Reflections on CPSI

Five years ago I began attending and presenting at the Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI), the first and longest-running conference on creativity and innovation.

Right up there with my Master's degree program in Applied Imagination, the CPSI experience is a next-level learning adventure. Each year features an incredibly prescient theme, each filled with unique touchstones:

• 2018: Ignite - My inaugural visit, wherein I learned my super power (people buy me dark beer). My first day there I delivered a six-hour workshop on merging Agile, Design Thinking, and Creative Problem Solving. It was so popular I had about 20 more people attending than I could manage. Thankfully, three of my favorite people in the world and very skilled facilitators (Judy Bernstein, Kathryn Haydon, David Eyman) volunteered to join me. I learned that it is best to keep a smaller number of people when unveiling a first-of-a-kind workshop. I also earned the distinction of "most hours facilitating by a first-time attendee", which I learned will make you very tired.
• 2019: Unexpected - Well who saw a global pandemic and lockdown coming? Apparently the CPSI folks, a year ahead of time! This year I learned to scale back the facilitation to a reasonable 1-day and 90-minute session. It's also the year I discovered wabi sabi, which was a gift in its own right for what was to come.
• 2020: ReVision - 2020's theme might have been influenced by the fact that the CPSI team needed to figure out a way to make CPSI happen virtually, much like every other facilitated event that decade. This event also blended into the fall, when the Foundations and Tools courses were delivered over a series of weeks. All three events were a blast, as I didn't just share my dissertation results! I also made some amazing friends - many of whom I got to see in person in 2022.
• 2021: Grow - The year of Mindful Agility - Finding Balance, wherein we learned problem-solving is not exclusively linear. As we were all looking for a way to grow through and out of the pandemic, being mindful of how we respond to challenges was timely. This year was full of promise that we would soon meet again.
• 2022: Connect - And so we did. And there was much laughter. And reunions. And meeting people we had never met in person. And therefore countless hugs. This year was special and surreal. Special because everyone was truly attending for the first time: it was hosted at a new venue, plus post-lockdown made attending in person feel like a brand new experience. Surreal because of not recognizing people (when all we knew were disembodied heads); that brief moment before hugging (to make sure it was safe to hug); diving into conversation because we knew each other (once we (re-) acquainted ourselves with physical proximity).

Across five years, but hammered home last week, I learned:

• To live in the moment - the hugs, the laughs, the conversations over meals (and drinks!) are priceless. And precious. And not to be taken for granted ever again.
• The value of my contribution to the community - imposter syndrome is a confidence killer. These wonderful crazy people confirmed I'm not the only one who feels like a fraud. And they reinforced that we are all pouring into each other in priceless and precious ways too numerous to count.
• The essence of friendship - or as one longtime attendee observed, "community is not having to explain yourself." It might just be we're all a special brand of crazy; who else do you know who understands and seeks out other crazies and unreservedly makes them part of the tribe?

Also, bring an air mattress to enhance the dormitory experience.