August 2011 Newsletter

Greetings! The second half of this summer was even more exciting than the first with a wide range of engagements and events for myself and Chris.

Conferences and Appearances

The First International World Peace Game–Bergen
Following the World Peace Game Academy at the Darden Business School in Charlottesville, Virginia, I flew to Bergen, Norway for the first International World Peace Game. 27 adults and teenagers gathered for the 5-day event where, once again, world peace was achieved.

The sponsors, including the European Youth Initiative, built the 4-level game board according to my specifications and I supplied the game pieces and crisis algorithm. National television and newspapers covered the event and gaming analysts were present to observe the process. Here are some sites and highlights, from our Norwegian experience:

Blog Posts from Linn Sovig:

– Part 1

– Part 2

Bergen Facebook Page
Bergen TV2
Photo Reel

 University of Houston—First Lecture
My travels continued as I gave the “First Lecture” to over 850 graduate and undergraduate education students at The University of Houston’s Moore Opera House. The swirling crowd of hundreds of bright red t-shirts reading; “Change the World. Teach!” typified the excitement that Dean Robert McPhearson and his staff felt in orchestrating this campus-wide event.

Newell Rubbermaid– Marketing Summit
After signing with the prestigious Leigh Bureau for speaking engagements, I  found strong interest from the corporate world. So I began bringing the lessons and underlying principles of the World Peace Game to the business world. I traveled to Atlanta and presented to over 800 business associates at the Newell Rubbermaid Marketing Summit.
Newell Rubbermaid is a $5.6B global marketer of consumer and commercial products. Their well-known brands include: Rubbermaid®, Sharpie®, Graco®, Calphalon®, Irwin®, Lenox®, Levolor®, Paper Mate®, Dymo®, Waterman®, Parker®, Goody®, Technical Concepts™ and Aprica®.  More than 90 percent of U.S. households use at least one of these products.

Teacher of the Year Recognition
A special thanks to C-Ville, a Charlottesville newspaper, for naming me Teacher of the Year.

Upcoming Events

On September 20^th, John and Chris will travel to Antwerp, Belgium for multiple screenings of “World Peace and Other 4^th Grade Achievements” at TEDxFlanders. Immediately following Flanders, John flies directly to New York to speak at the NBC/MSNBC Education Nation Summit where he will be interviewed by NBC correspondent Brian Williams. The event will be broadcasted live as well as available via Livestream. John and Chris then fly to Anaheim California where John will be the closing Keynote Speaker at the Enterprise Learning! Conference & Expo where over 500 businesses will be represented and another 1500 will attend virtually online.

In October, John will be awarded the first John E. Baker Legacy Award given in honor of African-American education pioneer, John Baker. This prestigious award is given by the African-American Teaching Fellows Organization.

This November, John will appear at TEDxNewEngland, and present at the Pentagon.

2012
The next International World Peace Game will take place in Oslo, Norway in February 2012.

Yes, John’s signing with the Cynthia Cannell Literary Agency of New York has led to the beginning chapters of the story of the World Peace Game. We hope that the book will be out in the spring of 2012.

Other Media Coverage and Events
Charlottesville Right Now

Chris Farina Talks About the World Peace and His Next Project

AlHurra TV:
“World Peace and Other 4th Grade Achievements” was aired on Alhurra TV throughout the Middle East on September 5, 2011.

Tokyo Film Festival
The film has also been selected for inclusion in a Tokyo Film Festival taking place in mid-November. We will keep you updated as more details are available.
Australian Facebook
A page was created to gauge interest in having John and the film in Australia and New Zealand.