Looking back on the recent ICF Annual Conference held in Montréal
by Paul Leblanc
Under the theme Knowledge, Diversity & Community, the annual ICF conference was held in mid-November at Montréal’s Palais de Congrès. Almost 1,500 coaches from around the world attended.
The conference kicked off with an opening reception offering classic Canadian hors d’oeuvres while clowns, magicians and performers entertained.
Each day began with a super session of world-renowned speakers: Vandana Shiva from India, author and specialist in environmental and women’s issues and ecological issues related to agriculture; Peter Senge, thought leader, author on organizational learning disabilities and lecturer at MIT, from the U.S.; Mathieu Ricard, native of France and a Buddhist monk living in the Himalayas.
Senge described how culture is within us, not external to us. He referenced a study which concluded that long-lived companies of at least 200 years existence are first and foremost a living community which successfully focus on interdependence, not only financial profitability. He acknowledged the tension an organization lives in reconciling social needs with environmental pressures.
Ricard, associate of the Dalai Lama and scientific researcher on the effects of meditation on the brain, showed scientific data demonstrating significant and statistically valid results. He stressed how change must start from within and that self-awareness is a fundamental first step. He also wondered if countries one day would measure the Gross National Happiness of their citizens.
The conference offered sessions on general themes connecting coaching with Leadership, Science, Organizations, Mind, Body, Spirit and Impact on the world.
There was also a series of sessions entitled Wisdom Circles facilitated by ICF’s International Assessors Team relating to ICF’s core competencies, and another series of Sandbox sessions featuring innovative practices.
Breakout sessions varied from the theoretical to the practical, from research to individual application.
Carol Kauffmann, PhD, and PCC of Harvard University conducted a session which bridged all aspects and which was enormously well received. It dealt with the link between positive psychology research and an artful coaching practice. Her engaging humour, serious quotes from research, capacity to personify the personages she was describing, and talent to engage the overflow audience left participants in awe of her facility in providing such a memorable and professional learning event.
Leni Chauvin of Canada walked attendees though the necessary steps in understanding and conducting an effective marketing strategy. She demonstrated how to craft a concise identity statement based on the image desired; niche targeted and name sought, and suggested that creating alliances with coaches offering related services is a useful strategy. She underlined that coaches should invert the typical visual representation of a hopper, and thereby stay clearly focused on their target markets. Again there was high audience involvement with many clever examples offered by the participants.
Marc Johnstone of Australia provided a thoughtful session that questioned whether coaching is a fad or trend. Based on research and marketing analyses from several consumer product breakthroughs including the Rubik’s cube and IPods, he pointed out how a hybrid product or service, which supplants a current product or service, is what stays in the marketplace. His sense is that coaching is well positioned to remain an increasingly sought after service, and made several connections how to adapt to the generation Y marketplace.
Participants at each session earned continuing education credits toward their ICF credentialing requirement.
There were table topic luncheons on two days in which participants could join a Special Interest Group focused discussion, or simply meet coaches from elsewhere. A bookstore offering a wide variety of coaching materials as well as nearly 70 vendor kiosks were open throughout the conference.
The FICQ chapter held a brainstorming strategy meeting in which 20 Québec coaches offered their ideas on priorities for the upcoming year, based on the results of the 35 members who responded to the FICQ 2008 survey.
The FICQ also organized a well-attended soirée Québécoise evening at a pub on St. Paul Street in Vieux Montréal in which 150 coaches sampled a little Québec food fare and joie de vivre, followed by dancing.
The closing event was a Global Rendezvous gala dinner on the final evening.
Throughout the 3-day conference a sense of an enlarging community developed, and many attendees are now talking of the December 2-5, 2009 conference in Orlando, Florida.
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