Inside This Issue

CPSI 2009: Venue Announcement!
CPSI 2008 Advertisement in National Magazines!
Polsky Matching Challenge Grant - New Challenge to Raise $25,000!
Bea Parnes' Request for Case Studies
CPSI Story Well Survey Results
Interview with Caroline Pakel-Dunlop - Creator of the CPSI Story Well
Staffing Update

CPSI 2009 Venue Announcement & Early-Early Bird Opportunity

We are pleased to announce that CPSI 2009 will be held in CEF's home state of Massachusetts, 20 minutes from Boston!! See details below.

Sheraton, Ferncroft Hotel
50 Ferncroft Road
Danvers, MA

www.sheratonferncroftresort.com
www.CPSICONFERENCE.com

We hope you will be able to join us at our 55th annual creativity conference! CPSI is the largest and longest continually running conference focused on the development of creativity and the teaching of the Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving Process.

Registration will be open after CPSI so be sure to sign-up as soon as possible to take advantage of the Early-Early Bird rates that will be available!

CPSI Marketing - Advertising in National Magazines!

Thanks to the help of a longtime CPSI leader, CEF was able to secure sponsorships from both Sports Illustrated and MNI. These sponsorships resulted in the advertisement above appearing in subscription issues of Newsweek, Time and US News and World Report in April and in the Sports Illustrated May 19th newsstand issue, reaching approximately 2.5 million readers in total.

Click here to view the full size Ad. (88.6KB)

Polsky Matching Challenge Grant - New Challenge to Raise $25,000!

By Jane Goldwasser

Lifelong learners value the added motivation that comes from meeting a challenge – whether it’s learning a new skill, achieving a personal milestone or helping a colleague move into a new area. In the world of fund-raising, the Norman & Elaine Polsky Family Supporting Foundation believes that challenge grants are a wonderful way to motivate not-for-profits to motivate members to meet important goals such as setting up an endowment fund to provide a stable basis for the organization’s long-term needs.

A single encounter with Sid Parnes at a CPSI Winterfest was all the introduction Norm Polsky needed to include CEF among the 40 charities his family’s foundation supports. In 2007, the Polsky Foundation challenged CEF to raise $25,000. The organization responded and the total of those efforts is a fund valued at over $125,000 today!

For 2008, the Polsky foundation has issued another challenge to CEF to raise $25,000 in one year. So here’s your chance to step up to the challenge! If 1 person donates $25,000, or 2 people each donate $12,500 or 5 donate $5,000 each – see how easily the amounts add up? Don’t think your pocketbook will quite reach $5,000 for 2008? How about if 250 people each made a donation of $100? That adds up to $25,000 in a much more achievable way.

Over the course of the years since you’ve first attended a CPSI conference, has what you’ve learned added to your life? Your skills? Your creative spirit? Please consider giving back – and thanks to the Polsky foundation, all your gifts can be doubled.

Bea Parnes' Request for Case Studies

Reframed from Bea and Sid Parnes' Letter

This past year, Bea Parnes sent out a letter asking for help to compile Case Studies of successful uses of Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving (CPS). These case studies will be compiled into a complete library and used to substantiate the effectiveness of the process.

We are looking forward to hearing your story and how Creative Problem Solving made a difference in a business, education, non-profit organization, or community setting. If possible, please share full details including names of companies, dates, and outcomes. The more specific the information, the more useful the case study.

• Your name and contact information
• Assignment/Use/Challenge
• Client/Audience
• Location
• Number of Participants
• Date
• Time Frame (i.e.: one week, six months, etc.)
• Results - What happened, What changed
• Materials/Texts/Tools used
• Follow-up

These stories can be sent to Bea and Sid Parnes via e-mail or snail mail. Thank you in advance for your cooperation and helpfulness in telling your story.

Send to:
bea-sidparnes@creativeeducationfoundation.org
Creative Education Foundation
289 Bay Road
Hadley, Massachusetts 01035
413-559-6614

CPSI Story Well - Survey Results

The results are in! We had an amazing response and we have a clear success; thank you to everyone who participated. Almost 79% of you feel that the Story Well is a good or very good idea, and most also like the current email frequency of once every two weeks.

Our favorite stories to date include Jon Pearson’s “Bug Man,” Bea Parnes’ “In the Beginning,” and Kevin Byron’s “Deferring Judgment.” When asked about favorite types of stories, most voted for stories that inspire others or have a strong impact on an individual or community. People also enjoy the entertaining and anecdotal stories.

Suggestions for improvements include keeping the stories shorter, integrating how the CPS process has been used successfully, and being more inspirational. If you have a story to tell, please send your entry to storywell@CPSIconference.com.

Interview with Caroline Pakel-Dunlop, Creator of the CPSI Story Well

By Doug Stevenson

DS: Caroline, tell me about the CPSI Story Well, how did the idea come about?
CD: When I attended CPSI at Callaway last year, I was asked to reflect on how I would wish to contribute to CPSI in the future. I am based in the UK and cannot make the trip every year. I wondered about what might help me and others keep in touch with the rest of the CPSI spirit and community.

DS: “In what ways might I keep the CPSI feeling alive”?
CD: Exactly. So, I thought about the theme of ‘storytelling’ which was emerging throughout the conference at the time.

DS: Why storytelling?
CD: I love stories. My business is rooted in qualitative research and I developed a strong interest in recent years in helping people express their own stories, construct their own narratives freely.

DS: Yes, and …?
CD: In the world today, people are dying to tell their own stories. This is because there are fewer places for people to do so in a supportive and non-judgmental environment. Yet, when we all meet at CPSI, we feel this sense of belonging, of oneness. There is this shared passion for nurturing possibilities. The reality of our era is that we communicate and connect with people more in the virtual and electronic world. So I wondered about adapting the ancient ritual of sharing stories around the fire to this new communication medium.

DS: And the name “CPSI Story Well?”
CD: One positive way to look at the Internet is as if it were a “well” … somewhere that you can throw your story into, not knowing what kind of ‘noise’ it will create when it hits.

DS: Can you speak about the creative thought process that made the CPSI Story Well come into being?
CD: I put together my own understanding of CPSI values and benefits in a mind map. I used this as my reference base for selling the idea.

DS: What did you find most challenging or most surprising?
CD: I wished for the Story Well to be a ‘living’ book – the keeper of a little CPSI flame that could keep burning throughout the year. I initially had to learn to entice and cajole – more than I expected – and use all the CPSI connections I had. It really was like having the patience and determination one needs to light a fire with stones. And now that the flame is burning, I am hoping soon to pass the torch. So I am anticipating that another community member will step up and run with it next year.

DS: Thanks, Caroline, for your time and for lighting the flame that illuminates all these very rich and very personal reflections on the CPSI experience in which we all share.

If you are interested in being the CPSI Story Well keeper, please send a note to StoryWell@CPSIconference.com.

Staffing

Pim Vossen returned to CEF in late February for his second 5-month internship. When he returns to the Netherlands in August 2008 he will be employed by Zuyd University in Heerlen to start a series of Creativity skills courses within the Facility Management School and program.

Former CEF employees Crystal Potter and Carly McKay will be helping us at CPSI registration. Be sure to stop by and say hello!

Upcoming Conferences

For a list of upcoming conferences check ifoco.org

Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI 2008)
June 22 - 27,
Callaway Gardens, Pine Mountain, Georgia
www.callawayonline.com

CEF Newsletter Committee

Editors / Writers: Suzie Nussel, Jane Goldwasser, Doug Stevenson.
Web Design: Justin Horth.
Oversight: Victoria Cliche.

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.