A Post-Election Convening
Celebrating the Working Families Party’s wins and building toward what comes next.
After November 3, the Working Families Party will bring members, newly elected leaders, organizers, and partners together in New York City to celebrate what they accomplished and set the tone for what comes next.
A post-election convening has an important job to do. It should celebrate the people who built these wins while making clear what those victories represent: the strength of WFP’s organizing, the leaders and communities behind it, and the growing power of the Party.
For the people in the room, the day should feel joyful, generous, and meaningful. For the larger audience following online, the event should offer a compelling picture of WFP’s momentum heading into the next cycle.
Soft Power Studio approaches events like this as both experiences and opportunities for narrative building. The room, stage, photography, signage, hospitality, speakers, and content that leave the building should work together to tell one cohesive story.
Our role is to make the day feel as strong as the wins behind it: celebratory enough to honor what WFP and its members accomplished, and substantive enough to reflect a Party prepared to govern, organize, and grow.
This September, Soft Power Studio produced WFP’s reception during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Legislative Conference and the New York State Convention. We know the brand, the team, the members, and the level of care WFP brings to its work. That familiarity allows us to move quickly and build on an existing working relationship rather than beginning from scratch.
Before founding Soft Power Studio, our principal, Jade Ogunnaike, served as Vice President of Campaigns at Color Of Change, leading national campaigns alongside organizers, elected officials, funders, and advocates. Elections, organizing, and building durable political power are work our team understands deeply.
That experience matters. We know this convening is not simply a celebration. It marks the culmination of months and years of organizing, and the beginning of the next phase of WFP’s work.
Our team has planned and produced conferences, summits, receptions, and public activations bringing together elected officials, movement leaders, philanthropies, creators, and hundreds of attendees. Our experience includes major moments at Essence Festival, the CBCF Annual Legislative Conference, Legacy Week in Martha’s Vineyard, and SXSW.
We understand the level of preparation required to make a complex event feel effortless to the people attending it.
WFP will have a single partner responsible for the full experience: venue, creative direction, production, hospitality, creators, and content.
That means every element reflects the same strategy and standard of care, while WFP staff can remain focused on the program, their members, and their guests.
Before we make decisions about rooms, stages, signage, or menus, we align on what WFP wants people to understand and feel when the day is over.
From there, we build the experience around that objective. Venue, programming, design, hospitality, and content all reinforce the same narrative.
Our in-house creative team and trusted production partners allow us to carry one vision across the entire experience, from the first invitation guests receive to the stage they see when they enter the room.
The result should feel unmistakably WFP, without feeling overly produced or disconnected from the people and organizing at the center of the Party.
The details matter because they shape how people experience the day.
A well-run greenroom allows speakers and elected officials to arrive prepared. Thoughtful registration creates an immediate sense of welcome. Strong stage management keeps the program moving. A happy hour people want to stay for creates space for relationships that extend beyond the formal agenda.
We design those moments deliberately so that the people responsible for WFP’s wins feel recognized throughout the day.
The convening should create a body of content WFP can continue using well after the final guest leaves.
We plan capture from the beginning: camera sightlines, portraits, interviews, speaker moments, attendee reactions, and creators who understand the story WFP wants to tell.
WFP should leave the event with both a successful day and a strong visual and editorial library that can support communications for months.
Soft Power Studio will serve as strategic advisor and executive producer for Breaking Ground 2026, leading planning, creative direction, and production from venue selection through on-site execution.
We will identify and secure a venue that can support the full experience, including theater-style programming, a greenroom, breakout spaces, and an evening reception.
Our work will include:
We will develop a visual identity for Breaking Ground 2026 that builds from WFP’s existing brand and gives the convening its own recognizable expression.
This includes:
Once the venue and program are confirmed, we will scope and manage the technical and hospitality requirements for the full day.
This includes:
We will bring aligned New York creators and cultural voices into the room, with a strategy designed around the audiences WFP wants to reach beyond its existing channels.
This includes:
We will establish the event’s content strategy before doors open so that the strongest moments are anticipated rather than discovered afterward.
This includes:
Soft Power Studio will manage the event as one integrated production.
This includes:
With an event date six to ten weeks away, venue selection is the first critical decision.
Soft Power Studio already has relationships with several of the spaces WFP has identified. During our first week, we will assess the strongest options against the requirements of the program: capacity, theater seating, greenroom space, breakouts, reception capacity, AV infrastructure, accessibility, cost, and availability.
We will then bring WFP a focused shortlist of viable options, with holds in place where possible, so a decision can be made quickly.
Current venues for consideration include BRIC, Cooper Union Great Hall, John Jay College, Medgar Evers College, City College, Roulette, the Studio Museum, Make the Road New York, BAM, City Winery NYC, Project Farmhouse, The Glasshouse, The Shed, Farm, and Shell’s Loft.
Soft Power Studio’s event production fee is 20% of the total event budget.
A percentage-based fee keeps our work tied to the actual size and complexity of the event. A 200-person convening in one room asks for less than a 500-person day with breakouts, a full stage, and an evening reception. Our fee rises or falls with the budget WFP approves, so WFP only pays for the level of production the event requires.
Every event expense is presented to WFP for approval in advance, and our fee is set against a budget WFP approves line by line. That keeps the budget transparent and keeps us focused on getting the most out of every dollar.
Twenty percent reflects the full scope of our role. It covers the senior strategy, creative direction, and production leadership that carry the event from venue search through strike, along with the vendor, speaker, creator, and content work that would otherwise fall to WFP staff.
The Soft Power Studio fee covers:
Event expenses will be approved by WFP in advance and billed at cost. These may include: