Friday, October 21, 2011 to Saturday, October 22, 2011

What to Expect

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SLICE 2011: Invigorating the Cooperative Economy

October 21 — October 22

Seattle, Washington

All Pilgrims Christian Church

Friday, October 21

Join regional and national changemakers for a jovial evening of networking, with rousing keynote speaker Eric Bowman, Northwest Cooperative Development Center, and complete with locally and cooperatively sourced beer, wine, artisan and farmstead cheeses, meats, and seasonal fruits and vegetables. Connect with colleagues and strangers, and get excited about our collective strength and ingenuity in preparation for a day of discussion and action.

Saturday, October 22

Enjoy compelling creative conversation related to the current regional cooperative climate and opportunities for growing the Cooperative Movement in more transparent and accountable ways, featuring keynote speaker Margaret Lund, independent cooperative developer and former executive director of Northcountry Cooperative Development Fund, who will speak to how to build a cooperative economy.

As well, join in professionally facilitated, participant-driven open space where people of all stripes will meet in self-organized working groups to create initiatives, partnerships, and solutions intended to invigorate our cooperative economy. Proposed sessions, include:

• Our Greatest Strengths Can Be Our Greatest Weaknesses: An examination of the Cooperative Movement’s self-made limitations;

• The Next Fifty: In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Seattle’s World Fair, the Seattle Center is planning 6 months of engaging programming examining how we can shape the next 50 years. Of course, the cooperative voice is key to shaping a dynamic, empowered future;

• Strengthening the Ownership Message: An exploration of the barriers to and benefits of flaunting the cooperative advantage;

• From Co-op to Co-op: Bolstering our commitment to preferring cooperative enterprise across the supply chain;

• City Co-ops: The seething demand for new metropolitan cooperatives is fueling momentum to create an urban cooperative development center. Learn more and lend your voice;

• Serving our Founding Values: There exists a spectrum of opinions concerning in what ways cooperatives are and should be inherently political institutions. Efforts are currently underway to seed cooperatives that explicitly include in their mission a commitment to environmental and social justice.

• Growing Small: Starting a buying club or small-scale food cooperative in your community;

• Sweat Equity: A look at the challenges and opportunities that grow from sharing responsibility in a cooperative context;

• Leveraging the Shop Co-op Message: How can cooperators make the “shop co-op” message as compelling and popular as “shop local”? Are we competing or cooperating with the movement, and what can we learn from this important campaign?

A complimentary locally sourced, cooperatively produced lunch will be provided.