Today we officially announced the opening of registration for WorldBlu LIVE 2008, which will be held in New York City, October 16-17, 2008!

Our last WorldBlu LIVE conference was in October 2005 and it was a huge success. The quality of both the speakers and the participants was amazing. People came from as far away as China and Iraq to learn about how to build a democratic workplace. Speakers included Bill Taylor, co-founding editor of Fast Company magazine, Dan Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, Rita Bailey, former Southwest Airlines University’s Director of People, Mike Ferretti, CEO of Great Harvest Bread Company and more.

I believe this year’s WorldBlu LIVE will be the best one yet because for the first time the majority of the speakers will be the CEOs of companies that are on the WorldBlu List of Most Democratic Workplaces. (We will announce this year’s list on Thursday, April 24th so stay tuned!). Participants will get to hear first-hand how you design, build, and sustain a democratic workplace.

We have also partnered with WorldBlu List awardee the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra so that the opening night of WorldBlu Live – Thursday, October 16th — all conference attendees will have the opportunity to see them perform live at Carnegie Hall. Orpheus has been around for 30+ years and is a conductorless and democratic Grammy award-winning orchestra based in NYC. I’ve seen Orpheus perform in NYC and DC and had the privilege of sitting in on one of their rehearsals out in Napa Valley a little over a year ago. It is amazing to watch them work together — without a conductor — to produce their music.

The reason we partnered with Orpheus this year was that we wanted people to have the opportunity to experience organizational democracy for themselves (if they don’t work in a democratic workplace already).

As many of us know, so much is shifting in the business and global landscape these days. It’s a privilege to watch these world-class democratic organizations fearlessly chart a NEW path – one that is about honoring and valuing the potential that is in all of us.

To that end, I hope you’ll be able to join me and the other extraordinary thought-leaders, social entrepreneurs, change agents, business leaders and mavericks who will be at WorldBlu LIVE this fall.

See you October 16-17th!