Special Sessions
Expand your thinking and your horizons with these special professional development opportunities.
Conference within a Conference
Back to Basics: Principles for Powerful Practice
Seeing the Future through the Eyes of Leading Practitioners
from Around the World
Get Published!
Live From Anywhere, Anytime: Using Webcasting for Learning and Exchange
First Time Attendees’ Orientation
The Dick Beckhard Mentoring Program
Conference within a Conference
John D. Adams, PhD, Chair, PhD Organizational Systems Program,
Saybrook Graduate School
Marilyn Blair, PhD, Principal, TeamWork
Peter Norlin, Principal, Greenleaf Associates
Bev Scott, MA, MHRD, Bev Scott Consulting
Once again, this year’s OD Network Conference provides another option for enhancing your professional development. The Conference within a Conference (CwC) is a parallel Action Learning track that runs alongside the familiar conference format during concurrent sessions, bringing participants into the regular conference schedule for keynotes and social activities. Participants in last year’s CwC raved about their experience. They especially valued having an intense, personal, sustained relationship with a small group of professional colleagues, while learning and practicing firsthand the principles of Action Learning. During this alternative conference experience, Action Learning Teams will investigate topics related to the OD Network’s mission and develop a set of specific, actionable recommendations that will be forwarded to the OD Network Executive Director.
And there’s an even greater payoff for this investment of time and energy. You’ll also:
- Gain experience with Action Learning methodology and practices
- Serve as a coach and consultant to colleagues
- Increase your self-awareness through small group process and facilitation
- Practice your “use of self” as an instrument of influence and change
There is no additional fee for participating in Conference within a Conference, but you must pre-register.
Back to Basics: Principles for Powerful Practice
with Michael Broom and Edie Seashore
This session was such a hit last year, we’ve brought it back! Offered on Sunday morning and conducted by leading practitioners Michael Broom and Edie Seashore, Back to Basics reinforces fundamental OD skills and provides a call for renewal through a focus on the basics—so it’s a good choice for those new to the field or those who wear a number of hats.
Topics include
- A brief discussion of OD from its beginning to today
- Eight practical principles for practicing OD in its most powerful form
- Review of the five stages of OD projects
There is no additional fee for participating, but you must pre-register.
Seeing the Future through the Eyes of Leading Practitioners
from Around the World
On Sunday morning, be sure to join this unique opportunity to hear from two sets of authors who have been deeply involved with practitioners around the globe:
- Peggy Holman, Tom Devane, and Steven Cady, authors of The Change Handbook: The Definitive Resource on Today’s Best Methods for Engaging Whole Systems
- Barbara Bunker and Billie Alban, authors of The Handbook of Large Group Methods: Creating Systemic Change in Organizations and Communities
Together these authors bring a rich, diverse, and broad perspective on what’s happening in the world of change. This is knowledge you can’t get anywhere else. Come listen, dialogue, and tap into what these authors have learned from their in-depth interactions with interesting people who are changing the world in amazing ways. Later in the day, you’ll have an opportunity to have these authors sign their books.
There is no additional fee for participating, but you must pre-register.
Get Published!
If you want to write for one of the OD Network’s celebrated publications, spend lunchtime on Monday lunch with OD Network’s Managing Editor, Marilyn Blair, and members of the editorial review boards for OD Practitioner and OD Seasonings. Bring your case experiences, your processes and tools, and theory you are developing to share with your colleagues in roundtable conversation. Writing for a professional journal is a tremendous opportunity to communicate your ideas, contribute to the field and further your career. You'll have your questions answered and get the lowdown on how to submit and get articles published.
Live From Anywhere, Anytime: Using Webcasting for Learning and
Exchange
Denise Easton, Co-founder and CEO, ULiveandLearn
If you have a message or skills to share with other OD practitioners; if you’re involved with education, training and development or work with teams—don’t miss this session! Live web-based program delivery with streaming audio and video builds a critical bridge in the digital highway. Real-time collaborative technology allows for targeted learning, customized knowledge exchange, skill development, and sustained participant collaboration and teamwork. This session will explore the technology and best practices of webcasting with emphasis on real-life examples of how to design effectively for this exciting medium.
First Time Attendees’ Orientation
facilitated by John McCall and Kristen Donovan
If this is your first OD Network Conference, plan to attend this Sunday session designed just for you. You’ll meet and network with other attendees who are first-timers—and we’ll provide a practical introduction to getting the most from Conference 2006. A great investment of your time, this enjoyable session helps you hit the ground running!
The Dick Beckhard Mentoring Program
with Denny Gallagher and Stephanie Carroll
This highly-rated OD Network Conference favorite honors Dick Beckhard, OD founder and committed mentor. The session, on Sunday at 2:30 pm, pairs new and/or mid-career practitioners with seasoned OD mentors. Throughout the conference, mentors offer support, ideas, knowledge, counsel and inspiration; relationships that are forged often last beyond the conference! If you are interested in attending as a “mentee” and want to work with a mentor, please sign up on the conference registration form. If you are a senior practitioner and are interested in participating as a mentor, please email Denny Gallagher for more information.
There is no additional fee for participating, but you must pre-register.