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The second annual World Congress on the Future of Work was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 26-28, 2005. Kevin Kampschroer, Research Director of the Public Building Service within the General Services Administation (GSA), was our host.

The theme for the 2005 World Congress was Making It Real: From Vision to Action. Our focus was on moving from broad visions and concepts to specific actions you can take to make the future of work real in your own organization.

Special Note:

The World Congress on the Future of Work now has its own dedicated website. Please click here to visit the site, which includes a complete schedule of events for the 2005 World Congress, online Delegate registration, hotel information, and much more.

Sponsorship

We invite you to participate as a select partner in the presentation of the annual World Congress on the Future of Work events.

We offer several different levels of sponsorship opportunity. Please direct inquiries about Sponsorship of the World Congress to:

Jennifer McClure
+1 650 331 0083 voice
+1 714 276 2256 fax
jenmcclure@gmail.com

Overview of the World Congress

This incomparable, invitation-only executive forum brings together once a year no more than 150 C-level and other executive decision-makers in the fields of IT, HR, and operations/facilities management from the world's leading organizations, all joining together to explore the challenges and opportunities surrounding the changing nature of work.

Delegates to the World Congress explore and discuss in-depth the following kinds of questons:

1. Where and how is the future of work happening right now?
2. What factors are necessary to allow the "future of work" to happen?
3. How are organizations enabling the future of work?
4. What will it take to make this vision of the future of work real in my organization?
5. Where can I find a community to help my organization reach our vision of a future of work?

The World Congress on The Future of Work was developed to address the fact that the very nature of work is rapidly changing. Knowledge work, creativity, and collaborative relationships have become not just central, but essential to competitive success. However, the future doesn't just happen; it is the product of our intentions and concrete actions.

To survive in the future, companies must design and create working environments that attract, retain, and motivate scarce creative talent, foster creativity and productivity, and enable work to be conducted whenever and wherever necessary on a global basis.

The World Congress on the Future of Work is a first step towards achieving these goals. The objective of these annual World Congress events is to bring together thought leaders, practitioners, and leading product and service providers to build a community of practice, identify tangible steps on the pathway to the future, and develop a public call for action. Through participation in this unprecedented forum, you company has an exclusive opportunity to position itself as a leading visionary on how work should and will be done in the future.

But the World Congress is not just limited to a few days onsite at the annual spring event. We begin each year's activities as a virtual experience, providing Delegates with an opportunity to explore and discuss the future of work in-depth for more than two months prior to the face-to-face gathering, via a wide array of online communication vehicles, including audio teleconferences, online discussion forums, web briefings, blogs, and more.

Visit the World Congress website now.

The 2004 World Congress

The first annual World Congress on the Future of Work was held from March 15-18, 2004, in San Francisco, California, at the newly renovated City Hall. Our host and co-sponsor for the event was the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco.

The 2004 World Congress was sponsored by:

For "official" feedback and commentary on the 2004 World Congress, please refer to the World Congress archives in the Future of Work weblog. There is also a briefer summary article in the April 2004 issue of our free monthly newsletter, Future of Work Agenda.

For a compelling article about the 2004 World Congress written by one of the Delegates, Toni Kistner of Network World Fusion, please click here.

Who Should Attend?

The World Congress is designed for public and private sector leaders who are interested and involved in making decisions to create the environments that will allow the vision of the future of work to be fully realized in their organizations and our society, and will foster important conversations and collaboration across the following executive functions:

What Will You Learn?

You will leave the World Congress as a member of a new community of practice focused on the vision of a future of work, and with a set of design principles that will allow you and your management team to quickly and efficiently move toward making that vision real in your organization.

Intended outcomes:

1. The formation of an ongoing professional community
2. Documentation of the answers to the core questions (above) in the form of graphical images, narrative summary reports, and video tapes of thought leaders' ideas and positions
3. Specific action ideas and guidelines for creating change in your own organization.

For more information about the World Congress events, please contact Charlie Grantham or Jim Ware.

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Photo provided by Glenn Dirks of Sun Microsystems