Symposium Growth Continues: In the four years since the Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream (ATD) Symposium was first presented in San Francisco, the Symposium has been delivered in seven languages to over 50,000 people on six continents in over 40 countries. There are more than 32 active ATD community groups around the world.
International Expansion: Responding to demand from around the globe, ATD Symposiums, Facilitator Trainings, or both were presented in 20 countries (that we know about) this year: South Africa, Ghana, Australia, the U.K., India, Thailand, Malaysia, China, The Philippines, Canada, Peru, Algeria (by invitation to a Muslim conference), Mexico, Costa Rica, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Japan, Korea and the U.S.
Facilitator Training Demand Continues to Increase: Four years ago there were 44 trained Symposium facilitators; today more than 2,000 volunteers around the globe are trained to facilitate the delivery of Symposiums in their communities. Responding to the increasing demand for trainings, this year a new “training leaders” training program was launched, with 45 participants from the U.S., Canada, Mexico, China, Australia, and New Zealand.
Youth Leaders Step Forward: Interest in Youth Symposiums has skyrocketed. High schools and universities have begun including the Symposium in their curricula, and young people are taking on creative educational projects using ATD, including a bus tour with mobile classrooms, and climate-awareness bike treks. Over 20 young people from ages 17 to 31 participated in the first-ever Youth Facilitator Training in New Mexico.
Global Gathering of Facilitators: The Awakening the Dreamer facilitator community around the world connected over two days through a series of electronically linked events this fall where participants shared experiences, learnings and enthusiasm.
New Symposium Version Launched: As part of a continuing process of updating and refining the content of the Symposium, the eighth version of the Awakening the Dreamer Symposium is now being made available to facilitators around the world. In response to the rapidly growing global community of facilitators, the new version is more international and designed to be an effective cross-cultural tool readily adaptable to local audiences. It has been enriched with updated information on the current world situation, and includes 26 additional global speakers and inspiring new footage.
