Over the past week, I had the privilege of facilitating one of the Strategy Labs at the Open Society-Africa High-Level Conference on Governance, Critical Minerals and Conflict in Africa in Accra, Ghana.
As communicators, we often focus on what gets said. Increasingly, I'm convinced that how conversations are designed matters just as much.
Too many conferences still follow a familiar formula: experts speak, audiences listen, questions are squeezed into the final few minutes, and everyone leaves with more information — but not necessarily more ownership or better solutions.
For this conference, Admedia Communications Limited designed a series of Strategy Labs to challenge that model. Rather than placing expertise on a stage, they placed it around the table.
The conference brought together policymakers, government representatives, the private sector, civil society, researchers and academics from more than 20 African countries. Facilitating a Strategy Lab with multilingual delegates from Anglophone, Francophone and Lusophone Africa was a personal first.
Designing and facilitating the session required us to think beyond traditional moderation. We had to consider language diplomacy, interpretation, participation and inclusion to ensure every delegate could contribute meaningfully, regardless of the language they spoke. The room was filled with passionate people eager to share their knowledge, lived experiences and expertise.
The methodology was deliberately action-oriented. Rather than stopping at identifying challenges, participants were asked three simple questions:
• What is the problem we are trying to solve?
• Who needs to solve it?
• What needs to happen — and by when?
What followed was one of the most valuable aspects of the conference: a genuine exchange of ideas and practical experience. Delegates shared policies, partnerships and governance models that are already delivering results in their respective countries. It created a rare opportunity to learn from one another, identify common challenges and explore how successful approaches could be adapted across different African contexts.
My biggest takeaway was that Africa does not lack expertise — we simply need more spaces that enable us to learn from one another and co-create solutions.
The strongest feedback we received was also the biggest compliment: we needed more time.
The challenges surrounding governance, critical minerals and conflict are complex and interconnected. They cannot be solved through presentations alone. They require thoughtfully designed spaces where people engage openly, challenge assumptions, exchange best practice and leave with a shared commitment to action.
It reinforced something I have believed for a long time: the future of conferences isn't about delivering more content — it's about designing better conversations.
Jacob Ouma Otis Dundo's
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