Here's an email from our partner in Smaller Indiana,  Bruce LaDuke. Bruce participated in the Midtown Brews Open Conversation. Be sure to click through to the website to learn more about how other leaders are innovating to illuminate solutions through open forms of conversation.

In Open Source Economic Development we have learned that people move in the direction of their conversations. This is an important lesson about the value of leadership, where it resides, and accountability....After all, you are the leaders you have been waiting for.

I really enjoyed Midtown Brews. This was what is known in futuring as "Futures Generative Dialog," which is group problem-solving about the future.

I work closely with Rick Smyre, president of Communities of the Future (http://www.communitiesofthefuture.org) who pioneered this concept.  We are establishing a global grass-roots network of folks engaged in the same kind of dialog taking place at Midtown Brews.  There are communities, institutiouns, and companies getting this concept.

I created the concept of 'Integral Futuring' to start to think about how these various group efforts could network together and integrate to solve common goals.  I've just started work with the 'International Network of Social Entrepreneurs' to this end.

Said all that to say that I'm extremely interested in Midtown Brews and i-Open on many different levels.  One, helping establish this kind of dialog in Indiana.  Thinking about how to integrate the efforts I'm already aware of with it.  And three, thinking about how this looks globally and helping to connect global dots.

Still learning about your efforts, but I'm really impressed.  Thanks for letting me be a part.Bruce LaDuke.