Behind the Scenes: How We Built the Breakout Session Agenda
When people walk into a conference breakout session, they usually see the end result: a polished title, a compelling description, and presenters who are clearly doing meaningful work. What’s less visible is the process that determines which sessions make it onto the agenda and why that process matters.
For the Minnesota Cancer Summit 2026, the breakout session agenda wasn’t assembled casually or behind closed doors. It was intentionally designed to reflect the priorities of the Minnesota Cancer Plan, the diversity of work happening across the state, and the practical needs of people doing cancer prevention and control every day.
Why the Process Matters
Breakout sessions do more than fill time slots. They signal what a field values. The planning team wanted an agenda that:
Reflected real work already happening across Minnesota
Balanced prevention, detection, treatment, survivorship, policy, and systems change
Centered equity and community voice, not just institutional perspectives
Offered practical insights people could adapt and apply in their own contexts
To do that well, the team needed a process that was structured, fair, and transparent.
From Call for Proposals to Shared Review
The Summit began with a statewide call for breakout session proposals. The response reflected the depth and creativity of Minnesota’s cancer control community, making the next step both exciting and challenging.
Rather than relying solely on informal discussion or popularity, proposals were reviewed using a clear scoring framework that looked at:
Alignment with Cancer Plan priorities
Collaboration and partnership
Equity and community voice
Practical value and replicability
Session design and presenter strength
Each proposal was reviewed independently, and then brought into a facilitated, in-person review process designed to help reviewers move from individual perspectives to shared understanding.
Reviewing by Track, Not in Isolation
One key design choice was reviewing proposals by Summit track. Small teams looked at proposals together and asked:
Are these proposals grouped in the right track?
Do the highest-scoring sessions best represent this topic area right now?
Is anything essential missing?
Are community voices and geographic diversity reflected?
This allowed reviewers to think not just about individual sessions, but about how each track would feel as a whole, coherent, balanced, and relevant.
The Role of Facilitation
This is where Freya + Co supported the process.
Our role wasn’t to decide which sessions were selected. It was to design and facilitate a process that helped the group make those decisions well by:
Creating clear decision points
Making space for different perspectives
Keeping the group grounded in shared criteria
Ensuring decisions were documented and defensible
Good facilitation doesn’t remove disagreement; it helps groups navigate it productively.
What Emerged
The result is a breakout agenda shaped by:
The strengths of Minnesota’s cancer prevention and control community
A commitment to equity and lived experience
A focus on actionable, replicable work
Alignment with where the Cancer Plan is headed not just where it’s been
Just as importantly, the process helped build shared ownership of the agenda. Reviewers didn’t just approve sessions; they helped curate a Summit that reflects the field.
Why This Matters for Attendees
When you attend a breakout session at the Minnesota Cancer Summit, you’re stepping into a conversation that was intentionally chosen to move the work forward.
The agenda is designed to help you:
Learn from peers doing similar work
Identify ideas you can adapt locally
Connect with potential collaborators
See how your work fits into the larger Cancer Plan effort
That’s what it looks like when a Summit is designed not just to inform but to activate.
👉 Registration for the Minnesota Cancer Summit 2026 is open through February 18.
Learn more and register here:
https://mncanceralliance.org/cancer-summit-2026/
