Finally, An Answer To One Of Life’s Major Rhetorical Questions: if in the next few weeks someone asks you, “Hey, what’s the big idea?” you can cheerfully invite them to find out – because the Creativity World Forum is returning to OKC March 31.
The day-long commingling of inspiration in and around the OKC Civic Center is a group celebration of ingenuity featuring renowned thinkers from around the world – while still being intensely relevant to and partially reliant on everyday Oklahomans. That’s according to Susan McCalmont, president of host organization Creative Oklahoma, who emphasizes, “This is for everybody. It’s especially important for people who might want to reignite their own personal individual creativity, and we don’t mean artistry; it’s really ‘How do we generate ideas that matter and how do we make a difference in the world?’ There will be a pretty robust conversation from young people as well as global and Oklahoma leaders about how we are all facing similar issues, whether it’s energy, water, climate change – whatever the issues are that we’re all facing, we need creative solutions.”
The forum will feature addresses by some noteworthy names – including author and creativity education expert Sir Ken Robinson, The Walt Disney Company’s Michael Strautmanis and Stephan Turnipseed of LEGO Education – but McCalmont is quick to point out that attendees won’t simply be listening to speeches all day.
“We don’t have any PowerPoint presentations on the main stage. There are no 1-hour speeches; we use more of a TED Talk format – although there are some keynote talks, they’re fairly short and interspersed with performing artists and with video presentations. It’s very lively, there are workshops, there will be an outdoor festival environment for lunch. This is a day to be reinvigorated, to be inspired, to meet others and network together.”
Overall, the forum is expected to draw around 2,000 people together from locales like Ireland, Chile, Rwanda, Denmark and the breadth of the U.S. as well; McCalmont calls it “a world of ideas coming to Oklahoma City” and concludes, “It’s a very relaxed entertaining, engaging environment, and it really is for everyone.”
Visit stateofcreativity.com to get tickets or learn more, and be ready to join the conversation by chipping in some ideas of your own.