KEYNOTE
THE
SPARK
The talk you’ll still be quoting in February.
THE FIFTH EDITION
THE VALE SYMPOSIUM
One day on leading with your values when half the work happens online. Keynotes, peer-led workshops, and the kind of conversation a video call can’t hold.
The question
01 — THE QUESTION
You lead people you mostly meet through a screen.
The meetings moved online. The conflicts. The care. Half of everything.
But values don’t transmit by themselves. Neither does trust.
So what does value-driven leadership look like now?
We’re giving that question one full day. One room. Hamburg.
02 — THE DAY
ONE DAY,
BUILT LIKE A JOURNEY.
A morning-into-evening arc — from first coffee to last conversation. The full timetable lands in autumn 2026. Here is the shape of it.
-
MORNING DOORS Arrive, shed the cold, get a name.
Warm drinks, warm room, no rush. Landing softly is part of the design — you’ll have time to find your people before anyone asks anything of you.
-
MORNING THE OPENING One room, one question on the table.
Not your usual welcome speech. We open the day the way we intend to spend it: together, in plenary, with the year’s question put squarely on the table. Expect to be a participant within the first ten minutes.
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MORNING SOMETHING INTERACTIVE That’s genuinely what our planning board says.
There is a longer name for it — one involving the words “simulation” and “game” — but the planning board says something interactive, and we’ve decided we like the mystery. Expect to be out of your chair.
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MIDDAY THE TABLE Lunch, together.
Half the best conversations at any symposium happen over food, so we’ve given them their own slot. Details arrive with the final programme.
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AFTERNOON THE DEEP END Keynotes. Workshops. The good stuff.
The heart of the day: keynote voices worth crossing a city for, and rounds of parallel, peer-led workshops — small rooms, honest questions, tools you can use on Monday. Led by practitioners and VALE alumni who run teams, projects, and organisations for real.
In between: guided-connection corners for people who dislike “networking”. Prompts to steal, strangers worth meeting, and one very special bench.
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LATE AFTERNOON THE CLOSING Threads pulled together — plus a raffle.
Back in plenary to make sense of the day — what we heard, what we’re taking home, what we’re not letting go of. And yes: a raffle you’ll actually care about.
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EVENING THE AFTERGLOW The mingle after the mingle.
The programme ends; the conversations don’t. Stay for the slow goodbye — it tends to be where the real plans get made.
This is the shape, not the timetable. A few things will stay deliberately unannounced — at least one of them is a surprise even to us.
03 — THE VOICES
FIRST NAMES LAND
IN AUTUMN.
We’re curating keynotes and workshop leaders who lead real people through real screens — and keep their values intact on contact with reality.
THE
KEYNOTE
THE
PROVOCATEUR
The one who asks the question nobody wanted.
WORKSHOPS
THE
PRACTITIONERS
Alumni and partners who lead for a living.
OPEN CALL
YOU,
PERHAPS?
Pitch a workshop — the mic is closer than you think. →
- 2018
- TRAINING LEADERS SINCE
- 130+
- PROGRAMME ALUMNI
- 29
- NATIONALITIES
- ~1000
- PEOPLE REACHED
- 5TH
- SYMPOSIUM
FIELD NOTES
Scenes from the road here — courses, symposia, and at least one snowstorm.
04 — THE PLACE
HAMBURG
53.55° N — 9.99° E
December in Hamburg: harbour lights, wet cobblestones, and steam rising off the Glühwein. We’re locking in a venue with character, near the centre — the kind of place that makes a day feel like an occasion.
Hosted by The VALE
The Symposium is hosted by The VALE — The Value-driven Advanced Leadership Association, an international non-profit specialising in youth leadership education. We support the creation of aware, skilled, and value-driven young leaders for a peaceful, inclusive, and sustainable world.
05 — THE SEAT
CLEAR YOUR
CALENDAR.
—DAYS
—HOURS
—MINUTES
—SECONDS
FREE ENTRYLIMITED SEATSREGISTRATION VIA LUMA
Saturday, 5 December 2026 — one day in Hamburg. Registration opens soon; seats are limited by the venue, not by our enthusiasm. When it’s full, it’s full.
Questions? george@thevale.eu