O.D. Institute Newsletter

April 2010

Come to the Information Exchange and Make a Difference

Jeanne Maes, RODP   jmaes@usouthal.edu

You are invited to make a presentation at The 39^th Annual information Exchange on What Is New in O.D. and HRD” being held at the The Brookley Center,  254 Old Bay Front Drive, Mobile, Alabama.  As a means of appreciation and a way of giving back to the O.D. Community, the conference fee has been waived.  This is a colleague conference, not an academic conference.  You are invited to share with us some of the exciting things you are doing and learn from what others are doing without having your presentation judged in advance by people who know less about your subject than you do.  Our usual format is twenty minutes for your presentation and ten minutes for a discussion of your ideas with the audience.  We have found this provides a maximum opportunity for you to share your ideas with the group and for the group to hear a wide variety of ideas from others.  We encourage the development of panel presentations and you are welcome to bring your clients and have them participate in the presentation.  If you would like to write your presentation in ten double spaced pages or less, we would be happy to consider it for publication in The Organization Development Journal.  If you expect to be looking for a job or for consulting assignments, this is an inexpensive way to let people know who you are and what you can do.  Early registration is encouraged.

One participant wrote, ‘This is a conference you should attend if you want to meet people in the OD field who are really passionate about their work and helping others in the field.  It is a great place for those who are new to the field to get some advice and support and to get a taste of what O.D. is all about.  The huge diversity of topics and people is very impressive.  We were truly building a learning community – each participant had responsibility for making the conference worthwhile.  It was very unlike most other conference where all you are expected to do is sponge learning from others.  Here, we taught each other, both through the presentations and through lots of invaluable unstructured conversation time.”

Dr. Jeanne Maes, RODP, is Chair of our 39h Annual Information Exchange

Telephone:  (251) 626-1910; email: jmaes@usouthal.edu.  You may register for lodging at The Brookley Center directly.  You should contact Sharon Davis at (251) 431-6445 to make your reservations.  Lodging rates are $39.20 per day for a single room and $28 per person for a double occupancy room.  Flights are available directly into Mobile; neighboring airports within convenient driving distance are Pensacola, Florida, and Gulfport, Mississippi.

The 39^th Annual Information Exchange will begin on Tuesday morning, May 18, with a community building exercise.  We will end with an awards luncheon on Friday noon.  The Jack Gibb Award of $1,000 will be given for the best presentation by a full time student, not working full time.  Silver Bowl Awards will be given for the Outstanding O.D. project of the Year (organized by Dr. Peter Sorensen, Jr., RODC).  Dr. Joel Finlay, Editor of The Organization Development will also award the best article of the year.