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Education Strategy & Learning Design, Meeting/Event Design & Management
We first start with an inventory of your organization’s learning and networking assets. This education portfolio is then evaluated for stakeholder satisfaction, gaps, and opportunities. Finally, we help develop and implement a roadmap to both sunset old and pilot new programs based on identified needs.
Additionally, we partner with you and your subject matter experts to ensure learning and networking sessions are designed and delivered with sound instructional strategies that will not only engage, but effectively educate and connect your attendees, as well.
Following are just a handful of examples describing how the Event Garde team can utilize our knowledge and expertise to meet the needs of you and your audience through education strategy and learning design:
Assess the risk tolerance of your board of directors, education committee, and staff to change existing programs or pilot new ones.
Organize and evaluate the existing education portfolio through an objective decision-making model quantifying effort vs. impact.
Facilitate stakeholder design sessions resulting in new in-person, virtual, or hybrid program proposals to meet audience needs.
Create a comprehensive content strategy that unifies event education with publications and other key functions/departments.
Develop unique session formats, durations, curricula, and session materials aligned with event objectives.
Partner with your speakers to help them develop and deliver more engaging learning and networking sessions.
We believe that your education portfolio should be regularly evaluated to ensure - at minimum - relevancy and profitability. In addition to member/attendee satisfaction scores, this decision-making model is one way we help illuminate the effort and impact of your programs.
Did you enjoy a lot of leeway during the pandemic to create new learning and networking programs, but are now experiencing more pushback from organization leadership? Are your speakers excellent subject matter experts, but lack the training and experience to present truly engaging sessions?
Particularly in smaller organizations with limited resources, it can be difficult to split your time between meeting management and education development. But if you’re looking to finally untangle and organize your education portfolio, gain leadership support to sunset outdated programs in favor of more innovative offerings, and invest in your speakers to help them shine, we stand ready to join your team.
Think of us a little like a college or university academic advisor. We see both the big picture and the detail. Not only will we help your organization develop an intentional catalog of different offerings to meet the varied learning and networking needs of each stakeholder segment, but we will help you more clearly communicate these learner pathways and, ultimately, build brand loyalty.
The Event Garde team doesn’t just speak and write about the theory of education strategy and learning design – we’re practitioners, too. In addition to a range of short-term projects with clients, we also serve as fractional staff within organizations where we roll up our sleeves and work directly with boards, volunteers, speakers, and staff to support and guide long-term change management.
Ultimately, you and your organization benefit from the variety of successful interventions we’ve implemented over the years. We leverage and build upon successes from past projects; we continuously reference and tailor our tools and templates to your situation; and we anticipate and plan for the most common blocks and barriers. While we recognize that every industry is unique, we start with the best parts and pieces of past client work to save you both time and money.
“NAWIC had the pleasure of working with Event Grade for a last-minute emergency programming assignment related to our 2025 Annual Conference. Delays in getting scheduling done, compounded by unavoidable staffing challenges, made us feel hopeless. Enter Aaron Wolowiec to save the day! With his expertise in project planning and a methodical approach to elevating the education experience, he turned what felt insurmountable into a success—securing all main stage speakers under contract and bringing the At-a-Glance close to completion in just three weeks. Mission accomplished!”
“Working with Event Garde brings such peace of mind. Aaron is incredibly knowledgeable, insightful, and forward-thinking. He asks high-level questions to truly understand the project goals - and offers observations and suggestions when there are areas to improve. His insights on content curation and development, faculty training, presentation best practices, learning format and overall program design are a huge asset to any organization looking to deliver high quality learning to their constituents. If you are looking to partner with the consummate professional to help enhance your organization's learning and education strategy - I highly recommend Event Garde!”
“I had the privilege of working with the Event Garde team on a new senior leadership conference for our association members. I was short on resources, time, and experience for this effort, so I turned to them for assistance. Aaron and Kara were a pleasure to work with. Kara provided the project management and structure I needed to keep the project on track for a tight deliverable timeframe. Aaron provided his deep knowledge base and experience to help strategize, design, and then build the materials needed for the conference. The conference could not have gone off better and the attendees were extremely pleased with the experience and results. Partnering with Event Garde provided me the opportunity to deliver an exceptional learning experience to our members.”
“NAWIC had the pleasure of working with Event Grade for a last-minute emergency programming assignment related to our 2025 Annual Conference. Delays in getting scheduling done, compounded by unavoidable staffing challenges, made us feel hopeless. Enter Aaron Wolowiec to save the day! With his expertise in project planning and a methodical approach to elevating the education experience, he turned what felt insurmountable into a success—securing all main stage speakers under contract and bringing the At-a-Glance close to completion in just three weeks. Mission accomplished!”
“Working with Event Garde brings such peace of mind. Aaron is incredibly knowledgeable, insightful, and forward-thinking. He asks high-level questions to truly understand the project goals - and offers observations and suggestions when there are areas to improve. His insights on content curation and development, faculty training, presentation best practices, learning format and overall program design are a huge asset to any organization looking to deliver high quality learning to their constituents. If you are looking to partner with the consummate professional to help enhance your organization's learning and education strategy - I highly recommend Event Garde!”
“I had the privilege of working with the Event Garde team on a new senior leadership conference for our association members. I was short on resources, time, and experience for this effort, so I turned to them for assistance. Aaron and Kara were a pleasure to work with. Kara provided the project management and structure I needed to keep the project on track for a tight deliverable timeframe. Aaron provided his deep knowledge base and experience to help strategize, design, and then build the materials needed for the conference. The conference could not have gone off better and the attendees were extremely pleased with the experience and results. Partnering with Event Garde provided me the opportunity to deliver an exceptional learning experience to our members.”
“NAWIC had the pleasure of working with Event Grade for a last-minute emergency programming assignment related to our 2025 Annual Conference. Delays in getting scheduling done, compounded by unavoidable staffing challenges, made us feel hopeless. Enter Aaron Wolowiec to save the day! With his expertise in project planning and a methodical approach to elevating the education experience, he turned what felt insurmountable into a success—securing all main stage speakers under contract and bringing the At-a-Glance close to completion in just three weeks. Mission accomplished!”
Event Garde transforms NAWIC's conference chaos into a compelling and cohesive attendee experience
Facing last-minute programming delays and internal staffing transitions, NAWIC was struggling to finalize key elements of their 2025 Annual Conference. Their existing meeting planner needed support, particularly around developing a cohesive educational program, aligning content with career stages, and sourcing a closing keynote speaker. With fewer than four weeks until key planning deadlines, the team felt overwhelmed and concerned about meeting expectations for their largest event of the year.
Event Garde rapidly deployed a senior association professional and project manager to lead an intensive content and program planning process. Collaborating virtually with NAWIC leaders, we structured clear agendas, utilized interactive tools, and reviewed all available data—including hundreds of pages of past attendee feedback. Within days, we co-created a target audience grid, refreshed event goals aligned to NAWIC’s strategic plan, and designed a responsive at-a-glance schedule. We also led a national speaker bureau search and successfully contracted a powerful closing keynote speaker aligned with the event theme, “Together We Rise.”
Read full case study >To discuss your upcoming education strategy or learning design initiative, please contact Kara Nacarato, Event Garde’s Director of Development and Operations.
Contact Kara NacaratoWE LOOK FORWARD TO PARTNERING WITH YOU ON YOUR NEXT INITIATIVE!
