Designing a CNN Watch Party

CNN is going to break a story built in part on research and information shared by Rolf Parker, director of Public Health Response To Research Ltd (PER). Rolf is designing a watch party to invite everyone who has contributed to exposing the lies of tobacco companies over the last five years: scientists, advocates, and policymakers.

Rolf has spent years working on promoting smoking cessation at the state and local level,  collecting vapes from schools, arranging testing of these devices at universities, and interrupting false corporate narratives by providing information to state legislators. CNN interviewed him for more than an hour, covering a range of issues connected to his work. Through the watchparty he hopes to catalyze future action, independent of whatever CNN does or doesn't air.

The Design Challenge

Rolf and Erica are designing this gathering specifically to make new collaborations happen and give the group a shared direction forward, not hoping it emerges as a side effect of introductions. The watch party serves as a community-building, professional networking event that brings together a diverse group of stakeholders already invested in this work with each other, using this moment as the reason to gather and organize around shared priorities, next actions, and natural alliances. It's meant to bring advocates and scientists working on the damage done by tobacco companies into the same room.

This watch party hopes to use the CNN story as a catalyst, without knowing yet what the story will say. The core work is designing a session where scientists, advocates, and organizations can name what they have to offer and what they need, without scientists feeling boxed in as activists. That only works if it feels psychologically safe for scientists who may be wary of being cast that way, while still honoring that most of them want their research to make a difference.

Rolf also wants the group to brainstorm how to keep working together with little to no funding, and to invite people into the work in ways that are honest, strategic, and sustainable.

How this plays out, including how conversations relate to when the story airs, is part of what Erica and Rolf will work through together in the Design Lab.

Who the Watch Party Is For

Scientists and activists working on, or affected by:

• Regulatory capture in public health

• The commercial determinants of health

• Tobacco and vaping industry interference in research and policy

• Making sure research leads to impact, not just publications

What Happens in Design Lab

Design Lab is a live, recorded, facilitated event design coaching session, structured in three parts.

Welcome and orientation

We welcome the people who've joined to be part of the design process, connect them with each other, and clarify the shared purpose of the session.

The coaching conversation

Recorded as a stand-alone Design Lab episode. Erica coaches the guest on the event's purpose, its audience, and what the event needs to deliver.

The backstage conversation

Off the record, once recording stops. Thoughts get shared and conversation ensues.

Who Should Join

This Design Lab will be worth your time if you work in public health, research, or advocacy connected to tobacco, vaping, or the broader commercial determinants of health. It's also for anyone working through how to turn research and evidence into impact in a context of regulatory capture and limited funding, or anyone curious how to design events that build relationships and movements.

You'll see the design process in action.