Appreciative Inquiry Summit
A large planning meeting, usually two to four days, that runs the full Appreciative Inquiry cycle with internal and external stakeholders together. People interview each other about the organisation at its best (Discovery), imagine its future (Dream), write statements about how it should work (Design), and form groups that take the first steps (Destiny).
Use when an organisation or community wants to set direction by building on what already works, with everyone affected in the room.
Solves: Change programmes start from a list of problems, and people defend themselves instead of contributing.
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Step 1: A planning team that represents the system chooses an affirmative topic and invites a cross-section of stakeholders (prep).
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Step 2: Discovery: paired appreciative interviews across stakeholder lines, then table groups pull out the strengths behind the best stories (3-4 hours).
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Step 3: Dream: tables imagine the organisation at its best in the future and present it in a creative form (about 3 hours).
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Step 4: Design: groups write propositions about structures, processes and relationships that would make the dream real (3-4 hours).
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Step 5: Destiny: people join the initiatives they care about and commit to first actions (2-3 hours).
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Step 6: Close in plenary with commitments and the follow-up plan (1 hour).
- Mix stakeholders at every table. The value comes from customers, staff and partners hearing each other's best stories.
- Write the interview guide with care; the questions shape everything that follows.
- Plan who supports the initiative groups after the summit before it starts.
- A one-day mini-summit for a single department, compressing each phase.