conference06

=Welcome to the ALA conference wiki=

Full details on the ALA Web
[|This link will take you to the ALA website], and full conference program. [|Photos from the Conference here, at flickr (slideshow)]. media type="custom" key="11019" Yes, YOU can edit this page. Do you have a different point of view about one of the presentations or workshops? "Edit this Page" and key in your own notes or summaries. See a spelling error? Don't complain, get in and change it yourself. You can add to the page itself, or the discussion behind the page.

=Live interviews= Ron Anderson speaks with michael chalk about the buzz at this conference. media type="custom" key="11039"

=Keynotes, Day One=

Ben Bardon, Federalising Community Education
Ben Bardon gave us the first keynote of the conference. In essence, Ben says that ACE is going to be federalised. Four million people in Australia don't have any qualifications. We need to improve this, through our community centres and ACE providers. ACE is the sector that can connect with these people, and start their process of moving along the learning path. His closing comment summed this up: **"You must have a margin in order to achieve a mission"**. A profit margin and a business case are essential. There's a need to 'managerialise' the sector, and move into working with small businesses.

Ron Burke "The trade of Goodness"
Ron spoke about philanthrophy and how non-profit organisations can access financial support from major corporate organisations. "**There is a market emerging to manage the trade of goodness.**"

Non-profit organisations need to accept this, and work the concept of 'enlightened self-interest'. We need to develop business cases properly, and highlight mutual interest, as well as **communicate ideas of social capital**, so that the corporations understand. Make sure people know it is measurable, worthwhile and highly valuable to our future.

Comment from an audience member: 80% of the Australian population is employed in small-to-medium enterprises (SME's), who know that if they don't engage with the local community, they don't get the repeat business. Engaging with the community could mean sponsoring a local netball team or supporting community education. Businesses who support local community ventures will be more likely to survive. There is a report from the Small Business Council of Australia that goes into detail.

Comment from an audience member: my interpretation was that Ron was (correctly) somewhat cynical about the motivation of companies when it came to CSR. Their efforts to manage the "goodness market" were driven by PR and projecting the right image rather than truly engaging with the community and/or developing an understanding that they would benefit from collaborating with the community to build social capital. In effect their approach was superficial rather than genuine.

The challenge for the sector is therefore to engage with companies to progress their understanding and demonstrate that there are genuine business benefits in moving beyond a "superficial" approach to CSR; and in fact the benefits in so doing are aligned to and support their charter to optimise the financial results for their shareholders.

=Keynotes Day Two=

Mike Newman
Mike began his keynote announcing "I'm retired, and responsible to no-one, so i'll say what I like." He asked people to remember the first time they experienced the "Hum and buzz of adult education".

Mike drew on the work of Eva Cox from her 1985 Boyer Lectures. She wrote of financial, physical, human and social capital, and noted that the first three will be depleted when you spend them, while the fourth, social capital will accumulate, the more you spend it. When you trust people, you build up more trust.

Mike urged us to "Teach people to have a tidy mind". He would teach them critical thinking, but critical thinking has been usurped and domesticated by the corporate sector, along with ability to produce high quality products. We want to undomesticate critical thinking and reconnect it with critical theory. We want to separate truth from ideology.

He prompted the audience to consider questions such as: "How do you teach insight?" and "Do you teach morality?"

Mike drew on the work of Eva Cox from her 1985 Boyer Lectures. She wrote of financial, physical, human and social capital, and noted that the first three will be depleted when you spend them, while the fourth, social capital will accumulate, the more you spend it. When you trust people, you build up more trust.

He wondered whether, In our world of mis-information and lies, Social Capital isn't just a "pie in the sky" dream. He explored morality, hate, love, anger and violence, reminding us that hate and violence are not necessarily inappropriate responses to this world around us. But unbridled hate will lead us to darkness, so Mike urged us to reconnect with the vitality of love.