FESTS
Recharge, refresh, reconnect, and discover what’s new at LearningLife's Fests. At these special daylong gatherings, you’ll engage with outstanding experts, connect with interesting people, participate in diverse learning experiences, and renew your sense of purpose.
Encore! A LearningLife Fest
Saturday, May 16, 2009, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Continuing Education and Conference Center, University of Minnesota St. Paul Campus
$75
Is there a second act in your future? Find out at the LearningLife Encore Fest!
Are you looking?
• At transitioning out of your primary career?
• Toward phased or full retirement?
• For interesting, rewarding volunteer work?
Do you need?
• Continued income?
• Greater meaning?
• More flexibility?
Now is the time to forge new opportunities from unprecedented challenges. Join an all-star cast of leaders, experts, and peers, led by nationally renowned author and Civic Ventures founder Marc Freedman, for a day of discovery and direction about your future.
From reinventing retirement to paid work for the greater good, and from challenging volunteer work to social entrepreneurship, the Encore Fest is your passport into an expanding new world of "work after work."
Setting the Stage: Second Chances in the Second Half of Life
Phyllis Moen
We're all aware of the longevity revolution, but what are its implications for how we live and work during the second half of our lives, especially in these tough economic times? From good work to working for good, from full-out retirement to periods of rest and recreation, and from high-energy careers to "not-so-big" jobs, internationally renowned sociologist Phyllis Moen will take you on a mini-tour of this rapidly changing landscape.
Listen to Phyllis Moen's presentation.
Part One: Encore!
Encore Careers: Inventing Retirement as a New Phase of Work
Keynote by Marc Freedman
An "encore career" is a second act that combines flexibility and continued income with social impact and personal meaning. Challenging times encourage new ways of thinking, and the encore career is an idea whose time is now. Discover how you fit into this emerging picture with acclaimed thought leader, Civic Ventures founder, and author Marc Freedman.
Two major surveys commissioned in 2007 by the MetLife Foundation and Civic Ventures – one of workers between 44 and 70 years old and the other of nonprofit employers – affirm that the people Freedman describes are just the first wave of those who will seek purpose-driven work in the second half of life.
Where do encore careers fit in times of high unemployment? How do they address increasing needs to keep working past retirement age? What do we mean by continued income and flexibility? Can we play even if we no longer want to work full time at a high-energy career? How about employer attitudes toward encore workers? Where are the opportunities? What are the challenges? The answers to these questions will surprise and inspire you.
Listen to Marc Freedman's presentation.
Part Two: People in Action
Giving the World and Ourselves New Meaning
Jim Scheibel with Pastor Rod Anderson, Cindy Moeller, Eric Schnell, and Bob Viking
Join former St. Paul mayor and Senior Corps director Jim Scheibel and a special group of "action figures" from our community who have gotten up off the couch and sprung into action. Be inspired as your peers share their stories about switching from the private to the nonprofit or public sector, volunteerism as community action and leadership, forging an encore career from your passions, primary career, or past volunteering, supporting one another during difficult life/work transitions, and more.
Part Three: Where Do I Fit?
Town Hall Meeting: Bringing New Ideas Home to Our Own Lives
The entire encore cast will participate with the audience (us!) in a town hall meeting moderated by College of Continuing Education Dean Mary Nichols. We'll bring new information and ideas home to our own lives, offer our own ideas, ask questions, raise issues, and begin or continue shaping our individual encores.
Leave with new information, lots of inspiration, an expanded range of practical and meaningful second-half options and opportunities, and a packet of resources to help you explore directions that fit your needs and feed your passions.
To Do
Check out a host of resources from the Encore Fest.
Read Encore
Marc Freedman's groundbreaking book, Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life, has become a textbook for finding meaning, making an impact, and earning a livelihood as we enter our next chapters.
Listen to Marc Freedman and Phyllis Moen Discuss Social Forces Reshaping Retirement
This audio track of a "Great Conversation" that took place on May 16, 2006, offers the perfect background for learning about emerging possibilities for "work after work."
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Explore LearningLife
Fest Highlights
LearningLife Encore Fest
May 16, 2009
Listen the Encore Fest's two renowned keynote presenters inspire and advise you.
Phyllis Moen: Second Chances in the Second Half of Life (audio)
Marc Freedman: Inventing Retirement as a New Phase of Work (audio)
Spring Fest 2008:
Living a Renewable Life
Richard Leider: Facing the Midlife Challenge (audio)
Catherine Watson: Living a Renewable Life (audio)
Fall Fest 2007:
Sample the Breadth of LearningLife
Jerry Allan: Five Great Ideas (video)
