Appreciative Inquiry (AI)コミュのAIカンファレンス in Orlando, Sept 16-19, 2007

クーパーライダー先生から情報がまわってきました。

Dear Colleagues and Friends:

I am pleased and very excited to announce a call for workshops and presentations for a 2007 International Appreciative Inquiry Conference to be held at Disney's Yacht and Beach Club Resorts in Orlando, Florida on September 16-19, 2007. This conference represents a milestone in the evolution of the "positive strengths" movement by bringing together the strength-based organizational change approaches of Appreciative Inquiry with state-of-the-art insights and tools of Positive Psychology. The Conference will, I believe, elevate the field to new levels of impact and potential. With early confirmed keynotes by Martin E.P. Seligman, the father of Positive Psychology, along with Marcus Buckingham, management authority on "Positive Leadership" and Jane Watkins, the co-author of one of the best selling books on Appreciative Inquiry, the conference may in fact become one of the most significant events on the change management calendar for 2007.

As in all previous AI conferences, practitioner and thought-leader participation is critical for success. I am once again reaching out to you, the practitioner and thought-leader community, and inviting you to share your best, applied and conceptual work with Appreciative Inquiry or Positive Psychology as it relates to the generation of new resources for strength-based innovation, change, or design. With an emphasis on spreading new tools and sharing real-life stories from organizations demonstrating innovation and impact, we view each of the conference workshops as a bridge between theory and practice. Workshops are not limited to, but are especially invited, which touch on the application areas listed below. These workshops are a powerful way to share your work with some 600 business leaders, managers, change agents, designers, and innovators from all over the world.

Please visit the conference website which will be opened by February 1st, 2007 at: http://www.2007aiconference.com/ and see below for more details about the Call for Workshops.

Finally, please feel free to send this message to people you know. I thank you in advance for your help in identifying the kind of work the whole world should hear about.


Sincerely,

David Cooperrider
Co-Author, Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive Revolution in Change
Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University



Call for Workshops & Stories of Innovation
***
The New Model of Change Has Arrived


Appreciative Inquiry is revolutionizing the field of organization development and change.
-- Robert Quinn, University of Michigan

Seligman's endeavor to focus on human strengths
is one of the most important initiatives in psychology of the past half century.
-- Howard Gardner, Harvard University

The ageless essence of leadership is to create an alignment of strengths
in ways that make a system's weaknesses irrelevant
--Peter Drucker


Better ways of leading change are spreading throughout the world. Could it be, as Drucker's provocative manifesto so clearly implies, that the leadership of change is entirely about the discovery and elevation of strengths? Certainly we know that strengths perform. ?But what about the idea that strengths do far more than perform°≠that strengths transform? ?As many are now experiencing, an exciting non-deficit model of positive change is rapidly spreading that puts something powerful and full of life deep inside the heart of business and organizational change.

Some call it the "strengths revolution"° a movement that has profound implications for everyone interested in leading with hope and optimism, and winning the future through the highest engagement of human strengths.

Fascinating questions on this topic are many. Why, for example, would discovering and moving from strength-to-strength in human systems activate, energize, and elevate change? What would it mean to ignite an entire change paradigm around new combinations, configurations, and chemistries of strengths? What good are positive emotions, words, images, inquiries, and constructions as we seek to understand the positive psychology and expansive economy of human strengths°?especially in turbulent, difficult, and complex times? And what if we took the strengths logic to the hilt: where are all the new tools and where would we°?as managers, change leaders, parents and friends°?start? ?Equally important, what becomes of all the "deficiencies", "threats", "breakdowns", "gaps" and "problems" if we truly explore what's involved in Drucker's ever curious phrase in ways that make a system's weaknesses irrelevant?

The 2007 International AI Conference: A Unique Opportunity

In recent years at least six International Conferences on Appreciative Inquiry have elevated and extended the strengths movement, attracting the highest caliber speakers and pioneering case stories from organizations such as BP, Hewlett-Packard, Nokia, Verizon, EPA, Sherwin Williams, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Fairmount Minerals, Mckinsey, the U.S. Navy, the BBC, and the United Nations. Literally thousands of participants and hundreds of corporations from over 40 countries have come together in these various forums to share their experiences with and visions for a positive revolution in change.


The 2007 International AI Conference is the first in history, however, to bring together a global forum featuring the strength-based organizational change approaches of Appreciative Inquiry with state-of-the-art insights and tools of Positive Psychology. With confirmed original keynotes by David Cooperrider, the pioneering thought leader and co-creator of Appreciative Inquiry and Martin E.P. Seligman, the father of Positive Psychology, along with Marcus Buckingham , management authority on "Strengths-based Leadership", Jane Watkins, the co-author of one of the best selling books on Appreciative Inquiry, and IDEO designer Peter Coughlan, the conference will surely become one of the most significant events on the change management calendar for 2007. ?Other dynamic pioneers and invited workshop leaders include Frank Barrett, Juanita Brown, Stephen Denning, Tal Ben-Shahar, John Carter, Kim Cameron, Jane Dutton, Barbara Fredrickson, Ron Fry, Ken and Mary Gergen, Jim Lord, Jim Ludema, Bernard Mohr, Bob Quinn, Judy Rodgers, Jackie Stavros, Jerry Sternin, Tojo Thachenkery, Diana Whitney, and others. Yes it's exciting. And already many are suggesting that this event signals the next big wave in the field of strength-based innovation, organizational change, and design. It represents an unprecedented opportunity for all of us to bring both the psychology of human strengths and the new horizons of AI into a convergent conversation with profound implications for unleashing the power of positive change.

This premier event is designed for managers, designers, change agents, and leaders from business and industry as well as government, education, and civil society to explore these new horizons. The conference will be held September 17 - 19, 2007 in Orlando, Florida at the Disney Yacht and Beach Club Hotel. ?Pre-conference workshops will take place all day September 16, 2007.

New themes and exciting application areas to be featured include:

Using a Positive Lens in Product Design, Organizational Design, and Positive Emotional Engagement With Customers (for example IDEO and AI's 4-D methods together)
Strength-based Approaches to Business Strategy ("SOAR")
Corporate Branding and New Tools for Knowing What Makes You Special
Mergers of Strength for Joint Ventures, Teams, Alliances and Post-Merger Integration
Lean Management and Quality Manufacturing With a Positive Lens
Positive Psychology, HR, and Strength-finding Coaching Models
Positive Approaches to Sustainable Value Creation and Green Eco-Imagination
The Appreciative Inquiry Summit and Strength-based Approaches to Creating High Engagement Organizations (e.g., "The Great Game of Business")
New Training Tools for Teaching Managers about Positive Psychology, Human Strengths, and the Non-deficit Change Approaches of Appreciative Inquiry
Leadership as Appreciative Intelligence°?Seeing "the Mighty Oak in the Acorn"°?Mindsets, Ways of Being, and Qualities of Relating
Appreciative Inquiry for Webs, Communities of Practice, and Organizational Learning--"Accelerating Strengths Networks"


Call for Workshops

Workshop Goals and Format:
We are looking for workshops which are rich in example, interactive and engaging, and which touch on the most interesting change management agendas of business, government, and civil society organizations. In the past we have found that the very best workshops have at least two presenters°?one from the company or organization being highlighted, and another from outside the company or organization.

There will be two types of workshops showcased at the conference:
1) Up to 30 conference workshops of 1.5 hours in length each
2) Up to 8 pre-conference workshops, they will each be all-day in length (approximately
6 hours of contact time)

We invite your submission of up to two workshops for possible consideration in the conference agenda.

Review Timeframe and Process

The deadline for submissions is February 20th, 2007. ?You will be notified by March 5, 2007 as to whether your workshop has been selected for inclusion at the conference. If you are selected, a final draft of your workshop description and materials will be due to us by March 10, 2007. Additionally, one complimentary conference pass will be given per regular workshop session selected and one conference pass and 4-night room expense pass will be given for each pre-conference workshop selected.

A committee led by Lindsey Godwin at Case Western Reserve University will review all workshop proposals. Acceptance will be based on an evaluation of the potential of the workshop to advance the thinking and practice of strength-based innovation, change, or design within organizations and its fit with the overall conference agenda. Half the workshops selected will feature work being done in business and industry; the other half will be divided between governmental and non-governmental organizations.

All workshop proposals submitted will also be considered for possible feature in a new book titled "A Symphony of Strengths". ?This will be a special volume designed after the conference to be published by Elsevier Publishers as part of their ongoing book series called Advances in Appreciative Inquiry.

How to Submit

Please share the vision of your workshop with us by using our on-line easy submit form at: http://webutil.case.edu/surveyor/wsb.dll/6/AIworkshops.htm

You will be asked to include the following in your proposal submission: ?

Your name and contact information
Your proposed workshop's title
Your preference for consideration as a pre-conference (6 hour) or regular conference (1.5 hour) workshop
The list of proposed presenters/facilitators for the workshop and a brief (3 sentence) bio for each
A brief description of the workshop (350 words or less approximately 1 page)
A brief explanation of how your workshop advances the thinking and practice of strength-based innovation, change, or design within organizations (150 words or less approximately page)
Technical requests for the workshop
The conference thematic area to which the workshop relates



Also, as part of our outreach searching for the best and most diverse work happening in the domain of strength-based organizational change, we would like you to answer the following question when you submit your proposal:
Assuming anything imaginable is possible and you could suggest any three possible speakers and/or workshop presenters in the world people you would love to see and interact with at the Conference who would you name? What people? What companies or organizations? What possible topics or resources do they bring


Further Contact Information:If you have any questions about the workshops or submission process, please contactLindsey Godwin, the Conference Workshop Chair, at: Lindsey.Godwin@Case.edu

For more information on the overall conference agenda and the exciting opportunities for company and organizational co-sponsorship opportunities, please visit the conference website which will be opened by February 1st, 2007 at: http://www.2007aiconference.com/ or email Keith McKinnon at: KMcKinnon@kingfishmedia.com

Finally, please feel free to send this Call for Workshops to people you know. We thank you in advance for your help in identifying the kind of work the whole world should hear about.

We look forward to hearing from you and believe that "The Power of Positive Change: A Symphony of Strengths" will be one of the most significant events on the change management calendar for 2007!