USOA 30th Annual Conference in Colorado

The United States Ombudsman Association has announced the details of its 2009 meeting in Estes Park, Colorado, "Navigating the Rocky Divide: Ombudsmen at the Summit." The conference on September 29-October 2 continues USOA's tradition of offering training focused on skills, as well as sessions on current Ombuds issues. Topics of particular interest to Organizational Ombuds include:

• Know Thyself: Understanding and Utilizing Conflict Styles presented by Mary Chavez Rudolph, University of Colorado Denver, and Tom Sebok, University of Colorado at Boulder;
• Conflict Resolution From the Trenches: Changing Our Institutions by Advancing Our Practice presented by Johnston Barkat, United Nations Ombudsman & Mediation Services; and
• Distance Dispute Resolution: Traversing the Far Reaches presented by Frank Fowlie, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

Other sessions cover establishing a new office, outreach, effective Internet use, surviving budget cuts, and dealing with disaster. In addition to the main conference, USOA is offering a two-day New Ombudsman Training preconference workshop on September 28 and 29, and training CLEAR from its National Certified Investigator Training Specialized Program. (USOA Conference Packet.)

Related posts: USOA's 28th Annual Conference [2007]; USOA Annual Conference in Lexington [2008].