Upcoming Events & Trainings

Join us tomorrow (Thursday) from 2-3 pm EST (11 am Pacific) for an “NCDD Confab” call on the role of dialogue & deliberation practitioners and organizations in Haiti, and in disaster recovery in general.  Featured guests on the call are BJ Diamond and Marieann Shovlin of the Global Facilitator Service Corps and John Engle, co-founder of Haiti Partners, and Larry Schooler will facilitate.

BJ and Marieann will talk about GFSC’s work helping communities deal with crises.  John Engle will talk with us about his work fostering participatory leadership and discussion-based education in Haiti before and since the hurricane.

We’d greatly appreciate it if you would RSVP for the call ahead of time by emailing Larry at or me at , but here are the call-in details in case you don’t get a chance:

1-605-475-6350 (long distance call to Midwest U.S.)
Access Code:  444839

This is one of a new series of “NCDD Confab Calls” where we’ll be exploring dialogue & deliberation’s role in current issues, learn about exciting projects and interesting methods from fellow NCDD members, and just get to know each other a little better.

Here are some more details about our featured guests and the facilitator/initiator of the call… (more…)

We held our first “NCDD Confab” yesterday, and we want to thank our featured guests and everyone who participated!  We had close to 20 people on the call, and you can listen to the audio by clicking below if you’re interested (press the play button or download the mp3 file).  NCDD member Beth Offenbacker from PublicDecisions was our featured guest, and she talked with us about the upcoming Including the Excluded Online Conference (March 2-4) and about online conferences in general.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Or download: NCDD Confab – February 17, 2010: Including the Excluded Online Conference (~40 MB)

The NCDD Confabs are a new series of regular conference calls for NCDD members only where we’ll explore dialogue & deliberation’s role in current issues, learn about exciting projects and interesting methods from fellow NCDD members, and just get to know each other a little better.  Our second Confab call will focus on Haiti, and the role of practitioners and facilitators in the current crisis and its aftermath – so you may want to add that to your calendars now (it will be Thurs, Feb. 25 from 2-3 pm Eastern).

Also, note that NCDD is an affiliate of the Including the Excluded online conference, and members of the NCDD community (basically, anyone who hears about the conference through NCDD!) are eligible for a special conference rate of just $139 USD (a $40 savings) the full 3-day conference, or just $70 for a one-day pass. By registering, you’re also supporting NCDD, since we receive a portion of each registration fee. Be sure to use the discount code NCDDSpecial when registering at www.seconf.org.

The latest newsletter from the David Mathews Center for Civic Life arrived in inboxes over the weekend featuring their upcoming Connect the Dots Conference.  Here’s an excerpt from the email:

From March 3-6, 2010 in Point Clear, Alabama, the David Mathews Center for Civic Life’s Community-Based Research Internship Program in New College at the University of Alabama will host CONNECT THE DOTS, a national student conference that will focus on the democratic practices of public dialogue, deliberation, and community problem solving and action.

During the conference, students, faculty, program administrators, practitioners, and community members from across the nation will have the opportunity to share their ideas about democratic practices with one another. Examples of workshops that will be held during the conference include: “Models and Approaches to Deliberative Democracy,” “Issue Naming and Framing,” Introduction to Facilitation,” “Sustained Dialogue,” and many more.

We’ll Be There!

NCDD will be well represented at this event. Sandy Heierbacher, NCDD’s director, will be running two workshops on approaches to deliberative democracy.  NCDD Board member and director of Everyday Democracy, Martha McCoy, will speak and be joined by several other NCDD members leading workshops or learning exchanges, including Najeeba Syeed-Miller, Nancy Thomas and Matt Leighninger.

If you’re an NCDD member and will be at the event, .  Or, if you live anywhere near Point Clear and are interested in meeting up with Sandy and other NCDDers, send her an or connect with her on Facebook.

All NCDD members are welcome to join us on Wednesday, Feb. 17 at 3:30-4:00 Eastern for the first in a new series of “NCDD Confabs” — conference calls for NCDD members where we’ll explore dialogue & deliberation’s role in current issues, learn about exciting projects and interesting methods from fellow NCDD members, and just get to know each other a little better.

At this first NCDD Confab call on the 17th, we asked NCDD member Beth Offenbacker from PublicDecisions to talk with us about the upcoming Including the Excluded Online Conference, scheduled for March 2 through 4, so we can learn about the upcoming conference, and about online conferences in general.

UPDATE: We will be encouraging questions, comments and networking over Twitter during the call.  Add the hashtag #NCDDConfab to the end of your Tweet to contribute during the call.  To see what participants are posting, search for the hashtag #NCDDConfab.

The online conference is the latest way people are using technology to bridge geographic distances and save money ordinarily spent on travel costs. How might this new way of sharing best practices assist those of us in the D&D community?

Join us for a great conversation with Beth as she uses the Including the Excluded conference as a case study, telling us:

• Why online conferences are becoming more popular
• How online conferences are similar to/different from face-to-face events
• What technology is involved and how does it work
• What registrants need to know to have a successful online conference experience

Special Offer for NCDD Members

Of course, Beth will also answer any questions you have about the Including the Excluded conference, and we hope this call will encourage more of you to attend this unique event. NCDD is an affiliate of the conference, and members of the NCDD community (basically, anyone who hears about the conference through NCDD!) are eligible for a special conference rate of just $139 USD (a $40 savings) the full 3-day conference, or just $70 for a one-day pass. By registering, you’re also supporting NCDD, since we receive a portion of each registration fee. Be sure to use the discount code NCDDSpecial when registering at www.seconf.org.

Please RSVP for the Confab call to me () so we get a head count, and join us on Wednesday, February 17 at 3:30pm Eastern (for a 30 to 45 minutes). The dial-in number for the call is 1-605-475-6350 (it’s a long distance call) and the participant access code is 444839.

Here’s a little more detail about the Including the Excluded online conference:

If you experience challenges with effectively engaging diverse people or groups, you won’t want to miss the Stakeholder Engagement 2010 Online Conference: Including the Excluded.

Held on Tuesday, March 2 through Thursday, March 4, the conference program highlights practical insights and best practices for engaging people. It focuses on individual presentations, case studies and research findings on engaging those

• who have historically been excluded (for example, those subject to racial or ethnic discrimination),
• individuals with physical or mental disabilities, and
• people who are socially excluded for a variety of reasons (such as people who are homeless or in a country illegally).

All sessions and activities are held on the internet, so no travel is required. Among the many benefits of participating include:

• Keynote address from John Ott, co-author of The Power of Collective Wisdom one of today’s leading thinkers and practitioners in the field of community change, which will inspire and challenge you with practical strategies and illustrative examples.
• Insights into today’s state-of-the-art best practices that practitioners and organizations are using to address social inclusion, social/environmental justice and accessibility.
• Real-world examples and key knowledge that you can apply right away in your work with stakeholders.
• Access to conference session recordings and presentation materials for at least six months after the conference concludes.

This month’s Open Government Directive Workshop will take place at the Charles Sumner Museum and Conference Center (17th and M Street NW, Washington, DC).  The workshop will take place from 9am to 4:30pm on February 17th.  RSVP is required by February 9th (instructions are below).

NCDD is a partner of this workshop series, as is the General Services Administration (GSA), the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) and GovLoop.  NCDD member Alex Moll will facilitate February’s workshop.

We have a great program planned.  Building off the January 11th workshop at the US Department of Transportation (over 200 people attended the January event; the photo you see is from that event), we are going to transition from divergent thinking to convergent thinking.  This workshop will be focused on creating specific ideas that agencies can drop into their actual open government plans which are due on April 7th.  Some agencies are farther along than others, so this workshop will help spread good ideas from one agency to the next.

This workshop will be different.
This workshop will be highly productive and engaging.  We are using a framework of competitive collaboration to surface the best ideas.  There will be six teams with twenty participants each.  Teams will work in separate spaces for four hours and then a few representatives will present the team’s work to a panel of judges at the end of the workshop.  Judges will be high-ranking thought leaders from the public sector.

How to RSVP (more…)

NCDD is a Conference Affiliate for the Including the Excluded Online Conference that will take place March 2-4, 2010. This unique online conference will be focused on Social Inclusion, Social/Environmental Justice and Accessibility, and will feature interactive presentations, networking and more. A portion of your registration supports NCDD, so be sure to use the NCDD discount code (“NCDDspecial”) when you register, so you can save $40 and support NCDD at the same time!  Registration for NCDD members is just $139.

Here is the latest press release (January 27th) for the conference:

Social/Environmental Justice, Accessibility and Social Inclusion the focus of Stakeholder Engagement 2010 Online Conference

Tuesday, March 2nd through Thursday, March 4th

(Alexandria, Virginia) Public, private and nonprofit/NGO professionals who experience challenges with effectively engaging diverse people or groups are invited to attend the Stakeholder Engagement 2010 Online Conference: Including the Excluded. The three-day program highlights practical insights and best practices from around the globe for engaging people who have historically been excluded (for example, those subject to racial or ethnic discrimination), individuals with physical or mental disabilities, or persons who are socially excluded for a variety of reasons (such as people who are homeless or in a country illegally). (more…)

Members of the National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD) have let us know about a number of workshops and trainings they are offering in the coming months.  Most of them are discounted considerably for dues-paying NCDD members.  They are…

• What Methods to Use When?
• Advanced Public Engagement Training
• CogNexus Institute’s Issue Mapping Webinar Series
• Masterful Facilitation Institute’s Spring Programs in Vancouver, BC
• Dynamic Facilitation Trainings for Individuals, Groups, and Large Systems
• “Hidden in Plain Sight”: a Center for Strategic Facilitation workshop
• Two Trainings for Dutch-Speaking Members

What Methods to Use When?

Analyzing Whole Situations (course ICAE 290) is a March 23-25 open enrollment online course offered by Antioch University McGregor that offers you practice in thinking through situations to decide (a) whether a participatory public process is needed, (b) for what purpose, and (c) of what kind. We’ll use cases brought by participants and an integrated systems framework to figure out just what it is about different kinds of participatory methods that suit them for different kinds of situations.

Participants may apply this workshop towards completion of Antioch’s new Graduate or Professional Certificate in Civic Development & Systemic Transformation, or as part of its Master’s Degree in Conflict Analysis & Engagement. The certificate program begins April 9, 2010 on-line. It includes three, 3-day workshops and can be completed in 6-9 months. For more details, email Sara Ross at or Nancy Glock-Grueneich at . You can read about all ICAE courses here.

Advanced Public Engagement Training

The Canadian Trainers Collective is partnering with Dialogue Partners Inc. and gWhiz Consulting Ltd. to include three additional courses in their schedule that provide additional learning opportunities in public engagement techniques:

• Group Facilitation Skills for Public Involvement
• Analyze This! Making Sense of Conflict in Public Engagement
• Standing in the Fire: Transforming Conflict Through Collaboration

Offered in Calgary in April, Ottawa in June, Washington DC in September, and Halifax in October, these courses build advanced skills in engaging participants.  The courses are presented by some of the most experienced trainings in Canada, and dues-paying NCDD members receive 15% discounts on all Dialogue Partners trainings.

For a brochure and registration info for all courses, visit www.dialoguepartners.ca/forms/index.asp?tid=131.

CogNexus Institute’s Issue Mapping Webinar Series

CogNexus Institute is excited to announce their next Issue Mapping Webinar Series, which starts on April 14, 2010. Every time we have offered this course participants have said that they are able to work more effectively with highly complex (or “wicked”) problems. The course teaches a new disciplined approach to listening, thinking through issues, and making decisions in groups and as individuals. Discounts: early bird discount ($100 off) ends April 5; Colleagues (people from the same organization) get an extra $25 off, and NCDD Members are being offered an extra $50 discount.

Register at www.cognexus.org/april_imws_registration.htm.

Masterful Facilitation Institute’s Spring Programs in Vancouver, BC

Enhance your facilitation competencies and mastery to enable groups of any size in any setting to tap their creativity and wisdom, and produce extraordinary results. Register now for significant Early Bird savings! (NCDD members earn extra 10% savings!)

• The Virtual Facilitator: Leading Interactive TeleCalls and Webinars – March 4, 11, & 18, 2010
• The Confident Facilitator: Essential Skills for Guiding Groups – March 24-26, 2010
• The Engaging Facilitator: Conversation Methods for Collaboration and Wise Action – April 13-15, 2010
• The Inspired Facilitator: Achieving Mastery in Engaging Organizations and Communalities – May 19-21, 2010
• The Artful Visual Facilitator: Bringing Meeting Results to Life with Graphics – May 26-27, 2010

For more information on any of these programs, visit www.masterfulfacilitation.ca.

Dynamic Facilitation: Emergent Leadership & Self-Organizing Change Skills for Individuals, Groups, and Large Systems

Dynamic Facilitation is a unique form of facilitation that feels like dialogue in that people share deeply from the heart about has meaning to them and generates group decisions and unanimous outcomes similar to deliberation. Its large-scale applications, known as the Creative Insight Council and the Wisdom Council, are being used to transform democracy in the public and private sphere, helping diverse groups address systemic and complex issues creatively and collaboratively and reached shared outcomes. In this introductory seminar, you’ll learn how to use these skills to help groups and large systems think together creatively and collaboratively to achieve self-organizing, win/win outcomes at home and in workplaces, schools, government agencies, and community settings.

Upcoming seminars are scheduled in:

• Atlanta, GA – Feb. 22-24
• Santa Fe, NM – Feb. 27 – Mar. 1
• Port Townsend, WA – Sept. 20-22

Dues-paying NCDD members receive a 20% discount on DF trainings. Visit www.tobe.net/df/page24/learn_df/seminars.html for more information and to register.

“Hidden in Plain Sight”: a Center for Strategic Facilitation workshop

The Center for Strategic Facilitation’s Technology of Participation (ToP) Learning Community is offering an interesting workshop called Hidden in Plain Sight: A Workshop on Unpacking Multiple Dimensions of Privilege and Facilitation. The workshop will take place in Oakland, California from 5:00 to 8:00 pm on February 17, 2010. Dues-paying NCDD members receive a 20% discount on all CSF trainings.

One of the ways institutional privilege operates is that when we have it, we’re often the last ones to see it. We have inherited a system of inequity that hurts us all. Some of us have more access to structural privilege than others, depending our age, body size, class background, physical/mental/emotional abilities, gender and gender-identity, race, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, citizenship status, native language… These forms of privilege shape our experiences and perspectives and therefore influence our facilitation. Join us for an opportunity to reflect on:

• What are some of the ways privilege impacts my facilitation, including in ways I may not be aware?
• How could increasing my awareness help me be in better service of the groups with whom I work?

Kathleen Rice will be sharing from the research she has conducted on white privilege and facilitation as a spring-board for reflection and small and large group discussion. Planning team members Steven Bucholtz, Sarah Calhoun and Marti Roach will also guide our work.

RSVP and Information: contact Marti Roach, Senior Partner, CSF at 925-376-3853 or .

Two Trainings for Dutch-Speaking Members

NCDD member Kees Voorberg of Centrum Dialoog en Samenleving announced two upcoming trainings:

Two-day workshop : The Power of Dialogue
The workshop is mainly experiential, partly theoretical. We’ll work in the dialogue circle and in small groups and with other dialogical methods. You will experience the effect of dialogue on yourself and on the quality of communication, the connectedness and the creativity in the group. You’ll learn about backgrounds and methods of Dialogue and you’ll discover what the long term effects of dialogue can be. The workshop is open to all and participation in it is also a pre-requisite for those who want to register for the Professional Training Program for Dialogue Process Facilitators. Language: Dutch. Venue: Conference Centre De Voorde, Laag Zuthem, The Netherlands. Dates: 22/23 march or 24/25 june. Info: www.keesvoorberg.nl/cm/index.php?page=introductieworkshop

Professional Training Program for Dialogue Process Facilitators
In september 2010 the next Training Program in Dialogue Process Facilitation will get started. Participants get acquainted with the dialogical principles and with a wide variety of dialogical methods. You’ll learn how to build a sustainable dialogical culture, that can function as a solid base for all kinds of change projects. The Training Program is focused on Facilitating Dialogue Work both within and without the context of organisations. Language: Dutch. Venue: Conference Centre De Voorde, Laag Zuthem, The Netherlands. Start: 22 september 2010. Participation in the two-day workshop ‘The Power of Dialogue’ is a prerequisite for participation in the Professional Training Program. Information: www.dialoogopleiding.nl

–

See the entire list of trainings that are discounted for NCDD members at www.thataway.org/discounts.  And email if you would like to offer NCDD members a discount in exchange for publicity on the NCDD website, facebook group, linkedin group, listservs, and email updates.

Thought some of you would be interested in looking over the Society for Organizational Learning’s 2010 program schedule.  According to Sherry Immediato, SoL will be offering a variety of workshops for individuals and teams in 2010. “Our intention is to help those with unconscious competence – that is, all of us – develop greater capacity for organizational learning, and to make these practices the rule rather than the exception in business, government and civil society.” Please contact Frank Schneider at 1-617-300-9535 or by email if you need help with registration, have questions or would like to know more about the value these programs offer. (more…)

The Golden Fleece is seeking proposals on You, Me and We: Connecting through Story for workshops and presentations on storytelling in the workplace and our teams, communities, and beyond for our upcoming one day Conference to be held Saturday, April 17, 2010 from 9 to 5 at George Mason University, Arlington VA Campus (Washington, DC area).

The workshop proposal submission deadline has been extended to January 29, 2010.

Golden Fleece, in conjunction with the 2010 Storytelling in Organizations seminar of the Smithsonian Institution’s Resident Associates Program (April 16, 2010), is pleased to announce the ninth annual International Storytelling Weekend in Washington.

This one-day conference offers the possibilityfor change leaders, executives, storytelling professionals, organizational development practitioners, students and researchers to conduct workshops, present findings, and discuss the important aspects of using story to explore all of the myriad of contemporary challenges we face today and in the future.

Please contact Denise Lee for more info:

I’m going to be in Point Clear, Alabama from March 3rd through 6th for a conference called “Connecting the Dots.” It’s a national student conference on embedding the democratic practices of public dialogue, deliberation, community problem solving and action sponsored by the University of Alabama’s David Mathews Center for Civic Life.

I’m being brought in to present a couple of workshops on distinguishing between and deciding on various approaches to dialogue and deliberation, and I’m really looking forward to spending time with college students (and others) who are passionate about democracy and engagement!

The conference goal is to provide a forum for students learning about how to embed democratic practices in their everyday work and lives. The conference director, Lane McClelland, told me that the event was inspired by the students who attended the No Better Time conference many of us attended in New Hampshire last July.

Students, faculty members, program administrators, practitioners, and community members are encouraged to attend. Registration is $150 for students and $300 for others. The $300 registration fee is waived for any faculty or staff who register 4 or more students at the $150 rate. Although there’s not a whole lot of lead time on this, I hope those of you who work with students will consider bringing a few of them to Alabama in March!

Steering committee members for the conference include representatives from Everyday Democracy, The Kettering Foundation, and The Democracy Imperative.

More information on the skill-building workshops conducted by leading practitioners in the field, as well as a Call for Proposals, is available at http://mathewscenter.org/2010_student_conference/.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s Collaboration Practitioners Network is holding an open learning session on January 21 at 1:00 pm Eastern, and everyone in the NCDD network has been invited to attend via conference call.  The session is titled “Canadian and US Experiences in Public Involvement — Learning from our Neighbors,” and leaders in NCDD’s sister organization, C2D2 (the Canadian Community for Dialogue & Deliberation) will be featured presenters.

The dial-in number for the 90-minute call is 1-866-299-3188, and the conference access code is 519-584-6853.  RSVPs are not required, but it’s a good idea to email Leanne Nurse at AND Pat Bonner at to let them know you will be on the call so they can send you any materials that will be reviewed on the call.

Here are some additional details from Leanne and Pat:

Our first session in 2010 will be something different from our past meetings because, not only will the speakers be from outside the US, many of those calling in will too. When I was in Toronto in October it was my good fortune to engage in conversations with leaders of the Canadian Community for Dialogue and Deliberation [C2D2] and several practitioners from Environment Canada. I suggested that our Network meeting might be a good forum for a US/Canada conversation about environmental public engagement as it’s done in the two countries. Without a doubt, we can learn from one another.

**Anyone who receives an invitation, whether direct or via a forwarded message, is welcome to call in and also to e-mail questions or topics for the speakers to address. These e-mails should reach Leanne Nurse at AND Pat Bonner at as soon as possible so they can be shared with the speakers.

DRAFT AGENDA

1. [1 PM]    Convene/Roll Call – Pat Bonner
2. [1:10]     Introductions of Speakers – Pat Bonner
3. [1:13]     Presentations [order not specified yet] and acknowledgement of pre-meeting questions
– Environment Canada – Anik Lalonde-Roussy and Dany Drouin [invited]
– C2D2 – Miriam Wyman and Sandra Zagon
– EPA – Pat Bonner and Leanne Nurse
[ The speakers will take clarifying questions as they present.]
4. [2:00] General discussion and additional questions
5. [2:25]     Announcements and Wrap-up

Thought a few of you might be interested in submitting a proposal for a workshop, panel, or quick 5-minute presentation at the 2010 Gov 2.0 Expo, which is taking place May 25 to 27 in Washington DC.  Wednesday (January 6th) is the deadline for submitting proposals. Learn more at www.gov2expo.com/gov2expo2010.

Here’s some additional info about the Expo:

Government 2.0 is transformative.

Government 2.0 involves changes in policy and revolutions in technology that fit together to improve government missions – and perhaps even invent new ones. Government 2.0 embodies the spirit of transparency, collaboration, participation, and innovation. It is about empowering government employees to serve citizens better and about opening up the government into a platform that enables citizens to better help their communities. (more…)

I wanted to make sure you all knew about the Open Government Directive Workshop Series — a unique series of innovative events run by several NCDD members. The next workshop, which will be partly an Open Space event, will take place on January 11th at the Department of Transportation in D.C. Over 200 people are expected at this point, and over 30 federal agencies will be represented!

NCDD is a partner, as is NAPA (National Academy of Public Administration). Although the workshop on the 11th is almost full, Lucas Cioffi has offered to make sure that any NCDD member that wants to attend is let in.

This is an inter-agency conference in collaboration with the US Department of Transportation to speed successful implementation of the Open Government Directive. This event will reoccur every six weeks to continue to build momentum at the federal, state, and local levels.

If you’re interested in attending, let me know () rather than RSVPing via the link below. I’ll be keeping track of NCDD members who are planning to attend, and sharing our list with Lucas.

I’ll be helping NCDDers who are attending to coordinate in advance of the workshop to offer a couple of high-quality, resource-rich Open Space sessions on participation (i.e. one on online engagement and one on face-to-face engagement). So if you’re already registered and want to help plan/run these sessions, let me know. I think working together to offer a couple of introductory sessions on participation is a good strategy given the Directive’s emphasis on transparency.

Here are the details…

The Open Government Directive Workshop Series (Jan 11th @ DOT)

What: The Open Government Directive Workshop Series, an inter-agency collaborative event hosted by the Department of Transportation.

When: Monday, January 11, 2010 from 9:00am-4:45pm. There will likely be a wait at the security checkpoint. Security will begin processing attendees at 7:00am. We highly recommend you allow plenty of time for security.

Where: US Department of Transportation Headquarters, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC and streamed live online.

Why: Successful implementation of the Open Government Directive requires a sustained effort by the open government community. This series of workshops builds upon previous conferences sustaining knowledge and sharing innovative ideas among pioneers of the “Open Gov” community.

RSVP by January 7, 2010 here: http://opengov-workshop.eventbrite.com

Mission:
*Develop momentum among those already implementing open government practices and those now charged with implementing openness practices because of the Directive.
*Dialogue and share knowledge that will help federal agencies implement and private industry benefit from the Open Government Directive.
*Document and make available existing and effective open government practices in the form of the OpenGov Playbook.

Background Information:
Previously, on November 16th, the first half-day workshop provided a platform for thirteen open government project presentation from agencies such as the EPA, DOT, TSA, DOD, CDC, DISA, NIH, GSA, PlainLanguage.Gov, Department of State, and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. (Archived video and slides are available here.)

This workshop (hosted by DOT) will be a full day and include 10 presentations by federal employees engaged in open gov, and three hours of small-group conversations on key aspects of the Open Government Directive.

The agenda will be created by the attendees to maximize the value of everyone’s participation. During the event registration process you will be asked to identify what topics you want to learn about and discuss with peers.

The organizers of this event are Giovanni Carnaroli (Associate CIO for IT Policy Oversight at DOT), Tim Schmidt (CTO for DOT), Lucas Cioffi (OnlineTownhalls), Stephen Buckley (U.S. Transparency), Kaliya Hamlin (Unconferences.net), Sandy Heierbacher (National Coalition of Dialogue and Deliberation), Keith Moore (Open Government TV), and Jenn Gustetic (Phase One).

Please feel free to contact us at . We look forward to your participation and continuing commitment.

Are you interested in increasing your Leadership Currency? Are you motivated to access the connective power within yourself, your organization and your networks? Led by four experts in personal transformation, group dynamics and organizational development, the Leadership Currency experience is designed for leaders and high-level managers. If you want to boost your collaborative performance, this is for you!

The group will meet four times over the course of 2010. The process includes monthly interaction by phone and online with facilitators from the Institute on the Common Good at Regis University and your peers. Our quarterly gatherings for 2010 are January 26th-29th, May 11th-14th, September 21st-24th, and December 7th-10th. The January experience is set to take place at The Nature Place, located on 6,000 acres of private land deep in the heart of Colorado’s mountain ecosystem.

If you are looking to:

• Integrate your passion in to your everyday work.
• Learn ways to inspire a new level of teamwork, focus and energy in your team and your networks.
• Recognize the emerging future and create strategies that move you forward with intention rather than in reaction.
• Bring a new found inspiration to your career and your business that results in a significantly higher level of prosperity and success.
• Develop a highly functioning team that works together as a self-correcting system.

Join this group experience. The cost of the experience is $3,150 for NCDD members (this reflects a 10 percent discount), payable in various installment plans. Don’t hesitate to call 303-458-4967 and we will connect you with one of our four coach/facilitators so you can talk one to one and have your questions answered. Call 303-458-4967 to sign up. More information is at www.leadershipcurrency.com.

In our continuing efforts to reach new audiences and provide greater benefits to our members, NCDD has been strengthening its relationship to the longstanding National MultiCultural Institute. NMCI is welcoming NCDD members with open arms to its 2009 annual conference/training event, offering a 10% discount to dues-paying NCDD members on its Diversity Leadership Institute and Emerging Issues Forum. Depending on what you are interested in attending, that’s a savings of up to $97 for nonprofits and individuals, or $145 for corporate attendees.

NMCI’s 2009 conference, “Forging New Pathways for Diversity and Inclusion: Building Skills for Collaboration and Dialogue,” takes place November 18-21 at the Marriott Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia. If you are interested in professional development and dialogue on cutting-edge diversity and inclusion issues, the NMCI conference is for you. NCDD is an official sponsor of the conference.

Sandy Heierbacher, NCDD’s Director, helped design and organize the innovative Emerging Issues Forum on November 18th, a day-long event designed to convene engage leaders from different sectors and disciplines in thoughtful dialogue on controversial diversity and equity issues they face in their organizations, communities, and greater society. NCDD members David Campt and Leilani Henry will help this session succeed, using electronic keypads and Playback Theatre techniques (respectively) to enable top thought leaders in diversity and inclusion to identify and explore the major challenges they face, now and in the future, in achieving their goals of a truly equitable and inclusive society.

Learn more about NMCI and this year’s training program at www.nmci.org or download the PDF program at www.nmci.org/documents/NMCIProgramFinalWebVersion.pdf.