Event Details

 How often have you felt like policies in your community are decided without you? This was a chance for people to have a say in the vision, process, and desired outcome for a positive transformation of Worcester’s economic base. We explored how we build upon the qualities that make our community special while taking advantage of new investment in sustainable development and Smart Energy technology. Together, we will design a road map to “transform Worcester into the innovative energy leader of a smarter Commonwealth.”

 The organizing steering committee invited stakeholders who represented a range of perspectives from the community: nonprofit leaders, businesspeople, and environmental groups; students, teachers, and professors; renters and homeowners, people who work for the City and the utility; policy makers and consumer advocates, and a few outside experts in relevant fields. We also reserved places and reached out to the public at large so those in Worcester who are passionate about these issues had an opportunity to request a seat at the table.

We know that this is a lot to ask of busy people. And while it may seem difficult to believe that hundreds of people in a large room can be effective in unleashing system-wide strategies, making significant decisions, and designing rapid prototypes, this is exactly what is happening in organizations and communities around the world. This was not your typical conference where participants listened to speeches and panels. It was a working session in which the second day built upon the first. We discovered common ground, developed a vision, and ended up with clear plans and prototypes for action.

• Day One - Monday, September 19, 2011

  Green today, Growth Tomorrow: Discovery of Strengths, Opportunities and Images of the Future We Want
  REGISTRATION AND BREAKFAST: 7:00 AM to 8:00 AM

  Welcome
  Marcy Reed, President, National Grid, Massachusetts; Joseph O’Brien, Mayor of Worcester and Congressman James McGovern

  8:00 AM to Noon

  • Opening Remarks:
    Michael O’Brien, Manager, City of Worcester and Cheri Warren, Vice President, National Grid : “The exciting future of energy leadership — Investing in a task of historic significance”
  • Keynote Address: Van Jones, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, Senior Policy Advisor at Green For All, Best Selling author of The Green Collar Economy: “Green for all as an economic opportunity for the city of the future: “why we need to be on the move today”
  • Overview of the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) Summit Method and 4-D Cycle:
    David Cooperrider, Fairmount Minerals Professor, Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University: “Our Task and Our Opening Exploration”
  • Keynote and Roundtable Discovery - Part One:
    Peter Senge, MIT Lecturer, Author, Founder, Society for Organizational Learning—A roundtable dialogue on the ‘positive core’ of Worcester and a mapping this system’s capacities for our task.

  Noon to 1:00 PM  Lunch is provided

  1:00 PM to 5:30 PM

  • Roundtable Discovery - Part Two:
    Roundtable and Plenary Dialogues—Common Stakeholder Groups (e.g. business leader groups, community citizens, government regulators, energy expert groups, etc.)
  • Innovation Panel:
    “Smart Energy, Smart Cities, Smart Businesses and Smart Homes—It takes the whole community”
    Ann Berwick, Chairwoman, Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities
    Laura Ipsen, Cisco, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Smart Grid
    Kristen Bowring, BestBuy, Senior Director of Home and Energy Management
    Jed Nosal, Assistant Attorney General, Bureau Chief, Business and Labor Bureau,
    Office of the Attorney General
    Mark Rosenbaum, Principle Engineer, South Mountain
    Moderated by: Judith Schwartz, President, To the Point

  AFTERNOON BREAK

  • Dreaming With Our Feet on the Ground:
    Images of the Future We Want to Create: “Green Today, Growth Tomorrow” Roundtable groups develop scenarios for the future
  • Reflections - Day One:
    Cheri Warren, Vice President, National Grid and John Odell, ProgramTuesday, September 20, 2011 Manager, Energy and Conservation, City of Worcester and steering committee member

• Day Two - Tuesday, September 20, 2011

From Dreams to Designs and Initiatives for Action
BREAKFAST AND INNOVATION SHOWCASE 7:00 AM to 8:00 AM

Assuming Anything Imaginable is Possible...

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
—Peter Drucker

8:00 AM to Noon

• Introduction to the day
  Cheri Warren, Vice President, National Grid and John Odell, Program Manager, Energy and Conservation, City of Worcester and special guests.
• Design - Part One: Self Selection into Opportunity Areas
  David Cooperrider, Fairmount Minerals Professor, Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University, introduces the group to design thinking from one of America’s top design firms, IDEO. New teams form based on opportunities for action. Participants work on themes and opportunity area they find most exciting and hold collective “brainstormers” related to each group’s action initiative.

MORNING BREAK

• Design - Part Two: Rapid Prototyping
  Participants will take the most promising areas from the “brainstormer” to build and design prototypes, helping us realize common ground for our future. The goal is to prototype initiatives that can realize “Green Today, Growth Tomorrow.”

Noon to 1:00 PM  Lunch is provided

1:00 to 4:30 PM

“We would literally astonish ourselves if we did everything we are capable of doing.”
—Thomas Edison

• Presentations of Prototypes
  David Cooperrider, Fairmount Minerals Professor, Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western
  Reserve University, and company, describes how this phase moves to action and asks the groups to
  report briefly on their work.
• Gallery Walk
  People place post-its and comment on ideas visible on the prototype boards to strengthen the concepts
• Action Planning
  Groups describe headlines, name the prototype, articulate highest aspiration and results desired
  
  Steps after summit: identify project owners, teams and potential participants
• Our Go-Forward Strategy
  One team will focus on a roadmap for groups and individuals for future deployment of ideas and supporting organizational structure. Those recommendations will be shared with the group.
• Open Microphone Reflections
  Participants reflect on insights and about their experiences at the Summit and what they are anticipating
  moving forward
• Closing Appreciations

The phrase was developed by the steering committee to make the connection between investment in smart energy technologies and practices as a way of fostering an environment that is attractive to residents and business, particularly those in sustainable industries.

You do not have to be an expert about the technical issues of electricity generation and transmission. After all, you are an energy consumer. However, an enthusiastic interest in community development or a working knowledge of sustainability issues would be valuable to the discussion.

Send an email about your interest and perspective to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

A clear set of guidelines and prototypes that evolve into a roadmap for Worcester’s energy future.

City of Worcester, National Grid, Worcester Business Development Corporation, Clark University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, YWCA Central Massachusetts, American Red Cross of Central Massachusetts, and the Institute for Energy & Sustainability.

National Grid owns and operates the electric infrastructure in the City of Worcester and throughout much of the state. Community input from the summit will be used to help shape plans for a Smart Grid pilot to enable optimization of new emerging technologies. Timely feedback, enabled by this approach, will help consumers to become more energy savvy and better manage their energy use as well as make it possible to integrate more renewable generation.

Better automation will enable National Grid to have more real time data about its system — for example during power outages. Right now, customer calls to National Grid are the primary way we collect data to analyze outage locations. Digital technologies will allow us to more quickly and precisely determine outage locations so that repairs are expedited.