The convener is closer to a mayor than a master of ceremonies.

principle — attributed to Richard Attias

The role is not to introduce speakers and keep time. It is to govern a temporary polity: to mediate factions, hold standards, manage continuity, and answer for what happens between editions. A mayor is judged on whether the city functions across years, not on a single ribbon-cutting.

How Attias frames his own role at Bridge and the FII Institute.

convener-role, mayor-metaphor, governance, year-round-stewardship, authority