This year, the National Association of Workforce Boards (NAWB) Forum conference hosted keynote Speaker Dan Pink in the hotel Ballroom, Sunday, February 24th, 10:30. About 90 minutes later, our Issue Forum called "Whole (New) Minds, Relevant Pictures and Meaningful Stories" convened in the same room. 

In an experiment, we worked to carry the six-senses theme throughout two of our sessions:

• The "Whole New Mind Issue Forum"(see below); and
• "Workforce Leadership for a Changing World"

About the "Whole (New) Mind" Issue Forum

The event featured:

• One framer, Kristin Wolff (CSW)
• Two provocateurs: Mike Curren (NOVA) and Sallie Glickman (Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board) (Click and download bios here) Michael Curran's Bio.doc Sallie Glickman's Bio December 2007.pdf
• One floor host and agitator, Larry Fitch (CSW); and
• You, the audience

The event did not feature:

• Powerpoint bullets (insert shrieks of delight here...)
• Sitting still listening politely for 90 minutes
• One-to-many (and only one-to-many)  transmission of information

The aim of the session was to explore Pink's "six [interelated] senses"—Design, Story, Sympony, Empathy, Play and Meaning—and their relevance to our work. Since NAWB did not go for our proposed two-day "storycamp", we tried to condense some learning, sharing and fun into 90 minutes. So, while we weaved in all of the senses, we focused on "story" because we cannot bear to hear another workforce professional say "we need to learn to tell our story." (It's time to do it. So let's).