From the beginning in 1985, CoVision has pursued new ways to tap into the creative and critical thinking of multiple stakeholders as the most effective approach for reaching sustainable solutions and strategies.

The problems we face in large organizations and in society cannot be solved by any one leader, school of thought, or function – at certain critical times, all must weigh in. CoVision has made this possible.

In 1992 CoVision introduced its first portable groupware system designed to increase the participation of large numbers of participants in meetings involving collaborative thinking and planning. Since those pioneering days, CoVision’s has lead the field, with now over 3,000 meetings of experience. As we pushed the envelope of high technology in support of effective group process, our history can be seen through a series of milestones.

Increasing size of interactive meetings

250 Participants 

The first milestone came in 1994 when CoVision was able to provide portable fast feedback support for 250 participants on site in a hotel meeting room. This meeting of the executives and managers of Levi Strauss and Co.’s Operations and Sourcing Division marked the first truly large scale use of CoVision's portable fast feedback methodology.

Global Series of 300 Participants

Between 1994 and 1997 CoVision worked with many large top team groups and developed the tools and processes to provide the opportunity for “whole group dialogue,” frequently involving several hundred participants. By 1997 CoVision was able to mobilize internationally, supporting a series of 6 meetings of 300 participants each around the globe, in Pharmacia and Upjohn’s “One Company” campaign (following a 3-way merger).

1,800 Participants

In that same year, 1997, CoVision achieved a more significant milestone at the Pharmacia and Upjohn National Sales Meeting in Reno, Nevada. In an enormous ballroom, CoVision provided portable groupware for over 1800 participants – radically redefining the term “large group dialogue.”

3,000 Citizens

Moving beyond the Reno milestone, in 1999 CoVision supported the first Citizens Summit for Mayor Anthony Williams in Washington DC. The Citizens Summit brought together 3,000 citizens in one room to have a public dialogue on issues facing the capitol city. The Citizens Summit was both the largest meeting CoVision had ever supported and the beginning of a strong working partnership with AmericaSpeaks – an innovator in producing public meetings on an heroic scale.

4,500 New Yorkers

CoVision and AmericaSpeaks surpassed their DC milestone in July of 2002 when they partnered to conduct an all-day dialogue in New York City to discuss the rebuilding of the World Trade Center. “Listening to the City” brought together 4,500 participants: survivors, citizens and elected officials, in the largest meeting of its kind. It was covered extensively by national and international press. It was also the largest ever number of meeting facilitators working together. Fittingly, they hailed from all 50 states.

12,000 Familes

In 2008 CoVision and AmericaSpeaks supported a three-city multi-site meeting for 12,000 participants. The meeting was held simultaneously in Los Angeles, Chicago and Birmingham. Equal Voice for America’s Families brought together people from almost every state in the union to develop a message and a plan for building stronger families at the community, state and national levels. CoVision’s collaboration platform made it possible to synthesize the ideas and concerns of all of these participants spread across three distant locations.

Extending group engagement through online tools and processes

5-City Teleconference

In 1998 CoVision supported a 5-city teleconference as part of AmericaSpeaks’ Americans Discuss Social Security initiative. In each city, groups of 250 participants used CoVision’s fast feedback mehtodology. And for the first time, the feedback was networked via the internet.

Multi-mode Strategic Planning

Another milestone was reached in 2001 when University of Maryland at Baltimore’s School of Medicine conducted a whole system strategic planning process that fully integrated CoVision’s online capabilities with its large group meeting support. Stakeholders worked together online, then met together for a “whole group dialogue,” and then continued their work and conversations online afterwards – all utilizing one seamless interface.

Participants online and in the room

Multi-site meeting with additional remote participation from public libraries

The Unified New Orleans Plan (UNOP), developed a blueprint for rebuilding the city. Their Community Congress in 2006 brought together thousands of citizens with planners and officials in an unprecedented grassroots effort that engaged the full diversity of the city – including the voices of the many displaced citizens who had gone to live all over the country after their homes were destroyed, but who wanted to come back.

This massive real-time dialogue between thousands of New Orleanians included large groups in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Houston, Memphis and Atlanta, and smaller groups in 16 libraries and other locations around the country – all connected together.

Participants at all locations were able to watch presentations and receive instructions from the central site in New Orleans via either a satellite feed or a webcast. Additionally all 2,400 participants sat at round tables equipped with Council laptops connected to the internet. Participants sat with 8 to 10 others and discussed the dire needs in New Orleans. The key ideas from their discussions were input into the CoVision laptop and were summarized in real time and presented back to the whole group. Ultimately each individual voted to decide collectively which proposals to accept.