NSU to join 2010 Creativity World Forum

Northeastern State University is joining in the creative energy that will be flowing during the 2010 Creativity World Forum, a global event hosted by Creative Oklahoma and set in Oklahoma City on Nov. 15-17. The event will feature an extraordinary lineup of over 65 speakers and presenters including some of the worlds most respected thinkers on creativity.

This will be a unique event for Oklahoma, similar to a world cultural fair, with representatives from 14 world regions focused on creativity, said NSU President Don Betz, who serves on the board of directors for Creative Oklahoma. The Creativity World Forum offers an unique opportunity to interact with people from around the world to see how creativity is influencing culture, technology and education.

The conference will take place in multiple venues across Oklahoma City. The Cox Convention Center will host a Creativity Showcase and will be home to most of the programs, speakers, seminars and branch-out interactive sessions. (Artspace) at Untitled and Automobile Alley will host the inaugural Creativity World Biennale, showcasing art from many of the Districts of Creativity from around the world. All venues will have a rich diversity of tribal cultures woven through, shining a unique spotlight on the states Native American culture through numerous events, art exhibits and performances.

This event is Oklahomas debutante ball, where we come out to talk to the world about who are as people of this great state, said Betz. We are showcasing the creativity we value in the areas of culture, education and commerce.

The NSU booth, located in the Cox Convention Center, will feature numerous interactive experiences, including demonstrations of Cherokee Language teaching modules, podcasts for biology classes, creative learning spaces design activities, and 3D learning that merges music and mathematics for pre-schoolers. Visitors also will be videotaped on their impressions of the conference for immediate playback, and they will also experience a photo collage that morphs into landmark illustrations of NSU. Cherokee Language students will transcribe visitors names into souvenir calligraphy translations in Cherokee.

Northeastern has made a pretty strong commitment in creating an environment where our students learn that the cultivation of creativity is vital to success and for them to thrive in the modern world, said Betz. If our students gain the ability to adapt, learn and create, they will be in a stronger position to accommodate the changes going on in the world as we move into the future. Channeling their creative energy will help them not only adjust to change, but learn how to manage change.

The university will provide daily bus service to and from Oklahoma City to provide transportation for students, faculty and staff the opportunity to attend the historic event.

NSU is involved in this creativity showcase encourages and were encouraging our students to participate in a day of events and speakers to see the different kinds of collaboration and connectivity opportunities that are happening in our state and around the world, said Betz. One of the best ways we can be involved in this event as an institution is to have our students there, meeting and interacting with people.

The featured speakers include Daniel Pink, New York Times best-selling author; Sir Ken Robinson, one of the worlds leading thinkers on creativity and self-fulfillment; David Pogue, New York Times personal technology columnist and author; Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS Shoes Inc.; Erik Logan, president of Harpo Productions; Pranav Mistry, inventor of SixthSense, a wearable gestural interface; Andrew Zolli, innovation expert, Z+ Partners and Pop!Tech; Robert Tercek, prolific creator of interactive content, founder/president of People Jam; and Scott Noppe-Brandon, executive director of Lincoln Center Institute.

Oklahoma will also contribute to the line-up with Lt. Governor Jari Askins, Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, Olympians Bart Conner and Nadia Comeneci, Peter Delaney, chairman, president and chief executive officer of OGE Energy Corp, George Kaiser, chairman, BOK Financial Corp., Aubrey McClendon, CEO, Chesapeake Energy, John Richels, CEO, Devon Energy, Tom Ward, chairman & CEO, SandRidge Energy and many more.

Presenters will come from all corners of human inquiry, said Betz. These are people who are on the cutting edge of how we use creativity as the single most important tool in the advancement of technology, commence and culture.

Creative Oklahoma is the nonprofit organization that represents Oklahoma as one of the worlds 14 Districts of Creativity, and is the host of the Forum. NSU has joined the State of Oklahoma, the Chickasaw Nation and dozens of other organizations as sponsors of the two-day 2010 Creativity World Forum.