A Challenge to the ASGPP

[Edward Schreiber]

I just got an email from a long time member of our society telling  
me, in response to my post, that she will not be attending the  
conference, that she had to cancel her workshop, that the $1000. it  
would cost to get there, stay there, be there was now unaffordable.   
She is about to receive an award from our organization, and cannot  
attend.  What more do we need to realize our structure, location,  
format is keeping people from us?

We are stuck - mired if you will - in a conference structure, place  
and timing that is not allowing us to grow.  And what's painful, for  
me, is our method is one of the most needed.   I have not fantasy  
about why "people don't change" as Adam suggests.  I am an activist,  
spiritual at the core and I am putting out the challenge we form a  
small group to redesign the conference to advance the conserve.  If  
we don't, we stay where we are, in the decline.   Best,   Ed


On Mar 15, 2009, at 11:05 PM, Adam Blatner wrote:

> Dear Ed and all,
>     First, good for you for passing alonng the IEATA conference  
> information. (Interestingly, I've communicated to them my desire to  
> get these announcements but they didn't send me one. What does that  
> say about publicity skills?)
>       I do support building bridges with related organizations, and  
> recently suggested to one of their ex-officers that they tell folks  
> about our conferences and also the IAGP conference.
>
>       Second, you seem to be implying that we model our conference  
> on theirs, though there are a variety of differences. Could you be  
> more specific in your suggestions?
>     Please don't assume that any disagreement or hesitancy can only  
> be interpreted as fear of change or any of the other reasons you  
> fantasize that people don't change. Here's another reason: What  
> (fairly specifically) would you suggest as an alternative? What are  
> the pros and cons of your suggestion? Every political move has  
> disadvantages as well as advantages.
>    Warmly, Adam
>
> --- On Sun, 3/15/09, Edward Schreiber <edwschreiber at earthlink.net>  
> wrote:
> From: Edward Schreiber <edwschreiber at earthlink.net>
> Subject: A Challenge to the ASGPP
> To: "Group talk Listserv" <list at grouptalkweb.org>
> Date: Sunday, March 15, 2009, 7:41 PM
>
> Dear Colleagues,
> How much are we willing to stay stuck in our conserve, a conference  
> structure that no longer meets the needs of the larger community to  
> hear, learn, grow with our method?  We keep the same format, the  
> same awards dinner for the same selected people who can afford to  
> attend, the same on-going structures that frankly are becoming  
> stale.  A recent letter by Zerka to the President and the Council  
> has called for us to grow.  Yet what I continue to hear is fear,  
> resistance to take a leap.  So here's the challenge:  Read the  
> enclosed and see what we could offer to the world - with the will,  
> creativity, and drive to bring our method to the world in a way  
> that grows us beyond the conserve our conference has become.
>
> Here's an example:best,Ed

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