2007 Conference Sessions and Facilitators

During March 4-6,2007, the following "futures dialogue sessions' were held at the Marriott Hotel in Columbia, South Carolina.

Sessions and Facilitators

1) You Are the Economic Developer in a Connected World! - Mark Waterhouse, President, Garnet Consulting Services, Inc. Pleasant Valley, CT. Past President, American Association of Economic Developers.

“All local communities will need to rethink what economic development will mean in a World of Transformation. 21st Century Economic Development will require many new capacities in local areas, not the least of which is the development of a culture that supports continuous innovation. This group will dialogue around ideas such as a Molecular Economy, Global Innovation Networks and a newly creative workforce.”

2) Talking Thinking – Children Need Ideas! – Dr. Catherine McCall, Strathclyde University, Glasgow, Scotland. Internationally known academic in developing philosophical learning experiences for children.

“In a world increasingly complex, all children will need the ability to be able to make connections among diverse ideas in order to see how the past is relevant to the future. This session will dialogue around such concepts as philosophical inquiry for the future ( how it is different from the past ) and why are ideas just as important as doing tasks for a society in transformation.”

3) Your Neighborhood as a Change Agent! – Dr. Patricia Wilson, Director of Community Development, School of Architecture, University of Texas at Austin. Internationally known educator in creating new concepts for community planning.

“21st Century Neighborhood Academies is a new idea which emphasizes the importance of building core groups of diverse people interested in identifying trends and weak signals, and thinking about how they will impact both local neighborhoods and the overall community. This group will dialogue and generate concepts connected to transformational learning neighborhoods.”

4) Arts, Creativity and Multimedia – The New Electronic Transformers! – Kate McCallum, Founder, Center for Conscious Creativity. Speaker and author, Los Angeles, CA.

“All society, especially leaders in local communities, will need to understand how to evolve apply creative thinking to the emerging complex issues such as biotechnology, community transformation and a workforce for a global molecular economy. This group will dialogue to identify the use of multiple technologies and human collaborations important to a world in constant change.”

5) Second Enlightenment, Wisdom, and Heightened Future Consciousness – Tom Lombardo, Nationally Known Futurist, Author and Educator. Tempe, AZ.

"In our increasingly interconnected and fast-paced world, human consciousness and especially our awareness and understanding of the future need to evolve. Critical to heightened future consciousness and the Second Enlightenment is a reenergized concept of wisdom. This session will explore how contemporary ideas on wisdom and heightened human consciousness will be crucially important to the success of any individual, social group, or local community."

6) Uplearning – Complex Thinking in a Dynamic Age – Gene Anderson, Chairman of the Board,Piedmont Community Charter School, North Carolina.

“Uplearning is the ability to think and understand at a higher level of complexity.
The "uplearner" understands that the more factors and concepts that are linked, the more interesting and distinctive will be the emerging idea(s). As the uplearner develops the capacity to incubate ideas without worrying about immediate outcomes, amazing innovations emerge. This group will dialogue about the overall concept and how to seed uplearning processes in local communities.”

7) Spirituality – Finding Meaning in Everyday Life – Joseph Kilpatrick and Sanford Danzinger. Founders and Facilitators of the Center for Purposeful Living, Greensboro, NC.

“As the global economy evolves, and materialism is emphasized, more and more people search for meaning in a life that has a spiritual basis. This group will explore and dialogue around multiple ideas such as Conscious Capitalism, purposeful living and leadership and ecology.”

8) We Need Broadband – The Cry of Community Transformation! – Dr. Andrew Cohill. President, Design Nine, Inc. Internationally known consultant, speaker and past president of the American Association of Community Networks.

“No local area can establish a culture that supports continuous innovation in a collaborative way without the technical capacity to provide real time communication. This session will emphasize dialogue as to how fiber optic and wireless broadband technology can be utilized in unique and creative ways to help leaders and citizens build capacities for transformation in their local communities.”

9) The Forgotten Futurist - Jennifer Adams, Director, Leadership Norfolk, Norfolk (NE).

"Rural areas are never considered at the cutting edge of change. Come dialogue with a rural facilitator of community transformation who is at the cutting edge, and has a decade of experience working with COTF to develop knowledge and skills important for insuring vitality and sustainability in rural areas. Concepts such as 'futures generative dialogue,' identifying weak signals and seeding parallel processes as a part of local visioning processes will be central to the dialogue."

10) 21st Century Citizenship in an Age of Rejuveniling! – Neil Richardson, past Director of the Neighborhood Division of Washington, DC. Nationally recognized facilitator of civil society and community-based citizen participation efforts.

“Democracy as a system of effective government may be in trouble. Jefferson predicted that there would come a time when there would be a need to develop ‘groups of 100’ as the society became more complex. This futures dialogue group will consider what will be required to regain a mature citizenry that goes beyond radical self-interest….connecting technology with leadership skills able to help reconceive an appropriate democracy for the 21st century.”

11) Adapting Action Learning for Constant Change! – Paul Wildman, Brisbane, Australia, works in Kids and Adult Learning, through his family company KALGROVE Pty Ltd. He is (2004-present) node chair of the United Nation’s University’s Millennium Project for Australia.

“The concept of learning is changing from an emphasis on cognitive learning only to one of linking learning styles, seeing connections in dissimilar ideas, and applying new knowledge in new ways. This group will dialogue about how learning can meet the needs of the present through hands-on action, and, at the same time in parallel, focus on creating new knowledge for the future.”

12) Igniting Innovation and Transformation! – Gary Merrill, President, Emergent Systems, Inc, Santa Cruz, CA.

“Many firms and communities focus on a type of innovation and change that updates and refines principles and ideas that have existed for many years. This session will explore how to identify emerging weak signals and how to connect them as a part of seeding organizational and community transformation.”

13) Community Development: Not in My Back Yard Issues – Tige Watts, nationally known political consultant and President Elect of the Columbia, SC Neighborhood Association.

“Democratic society is challenged in how to make decisions for the common good in a time of radical individualism. This group will dialogue about new ways to help bring local citizens into processes that will help balance the needs of the individual with needs of the commonwealth.”

14) Business, Industry and Coastal Issues – Global Warming. Paul Gayes, Director, Center for Marine and Wetlands Studies, Coastal Carolina University.

“The issue of global warming has reached the level of public consciousness where it is accepted that there is a severe problem emerging worldwide. With the continued expansion of the economy, how can business, industry and communities work in collaboration to insure that our grandchildren will have reefs, woodpeckers and a quality of biodiversity continue to exist in the future.”

15) Women and Minority Owned Businesses – Angie Woodward, past Director of Leadership Kentucky, and nationally known leadership development consultant.

“As one phase of equal rights for women and minorities ends and another begins, what issues and potentials exist for women and ethnic minorities as the economy of the nation and world morphs to a network of entrepreneurs and small businesses as a part of global innovation networks and a Molecular Economy.”

16) Dealing with the Homeless – Norma Owen, President, Avadon, Inc from Raleigh, North Carolina

“Arnold Toynbee said the quality of a nation is reflected in how it deals with its less fortunate members. This session will consider how communities of the future will need to rethink it approach to the homeless. What balance is need between fostering self-reliance and help to build capacities for transformation.”

17) Public Health – What Are the Problems? – Matthew Haggis, Principal, Creative Exchange, Edinburgh, Scotland. Nationally known coach for innovation and community development.

“In 1995, Laurie Garrett authored The Coming Plague. The emergence of AIDS, bird flu and other potential pandemic diseases casts a huge shadow on public health services. This group will wrestle with identifying all the factors that will impact the capacity of the public health system to be able to respond effectively in an age of jet travel and real time world wide trade.”

18) Systemic Energies- Reaching Beyond Petroleum – John Bost, President, Master Counsel, Inc, Winston Salem, North Carolina

“International energy experts expect the world-wide production of oil to peak between 2006 and 2013. Scenarios exist predicting doomsday to manageable transitions. No one says it will be easy. This session will identify issues related to both the demand ( reducing consumptions) and supply ( alternative sources ) of energy, and how communities, businesses, and industry teams can best prepare for the coming energy transformation.”