St. Louis needs more idea-sharing and collaboration, facilitator says

By Erik Siemers – Editor | St. Louis Business Journal | Jul 29, 2026

If St. Louis hopes to solve some of its biggest challenges, from downtown revitalization to population loss, the region may need fewer presentations and more conversations.

That was the message from Matt Homann, founder and CEO of St. Louis-based meeting facilitation firm Filament, during a recent appearance on the Arch City Report podcast. Homann discussed lessons his company has learned helping organizations collaborate and how those lessons could apply to the region’s most pressing issues.

Homann has been working with the Regional Business Council as it convenes stakeholders focused on improving downtown St. Louis. He said one of the most valuable outcomes of those meetings has been helping participants recognize how much they already have in common.

Filament, which is based in the Cortex Innovation District at 4220 Duncan Ave., has hosted a series of 90-minute meetings with downtown stakeholders, starting each session with an exercise framed around what they wish to accomplish, what they wonder they could do and what they worry won’t happen.

“What emerged again and again was that, ‘I wish we didn’t work in silos. I worry that we’re not sharing the best of St. Louis,’” Homann said.

Hearing those concerns echoed by others often changes the dynamic of the conversation, he said.

“The moment you were in a room and you were hearing that said by 20, 30, 40 other peers, you’re like, ‘Oh, wait, I’m not alone. I’m not the only one who feels this way.’”

According to Homann, that sense of shared purpose is often the first step toward meaningful problem-solving.

“People come with good intentions,” he said. “They come with deep care and passion for the city, not only for their business results, but for their lives of their people, their team members, their community.”

Homann said one misconception about innovation and civic problem-solving is that communities need a handful of transformational ideas to move forward. In his experience, valuable ideas often come from people who do not consider themselves innovators.

“One thing that has caught me by surprise and a lesson I’ve learned that I come back to nearly every day is that when you ask people for big ideas, you don’t get very many people sharing ideas,” Homann said. “Because the ideas they have, they think they’re obvious to them.”

As a result, effective collaboration involves creating space for people to share ideas that may seem ordinary.

“The things that are just blindingly obvious to you,” he said, “you’ll say them in a group of people, and you’ll see their eyes get as big as saucers, and like a, ‘Oh, what an amazing idea.’”

Homann said structured conversations can help unlock those insights by flattening traditional hierarchies and encouraging broader participation. Small-group discussions often allow quieter voices to contribute in ways they might not during a large meeting.

“The power balance shifts,” he said. “The introvert versus extrovert change dissipates a bit.”

The broader lesson for St. Louis, he said, is that progress often begins with helping people understand what work is already happening and where opportunities for collaboration exist.

“There are a massive amount of small things, and some big ones, that are happening downtown,” Homann said. “And once you start to understand, ‘Oh, that’s happening and that’s happening,’ you get an opportunity to start to put them together.”

Even before major plans are implemented, simply bringing people together can create momentum, he said.

“If nothing else comes out of it but a shared understanding that you’re not alone, that you’re not the only one who’s worried, that you’re not the only one who’s optimistic,” Homann said, “those moments then come back, and they start to ripple.”