ACA 2009
Exploring Places, Crossing Boundaries, Breaking Through
March 1 - March 4 in Philadelphia, PA

The ACA 2009 International Conference was great!

Despite an opening-day snowstorm that left participants and presenters stuck in airports up and down the East Coast, the conference exceeded our most optimistic projections.

With the world economy in crisis, we didn't know what to expect, but we received more world-class proposals to present than ever before - so many that we had to turn down many that we would normally be proud to showcase. It was gratifying to see so many creative professionals dedicating their time and resources to spread the message that, now more than ever, creative and innovative solutions are an absolute necessity for growth and survival.

Some of them went to extraordinary lengths to make it despite the weather, Doug Hall of Eureka Ranch made it just a couple of hours before his keynote. Kirpal Singh from Singapore Management University found himself on a plane that was dumping fuel in preparation for a crash landing in Tokyo - and that was only the start of an odyssey that shuttled him from airport to airport until he finally reached us. Jonathan Vehar of New and Improved spent so much time socked in at O'Hare that he was afraid they'd start asking for rent. Their story was echoed all across the country until the storm finally broke.

But they all made it, giving us a world-class roster of presenters and participants who shared powerful insights into creativity and explored the real-world dynamics of deliberate creativity that drive great ideas -- from research through strategy, tactics, and tools to implementation, crossing the boundaries of culture, industry, gender, language, and breaking through old conventions with new ideas, inventions, and possibilities.