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2013 Forum Partners InThinking
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Happy Spring from the In2:InThinking Network!
With spring now officially in the air (in the northern hemisphere), and April showers predicted to bring May flowers, we're proud to announce plans for our 2013 Forum, set for June 19th - 23rd in Los Angeles, California.
Join us for the first time, or 12th time, as we celebrate another year of providing access to novel ideas that are essential to teamwork in any organization. Our efforts are guided by a simple theory that the ability to work together and learn together is built upon a foundation of thinking together. In a departure from our recent Forums, we've made a few significant changes to our program for 2013, as listed below:
- We've changed dates, from the usual late April time frame to June (19th-23rd)
- We've changed venues, from Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne's Canoga Park offices and the Hilton Woodland Hills to nearby California State University, Northridge (CSUN)
- We've changed our length from six (6) days to five (5) days; we'll start on at 7am on Wednesday, June 19th, with three (3) days of Pre-Conference sessions and end at noon on Sunday, June 23rd
- We've removed the Post-Conference sessions from our program
- We've added a Forum Fundraising Dinner (Thursday night, June 20th) to our Pre-Conference schedule
- We've added the option of webcast viewing of our Weekend Conference presentations for those who can't join us in Los Angeles.
- We've collaborated with our Forum partners at CSUN in their efforts to present a 1-day innovation conference (The Art of Innovation) on Friday, June 21st, with a discount offer for anyone attending our Weekend Conference as well
For our Forum Team, these design changes represent fewer days to plan for. For our attendees, this represents one more day with your families. And, for those traveling more than a few hours to Los Angeles, our "Wednesday through Sunday" schedule keeps your time with us within one calendar week. Link here to download our Forum brochure, filled with details on the entire program.
Aside from these new features, we're proud to continue our tradition of offering a registration fee of $400 to our Weekend Conference, with a $50 discount for registrations received before May 8th. With our habit of team work and through the dedication and "pay it forward" outlook of our presenters, we're also pleased to maintain our tradition of offering an exceptional collection of Pre-Conference sessions. This year, we're offering 18 sessions in four parallel-tracks over three (3) days, all free with the exception of one session which includes a $40 material fee.
Bring your ideas, stories, experiences, challenges, and opportunities, as our Forum attendees always do, to share and explore with peers in an environment that is continuously and persistently open to possibilities. We invite you to join us for half a day or all five (5) days. Whichever you decide, you're able to take advantage of our once-a-year voyage, where our partnership with attendees, presenters, and a growing list of "Partners InThinking" continues to provide a Forum of exceptional ideas for an exceptional value.
We are proud to announce that registration is now open for our 2013 Forum, titled:
The Art of Reflection: Connect - Inspire - Act
During his participation in our Forums in 2005 and 2006, Russ Ackoff reminded us of the need to reflect and often discover "the enemy is us," that is, the system that "we" are part of, contribute to, and maintain, is not "them," it's "us." In selecting this year's title, our focus is on the art of reflecting (on the system) and how this effort can lead to a new sense of connections, new inspiration, and new actions. We believe that a greater awareness of our thinking and the assumptions behind our actions, will promote activities that minimize sub-optimization through a focus on interactions and not, as Russ would warn us, the "parts taken separately."
And now, we ask you to invest a few minutes of your time for a glimpse of the many dimensions of our 2013 Forum website (with summary details below) and, to consider what you will experience at our Forum, join us in June.
When you're ready, link below to register; If you're not ready to register, but are likely to attend, please complete our RSVP Survey to help us with attendee estimates in our planning efforts.
Regarding housing, note that we've secured residence hall housing at CSUN as one of two planned options for lodging. The other option is the use of the nearby Airtel Plaza Hotel. Information on both options for housing can be found at this link. Please note that residence hall housing must be reserved by April 26th. Our discounted room rates at the Airtel Plaza Hotel are valid through June 19th.
Best regards!
In2:InThinking Network 2013 Forum Team
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In2:InThinking Network 2013 Forum
The Art of Reflection: Connect - Inspire - Act
Each month, we join with Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne's (PWR) InThinking Network to invite you to participate in a conference
call with esteemed Thought Leaders and meet them mind-to-mind through the 14th year of Ongoing Discussion conference calls. We're also partnering with PWR in 2013 on their InThinking Roadmap efforts, the "Better Thinking About..." webinars, now in operation for a second year. Once a year, we invite you to meet such Thought Leaders and fellow Network members; and meet them both mind-to-mind and face-to-face. Soon, it will be time to reconvene in Los Angeles.
Through our planning efforts, we selected a Forum theme which is inspired by the efforts of our members to engage in thinking transformations. This year we celebrate the ability of our members to reflect, connect, inspire, and act. This year's presentations will provide us with ample opportunities to explore the potential for thinking together, learning together, and working together.
Steve Cook, Director of Space Technologies for Dynetics, a space services company, will get our thinking off the ground with an opening keynote on Friday night, titled "Executing Affordable Space Transportation Systems: Applying Lessons Learned from Past Programs." Doug Krug, Leadership Consultant from Centennial, Colorado, will follow on Saturday morning with a session titled, "New Results Require New Thinking." Later that day, Barry Oshry, educator and pioneer in the field of human systems thinking, will share insights in a session titled, "The Accidental Theoretician and His Most Practical Findings." Henrik Minassians, Director of Regional/National Educational Partnerships & Services for Graduate & Professional Educational Services and Programs at CSUN, will close on Sunday morning with thoughts on public policy, "To Reflect or Not to Reflect: Can the Public Sector Shift Paradigms?"
In between, we'll be provoked on topics ranging from Goal Setting to Inspiration to Change Management with Bill Bellows, Jon Bergstrom, Ian Bradbury, Julie Francis, Jengiz Gocer, Emma Langman, Tim Higgins, and Jennifer Shepherd. And, let us not forget an evening of rockabilly music on Saturday night with musical guest, The Leapin' Lizards, featuring lead singer Aileen Quinn, lead actress in the movie version of the musical, Annie.
Our 2013 Forum at a Day-by-Day Glance........
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