A couple of weeks ago, the United States House of Representatives narrowly passed historic legislation to limit pollution blamed for global warming. It was an important step in what will have to be a multi-pronged approach to creating a more sustainable world. But the legislation's focus on decreasing the human-caused aspects of our climate crisis--a first for the US--carries a critical message for businesses and individuals: It's really up to us.

No one knows that better than Drew Jones who, along with Beth Sawin, maintains the Climat e Interactive blog designed to help people use simulations to demystify the dynamics of climate change. While serving as a weaver at last year's Pegasus Conference, Drew told an affecting story about his early appreciation for the importance of personal accountability in fighting pollution.

A Campus Experiment
As a student at Dartmouth in the 1980s, Drew Jones decided to conduct a little experiment with other budding sustainability advocates on campus. Dissatisfied with the impact of recycling as an antidote to pollution, he suggested that the group literally carry their trash around with them for a week in clear plastic bags to learn something about how much trash they were using.

One hundred twenty people participated in the exercise, and the result, as he describes it, was like "walking around with a different set of glasses." People immediately began to innovate with new behaviors that would reduce their burden. The bottom line for Drew: "When you add powerful feedback to systems, how radically system behavior can transform."

Among the most gratifying feedback that we frequently receive about the annual conference is that "it's not like other business conferences." While we are no less focused on improving organizational results, participants appreciate the many opportunities for conversational learning and the inclusion of non-traditional design elements like graphic facilitation, movement, music, and poetry.

This year we are pleased to introduce two new contributors who will add their special gifts to the conference mix:

Weaver, Gary Malkin

For more than twenty-five years, Gary Malkin has been composing and producing award-winning music to enhance media and events--including international conferences. His countless soundtracks for film, television, and radio use the emotional language of music to deepen the impact of visual or audio content to create multi-dimensional experiences greater than the sum of their parts. In his work with keynote speakers, he has learned how music can significantly increase the retention and impact of conference presentations. And Gary's contribution goes beyond his musical gifts; his keen sensitivity to collective consciousness makes him a powerful facilitator for shared learning. We are happy to welcome him as our weaver for 2009.
See Gary talk about the connection between music and healing...

Graphic Facilitator, Diana Arsenian
Diana Arsenian specializes in designing, facilitating, and documenting meetings through the use of graphic recording. Using a combination of images and text, she captures and synthesizes the essence of a presentation or conversation as it unfolds, weaving the information into large visual narratives. The resulting maps invite multiple approaches to learning and create an environment that encourages collaboration, allowing everyone to contribute their best thinking to the group. As she has learned in over 16 years of working internationally and cross-culturally with Fortune 500 companies, major non-profits, foundations, universities, and government agencies, visual facilitation ensures greater comprehension and shared understanding in group learning processes.
See a sample of Diana's work...

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Register by August 31 to secure your seat at the discounted rate.