Our credo

"Co-creating a New World of Organizations & Communities"

There’s something going on out there. There‘s something emerging. We all know it. We all feel it. The World is not what it used to be 10-15 years ago and it’s definitely not what it’s going to look like in 10-15 years from now. It’s time to decode the nature of the ongoing changes around us.

Humanity is just on the edge of understanding what’s happening. Individually and collectively we started to feel the convergence. By now we know that we can’t live our lives on this Planet the way we used to. We feel the need to act, but the way forward is not clear yet.

We’ve already done a lot. Thousands of initiatives are taking off every day. Millions of us are already active. The steps we take though are seldom coordinated. Our resources and energy are consumed in dispersed efforts. We need to join forces, as the breakthrough is yet to come.

Members of our professional community - all of us working on building, nurturing and developing systems, organizations and communities - play an important role in this process. Our contribution is significant both globally and locally. We - as subjects and facilitators of change, learning and human development - can make a difference.

For this to happen we need to get together and take our ongoing conversations to a new level. We need enhanced openness and understanding, a clear vision, strong commitment, lasting relationships and effective human networks. Through better coordination of our efforts we can and will multiply our impact.

The World needs us… we must come together.

So, hereby:

• we invite you to join the flow of conversations before, during and after 2010 - the year of reunion, togetherness, community and coordinated action,
• we invite you to enjoy the co-creative process leading to, taking place at and flowing from the 2010 OD World Summit and its associated events,
• we invite you to be with us in Budapest, Hungary at our flagship event in August 2010.

The invitation

Join us in conceptualizing and organizing, promoting and running, enjoying and celebrating the first truly global workshop of change, development and learning specialists. We believe that all those working with systems, organizations and communities can and should make a difference. We believe that sharing and learning from each other on a global level/scale is the key to make things/change happen. We believe that our profession and our communities of practice have a role to play in "Making the World a Better Place for All of Us".

How? In the coming years - before, during and after the Summit – we'll find it out together. Hereby – on behalf of a fast growing, powerful group of people and the Hungarian Organization Development Society, the initiator - we invite you to be part of the process, the dialogue, the action and all what emerges in the future through and from this bold initiative, the 2010 World Summit.

A vision

We come together. We bring all parts of the World together. We unite our profession, our communities of practice and everybody else attracted to our values, approach and/or methodology. We find supporters to our cause of developing individuals, teams, systems, organizations, local and global communities and societies. Physically or virtually for at least a number of days in August 2010 we will be present for each other, for our profession and our World - intensively and joyfully. We will be ready to direct our attention, channel our motivation and invest our best energies into exploring possibilities together. We will share, learn and contribute in one united effort. Some of the already active, potential and provisionary co-hosts of the meeting are: IODA, OD Network, SOL, The World Café, Open Space, Appreciative Inquiry and many more communities to join. For more details see: Supporting Organizations

Aims and objectives

Our objective is to bring together the active local, national, regional and international organizations of our field and their members: practitioners, end-users, educators and researchers from all continents. We want them to join us, get involved and participate in making one of the most significant mutual know-how and experience sharing efforts in the history of developing organizations happen. The summit is based on three main focus areas: non-conventional organizations, global impact, and cross-fertilization.

Through that our fundamental aims are:

• to contribute to the development of our profession through getting closer to each other and strengthening the global community,
• to help create and build lasting worldwide networks and relationships among all those interested, involved and aligned,
• to provide space for emerging conversations and open dialogue on the nature of change taking place around us,
• and searching for, defining, communicating and getting prepared to deliver our true contribution to a better world.

We also believe that with the 2010 World Summit - during the preparation, the meeting itself and the follow up process too - we can demonstrate and set a clear example of how to create and deliver value collectively, how to work together for a cause in an open, fair, enjoyable and at the same time effective and efficient manner and how to make all stakeholders happy and satisfied while having fun and feeling the sense of achievement all along the way.

Why is it unique?

• It is a truly global and highly intercultural event
• Represents a wide range of schools and approaches
• Demonstrates and uses the widest possible range of techniques, tools and methods
• Provides possibilities for reaching out, networking and building international relationships
• Serves as an important milestone and represents a huge step forward in our joint history
• Redefines standards and expectations by minimizing the “ecological footprint” and maximizing the “development footprint” of the initiative both globally and locally

Why and how

Why and how is the OD WORLD SUMMIT going to be different than anything else before?

• Full and global coverage of our profession. Balanced representation of all theoretical and methodological approaches. Participants from the area of consulting, education, practicing leaders and social workers. A full-scale representation of all those generating and in general interested in the subjects of change, development and learning. A fair representation of all major international, regional and national organizations, associations and institutions actively involved in developing systems, organizations and communities.
• Participants from all continents and all sectors, representing the specifics of the private, the government and the non-profit sphere too, using the opportunity to show to the World their own approach, the conceptual frameworks and the applied methodologies. Presentations from all sectors on different initiatives, projects and the ongoing efforts, the corresponding results and the achievements of the last decades.
• The Initiative, (instead of concentrating only on organizing a 3-4 days long international event) is about getting involved in the co-creation of the World Summit, being an active and integral part of a 3-4 years long process leading to and following up the 2010 event.
• The whole project is an experiment, a joint effort, a global journey of finding, using and promoting new and meaningful ways of international cooperation and self-governance - applying successfully and showing our community and the world some of the most promising concepts, approaches, technologies, co-operation and communication methods available.
• The output is a better and shared understanding of the changes and the world around us, a universal and generally accepted (re)definition of our profession as a way of fostering human development in the world and a clear, renewed, joint declaration of our role and possible contribution in the 21^st century.

Finally, together we can make history as - instead of establishing a new organization, association or institution – we will all be part of strengthening the currently existing ones and in parallel assisting in the birth of the worldwide movement of ongoing global, cross-boarders, cross-cultures, cross-organizations communication and cooperation.

Organizing the summit

A For-Benefit Organization

We create our means together. We find, use and develop the resources, the network of relationships and the wisdom needed to put this event together. We use abundance thinking and strive for much more than what we need to be together for a few days. At the same time we create our own ethical norms and adhere to them. We state our objectives clearly and create total transparency. We do not intend to make profit. Instead we generate further possibilities to help us move forward towards our clearly set and jointly clarified goals. Meanwhile we create our own governance structure and make decisions together on what to do with the extra resources, the access capacity and the freedom we created for ourselves during the process.

Summit - Organization

Up to 6-800 professionals on site and many more on-line, managers, leaders, internal and external consultants, facilitators, trainers and educators united in a truly open, relaxing and at the same time stimulating physical and virtual space, using the best of soft and hard technologies and methodologies to facilitate learning and dialogue. Participants coming together after an enjoyable and interactive preparatory process ever, having the time of their lives celebrating togetherness and the feeling of community. Thus, opening a new era, a truly global chapter in the history of our field of activity. During this extraordinary event we will provide the space and the facilities for emerging conversations and real dialogue.

The participants

We target everybody who is working with change, learning and development. We invite:

• representatives of the academic world,
• representatives of the consulting and development industry,
• representatives of all sorts of organizations developing individuals, teams, systems, other organizations, systems and communities, even societies,
• representatives of associations and institutions spreading the word and supporting the development of human systems.

The administration

The administrative, legal and financial background of the project is a social enterprise, a non-profit / for-benefit organization – the 2010 World Summit Foundation - set up by the Hungarian OD Society for the purpose of fulfilling the aims and objectives outlined above.

Last but not least, the whole preparatory process, the summit itself and the follow up activities is supported by an open, active and creative on-line dialogue backed up and facilitated by using the latest available internet based communication facilities and technology. Building a virtual community of everybody who wants to be part of and can contribute to the success of the summit is of utmost importance, so we will provide the scope and up-to-date information at all times to let everybody follow progress real-time.

Initiator&Stakeholders

The initiator and the stakeholders

Our stakeholders

The initiator and local host of the summit is the Hungarian OD Society (HODS) that has a significant track record of building and nurturing a strong professional community locally and hosting one of the most successful IODA International Conferences ever in 1997.

Our professional co-hosts are / will be the strongest organizations of the field – from all continents - with decades of experience in organizing successful international events and conferences.

Our speakers and professional supporters will be of the highest quality and caliber putting their experience and knowledge not just into their own piece of the puzzle, but into making the summit effective and enjoyable.

Our sponsors will be the strongest and most advanced local and multinational companies who don’t just support us, but care for our profession.

And finally our participants will be co-creators of the professional experience and the fun we are going to have together.

The organizers

The event is organized by an Organizing Committee built around a small group of local people responsible for all the operative and organizational features and by many project teams, for example the International Design Team. These project teams are closely working together and sharing the workload among themselves.

In the background a state of art project management system is harmonizing all the decisions, deadlines and the actions of all those involved. Proper communication provides transparency and the possibility of getting involved.