Midwest Creativity Exchange Retreat offers New Ideas

The public is invited to renew creative spirit at the 2009 Midwest Creativity Exchange, a three-day weekend retreat that will expose you to new ideas to apply to your work life and the life of your work. The retreat will be June 5-7 at the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, MN. The Midwest Creativity Exchange is a sister retreat to the Creativity Institute’s Next Idea Creativity Conference, held annually in New Lebanon, NY. The Midwest Creativity Exchange’s program is based on the Next Idea model of facilitating community among creative peers.

The 2009 Midwest Creativity Exchange will feature 90-minute concurrent sessions that are interactive, experiential and practical. They cover new and creative tools and techniques in: alternative currencies / wealth systems; brainstorming, change, communicating, creativity, design, idea generation, innovation, inventing, problem solving and much more.

Presenters include:

• Joel Hodroff is the Founder of DualCurrency Systems (DCS), a Minnesota-based company developing new technologies at the intersection of loyalty marketing, payment systems and sustainable development. He is a founder and former co-chair of Responsible Minnesota Business and was selected 2005 Entrepreneur of the Year by Minnesota’s Finance and Commerce Magazine. His pioneering work in DualCurrency Commerce is documented in The Future of Money by Bernard Lietaer, The New Alchemists by David Boyle, and the Japanese Public Television Documentary Ende’s Warning to the Future.
• Vonda Vaden of V Creative aligns initiatives with strategies that benefit people and the green economy. She helps organizations form teams that consider environmental/social impact of operations while improving business.
• Larry Walker has pursued technology-based change initiatives for 40 years. His expertise is in strategy, change management, and technical management and bridging communications between technical and non-technical people.
• Royce Holladay is a consultant, writer, poet, artist, mother of two and a grandmother. She is also a change agent who is committed to bringing about organizational and societal change by focusing on how groups can build their adaptive capacities to address issues of justice, diversity and inclusion, peace, and personal fulfillment of individuals.
• Kristine Quade has 30 years of experience working as a change agent in corporations and public institutions. A published author, visionary and influential thinker, Kristine is a recognized leader in the field of Organization Development.
• Andre deZanger is co-director of the Creativity Institute. He is an engineer, inventor, author, and seminar leader. He has facilitated “Creative-Innovation” projects at AT&T, Bell Labs, Ogilvy and Mathers, United Technologies, Federal Reserve and the DOD. He is the author of The Creative Genius Book, Zingers, TRIZ – 40 Principles of Inventing, Instant Selling and has co-authored the creativity chapter in The Advertising Managers Handbook (1997) and The Tao of Living on Purpose (1998). Andre is creator of INVENTIUM ® Card Game and the inventor of the “Flasher” (an anti-theft auto device), and the co-creator of the “Creativity Machine”, a creativity computer software program.

For complete details, visit www.midwestcreativity.com, call 763.535.0880 or toll-free 1.888.535.0880.