CEF Newsletter - Creative Eductation Foundation

The Creative Education Foundation is pleased to
announce that registration has opened for CPSI 2007.
Go to www.cpsiconference.com to register NOW!

As you know, CPSI is like no other conference in the world. It is a hands-on learning experience that brings together multinationals across disciplines seeking new ways of thinking and new ways of implementing creative solutions. This year, our 53rd, will combine all the best of CPSI speakers, programs, and activities and be held in a beautiful setting. To ensure that everyone who attends has the opportunity to have a breakthrough experience, in addition to the CPS courses, we have some cutting-edge immersions and eye-opening speakers. Whether this is your first or your 40th, you will leave CPSI inspired. Just what is the Nature of Innovation? Come to CPSI 2007 and find out!!!

This year’s CPSI conference will be held at Callaway Gardens in GA from Sunday, June 24th to Friday, June 29th. The program officially begins with dinner on Sunday.

We’re excited about our new location, and we have some exciting speakers and new Immersions lined up.

Masters of Ceremonies: The Innovise Guys, Gregg Fraley and Doug Stevenson, will entertain us as they lead us through the conference.

What's Your Red Rubber Ball? - Kevin Carroll

The End of the Beginning: Framing Challenges After CPSI - Arthur (Andy) VanGundy

Keynote Dialogue : The Nature of Innovation -
Michael Jones, Harold Nelson, Robert Rasmussen (pending), Robert Rosenfeld, Laura Schmidt

Creativity, Deception & 'The Enchanted Loom' - Kevin Byron

The Bootstrapper's Journey - Bijoy Goswami

The Color of Innovation - Harold Nelson

Creating from the Thought Centers - Laura Schmidt and Susan Newhouse

CPS and the "Creative" Process - Steve Stockman

Acting on the Truth - James Sweitzer

Click here to learn more about our speakers.

Immersion Programs
This year, we are proud to present four excellent Immersion programs, which allow participants to learn advanced skills over the week by industry experts.
Click here for full descriptions.

Leading Artfully: Awakening the Commons of the Imagination - Michael Jones. Jones is an accomplished pianist, business consultant and author. The workshop will explore new ways to cultivate the imagination to create strategies to effect change. Participants will explore how their unique gifts contribute to collective leadership and how to improve their own innovation leadership skills.

Innovation Workshop - Bob Rosenfeld and Gary Wilhelmi. Workshop based on Rosenfeld’s book, Making the Invisible Visible: The Human Principles for Sustaining Innovation, will help organizational leaders improve their innovation efforts within their companies.

Lego Serious Play: Strategy Making & Implementation in Real Time - Gary Mankellow, Robert Rasmussen, Jacquelin Lloyd Smith. By using Legos to develop three-dimensional landscapes, business leaders learn to create Real Time Strategies to evaluate options and determine strategic direction.

From Zero to Participate in 60 seconds (Z2P-in-60) - Bill Olsen. Participants will learn proven techniques to create sessions that are dynamic, interactive, yet practical and make creativity happen…fast. Participants will experience how to effectively keep the energy up, timing right & their groups engaged.

CPSI Marketing – Please Spread the Word!
Postcards are being sent out in April to drive people to the website to register. To save money, the large conference brochures will not be sent out this year. Please start spreading the word that CPSI is coming June 24-29th in Georgia.

The Creative Education Foundation is pleased to
announce that registration has opened for CPSI 2007.
Go to www.cpsiconference.com to register NOW!

The Annual drive brought in a total of $47,926 in donations and memberships, far off its goal of $150,000. Thank you to the people who have taken the time to submit donations. We still need your help before CPSI starts… please donate now to ensure CEF’s educational mission and long-term success.
We appreciate your ongoing support!

CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW!

Thanks to CEF Member, Sjra Puts (whom you may remember from his beautiful guitar in the downstairs gallery on Arts Night 2006), CEF welcomes our first intern from Holland, Pim Vossen. A descendent of a fox hunting family (“vossen” means fox), Pim is a 21 year-old student of Event Management in The Netherlands at Zuyd University: School of Facility Management based in Heerlen. Pim is experienced in events management, having worked for FB Events and Organice in Holland.

Knowing CPSI 2007 will require a strong team to be successful, Sjra thought it would be a great match for both the CEF and Pim to have him complete his internship during the months April, May, and June. The CEF Staff are very happy to have his help and expertise, most especially David Jeffries who is pleased to no longer be the lone male in the CEF office.

Pim will be supporting CPSI Logistics Manager and CEF Project Manager, Lisa Karlin, with the pre-conference planning and all of the ground conference activities during CPSI. Pim will be responding to all email sent to CPSI@CPSICONFERENCE.com

We're fortunate to have Pim as a member of the CPSI 2007 team, as we know he will add significant value during the upcoming months.

Many of you have asked for more detail concerning the CEF finances, Victoria Cliche, David Jeffries and Paul Groncki have prepared a Financial Presentation that they will share with any interested members of CEF and our broader community. The presentation runs from 60-90 minutes and requires a high speed connection as information is shared via WebEx technology and telephone conference dial-in. Please write to cpsi@cpsiconference.com to be included. The presentation date will be set when a group of 6 or more sign-up.

As a non-profit. CEF is dependent on its donations. While the Journal runs at a profit, CPSI has run at a loss. This has caused the CEF Executive Director to make some tough decisions, including increasing the 2007 CPSI fees for its leaders, especially those doing limited sessions. Given that it is a week-long conference and half of last year’s participants were leaders, the old fee structure was not sustainable. However, special compensation will be made for those bringing new participants to CPSI.

A key recommendation for the long-term is to rotate CPSI to three venues only and hold the conference at the same venue for two years before rotating to the next venue. This will afford for some variety while allowing CEF to negotiate more effective contracts and reduce the work hours required to put on the conference. This will in turn free up some of the staff's time and allow Victoria more time for priorities such as business development and CEF outreach.

Again, if you are interested in participating in an interactive conference call, please contact CEF at cpsi@cpsiconference.com to be included. We welcome your participation and input.

We are making progress in getting JCB on-line by June. CEF signed a contract with MetaPress in January, and with the help of Jo Yudess, is preparing the back issues to be put on-line. Once that is complete, there will be some site design work to be completed. We should be up and open to the public by July. In case you are unfamiliar with the JCB support group, it includes Jo Yudess in Buffalo and Brenda Deal in Hadley, contract and part-time staff respectively, and Cheryl Nee-Gieringer, spearhead and volunteer.

The CEF community was saddened to learn that long-time leader and member, Ted Callisto, died on February 1, 2007. Ted received the CEF Service and Commitment Award in 1999. He also shared his joy in the creative process by establishing the Florida Creativity Weekend – celebrating its fourth anniversary this year. Kitty Heusner and Nancy Myers, inheritors of Ted’s leadership mantle, wrote this to the attendees at this year’s conference:

Ted was married for 50 years to Diane. He leaves four daughters, Cathy Rajca, Dee Anne McDonough, Madonna Callisto and Margaret Connor. His daughter Cathy works at Buffalo Mailing Service, Inc, which has been a long-time vendor for CEF. This is the firm that is responsible for mailing the Journal of Creative Behavior.

Doug & Gregg (D&G): “So, the site of CPSI 2007 has been selected, the website is up, speakers have been scheduled, leaders are signing up …”
Innovise Guys: “You are correct, sirs.”
D&G: “And you guys have been selected as MC’s?”
Innovise Guys: “Absolutely … Masters of Ceremonies … Maximizers of Creativity … Mirth Catalysts … Muchachos Calientes … etc.”
D&G: “Okay, we get the idea. So what should CPSI attendees expect?”
Innovise Guys: “Well, for one, Victoria Cliche will be more relaxed and hopefully not get laryngitis. She’s off the hook. So we’d look for her to maybe revamp her torch singer act …”
D&G: “What else?”
Innovise Guys: “Well, we’ll probably banter and prattle on a bit. Maybe have some surprises like costuming and videos and such …”
D&G: “Costuming? Will we see the fishnets this time?”
Innovise Guys: “We’re not telling …”
D&G: “And?”
Innovise Guys: “We expect that everyone will love the capacious grounds – that’s 13,000 acres -- of the lovely Callaway Gardens Resort … “
D&G: “Yes, and?”
Innovise Guys: “Yes, and the butterfly center and the horticulture center and the nature trails and the spa and wellness center and the bike and nature trails and the fishing and the tennis courts and the birds of prey …”
D&G “Yes, and …”
Innovise Guys: “And that we wouldn’t be surprised if within the first 24 hours at least one of the three championship golf courses there will be converted into an 18-hole labyrinth … although a par five labyrinth passage is not so Zen … we’ll have to deal with that creatively …”
D&G: “Say more.”
Innovise Guys: “Water hazards and sand traps become water and sand “opportunities.” CPS becomes ‘Creative Par Salvaging.’ Yeah, it’s like having the Dali Lama and Sid Parnes caddy for you.”
D&G: “Well isn’t everyone at CPSI well above par? By the way, Callaway … aren’t those the folks with ‘Big Bertha’?”
Innovise Guys: “Different strokes for different folks … and they’re ALL welcome at CPSI – In fact we encourage ‘different folks’ – the more diverse and different the better.”
D&G: “Isn’t the “Big Bertha” an oversized driver that lengthens drives and reduces strokes?”
Innovise Guys: “Hey, that’s like divergence and convergence – Like we said, the more different strokes the better.”
D&G: “Speaking of strokes, isn’t Georgia hot in June?”
Innovise Guys: “Heaven’s to Gary Coleman! No worries, ‘mon’ … The resort has air-conditioned rooms and an inviting sandy beach on a lake where you can cool off. That’s if anyone has time between all the immersions, extending sessions, keynotes and spotlights, and night flights that are planned.”
D&G: “Well, for anyone who does have the time, they can hang out on the beach or in the hub or pub and read Gregg’s new business fable on CPS, Jack’s Notebook.”
Innovise Guys: “Hey, that’s a ‘shameless plug’! Is the interview almost over?”
D&G: “That’s right … Is there anything else?”
Innovise Guys: “Just that we’ll try to add to the fun in our roles as CPSI MCs – and try to make CPSI 2007 the best ever.”
D&G: “Thank you guys! Could you sign us off in your signature fashion?”
Innovise Guys: “And that’s all from … The Innovise Guys. See you in Pine Mountain, Georgia!”
- By Doug Stevenson & Gregg Fraley

A great winter creativity conference was held in almost-sunny Sarasota, Florida on the weekend of March 3-4, 2007. Originally founded by Ted Callisto, the Florida Creativity Conference is now chaired by Kitty Heusner, Nancy Myers, and Marcia Berkey. It is held at the wonderful Girl Scout Program center, home of the Girl Scout Gulfcoast Council.

Friday night began with a mesmerizing keynote address by Tim Hurson of Thinkx. While Tim shared the beginning chapters of his about-to-be-published book on thinking better, his talk was graphically facilitated by Brandy Agerbeck, who made an amazing mind-map to capture Tim’s wisdom.

Saturday followed the typical CPSI schedule – too many choices among wonderful workshops. A highlight of this conference was the one-day CEF YouthWise™ program facilitated by Tom Potter and Lynn Frankel. For the adults, tough choices included topics as diverse as exercise balls, e-creativity, applying creativity to relationships, and speaking without words. Many familiar CPSI presenters participate in this conference, so it is not only a great way to re-energize your creative juices, it’s also a wonderful opportunity to renew old friendships.

Next year’s conference will be held on the weekend of March 7 to 9, 2008 – a great spring break to put on your conference calendar.

This is your opportunity to make a difference! CEF is looking for an individual willing to step up and coordinate the volunteers who give of their time to help move the Creative Education Foundation forward.

The Volunteer Coordinator’s main responsibilities will be to plan, develop, and implement volunteer programs, recruit volunteers, and supervise volunteers in support of the Creative Education Foundation.

The right individual will have great organizational, people and communication skills. Will know how to keep volunteers on task through positive reinforcement, know when and where volunteers are needed.

The individual we are looking for will have some or all of the following skill sets:
• Principles and practices of volunteer management.
• Strong communicator, both written and verbal. Is able to produce written documents in English with clearly organized thoughts using proper sentence construction, punctuation, and grammar.
• Work cooperatively with CEF staff and the general CEF community.
• Effective computer skills on PC or Mac
• Some experience in volunteer management, HR or a related field.
• Other combinations of experience and education that meet the minimum requirements may be substituted.

If you have any interest in this position or know of someone who might fit the bill, please contact Lisa Karlin: lisakarlin@cpsiconference.com

CREA
April 18-21
Sestri Levante, Italy
www.creaconference.com

Create & Innovate Conference
April 24-25
Dublin City College
Dublin, Ireland

Expert to Expert (E2E)
May 14-16
ICSC - Buffalo State College
Buffalo, New York

Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI)
June 24 - 29
Callaway Gardens, Pine Mountain, Georgia
www.callawayonline.com

Editors / Writers: Suzie Nussel, Jane Goldwasser, Doug Stevenson.
Web: Justin Horth.
Oversight Committee: Victoria Cliche, Cheryl Nee-Gieringer, Suzanne Chamberlain.

Interested in helping us make the CEF Newsletter great? We need writers, photographers and artists for book reviews, creativity tips, and more. Contact us at CEFNewsletter@creativeeducationfoundation.org.