Excited to be speaking at a cool conference in Arizona next week, the CoDev 2009 Conference on open innovation. I'll get there a day early to do a little photography and visit the family of my "greenie trainer" from my mission in German-speaking Switzerland and attend their ward. Awesome! Just wondering if any of you will be in town for CoDev or for one of the other conferences at the same time.

If you're in the Phoenix area, are there any interesting LDS events I should consider attending? Always curious. I understand the Mesa Temple is closed for repairs. Too bad! Last year at the same conference I ran into an amazing photo exhibition - and ended up buying the book. Details later....

Anybody have tips on great places for photography in Phoenix? Interesting cityscapes, landscapes, industrial scenes, you name it. Believe it or not, one of my recent themes that I really enjoy is partially burned out neon signs that convey unintended messages. Phoenix was a treasure trove for such esoteric shots last time I was there, and I expect more great finds this year, especially in light of current economic conditions.

At the conference, I'll be giving essentially my first public presentation on a new paradigm for innovation in which we turn the old "funnel of innovation" model upside down, transforming it into a French horn. The things I've learned about the French horn from one of my very musical sons, coupled with some fascinating tidbits from its development, physics, and modern techniques, offer rich metaphors for targeted "just in-tune" innovation. The material on "handstopping" and its relationship to iterative innovation and inventor-inclusive feedback loops is really fun. The Horn of Innovation™ model is something that gets a whole chapter in the book coming out later this year, Conquering Innovation Fatigue by Jeffrey Dean Lindsay, Cheryl Perkins, and Mukund Karanjikar (John Wiley and Sons, 2009 - probably June/July 2009). What? No, of course I'm not promoting anything here. Why do you ask?? I'm just networking.

If you want to tell me anything about Phoenix/Scottsdale/Mesa/Gilbert etc. or are in the area, send me a note at jeff at jefflindsay d0t c0m.
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