbors gathered to envision their future ... More ...
Government
in a New Key
The State Water Boards assembled nearly 400 regulators, fuel-tank owners and consultants in 4 cities in 4 days ... (More ... - Story Coming Soon)
IOTC Insights
Thomas Jefferson's lost idea for saving U.S. democracy (See the story under "Democracy Repair." )
A Proposal to City Agencies for Developing Collaborative Governance (Coming soon ... )
Relocalization and Decentralization - Building Up without Tearing Down (Coming soon ...)