Fellow Dialogue Mappers,

"Dialogue Mapping allows the intelligence and learning of the group to emerge organically. Instead of agendas and control, the group’s energy is reflected and channeled in a self-correcting way by each person’s ability to see, in the structure of the dialogue map, how their own comments contribute to the coherence and order of the group’s thinking.  This kind of leadership reflects the perspective of the new science, from imposing control on a system to exposing the order that is already inherent in it."

In this newsletter...
-- Workshops coming up
-- Book news
-- Events

Dialogue Mapping Workshops coming up...

West Coast:   April 18-19 ... Redwood City, California ... $995 tuition ... more info

England:   May 23-24 ... Birmingham, UK ... £1,220 + VAT tuition ... more info

East Coast:  July 18-19 ... Washington, DC ... $995 tuition ... not yet open

The workshop is fast-paced, fun, and intellectually stimulating, and you learn a practical skill that you can immediately apply with any wicked or even not-so-wicked problems you are engaged with.  A copy of the book Dialogue Mapping is included, as is a workshop manual and lunch both days.  Use of the Compendium software is covered lightly -- our focus is on developing linguistic dancing skills.  I hope to see you there!

Book news...

Many people have asked me how sales of the book are going.  Problem is ... I don't know.  The sales reports from Wiley have not come in yet, and they will in any case reflect shipments from their warehouses, which is a seriously lagging indicator.  Sales figures from Amazon and the other retail sites are not available that I know of.  Twenty-six copies have been sold through the "click-thru" links to Amazon on my book page.  And I have sold or given away about 100 copies from my initial bulk purchase.  So the short answer is, "Book sales are medium to low ... I think."  Amazon might be shipping hundreds of copies but I won't know that for a long time. I'm working on ways to build more reach and buzz around the book ... stay tuned for developments.

Speaking Events...

I used to imagine I would be going on a book signing tour once the book came out, but it turns out such events are only for popular books.  Dialogue Mapping is considered a "trade book", not a popular book, and for that reason it is unlikely that it will ever appear at your local bookstore ... and neither will I.  Instead, the marketing process for my book consists of email and web promotional stuff (including this note) targeted at very specific market segments.  One my target segments is facilitators, so ...

I will be presenting two sessions at the International Association of Facilitators (IAF) annual conference this June (15th - 17th) in Baltimore, one on wicked problems and one on dialogue mapping (see pages 16 and 17 of the Advanced Program).  It's a fun conference with lots of good speakers and interesting people ... if you're into group facilitation, that is.  :)

Cheers,
Jeff

Dr. Jeff Conklin
CogNexus Institute ... Collaborative Display, Collective Intelligence
http://cognexus.org Phone: 707-256-3425  Fax: 707-256-3903
1037 Juarez St., Napa, CA  94559    USA