A Celebratory Timeline of Appreciative Inquiry by Lindsey Godwin

1980: The Seeds of Appreciative Inquiry at the Cleveland Clinic

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The birthplace and co-founding of AI happened in the doctoral program in Organizational Behavior at Case Western Reserve University in the collaboration between David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva in 1980. As a young 24 year old doctoral student David Cooperrider was involved doing a conventional diagnosis or an organizational analysis of "what's wrong with the human side of the Organization?" In gathering his data, he becomes amazed by the level of positive cooperation, innovation and egalitarian governance he sees in the organization. Suresh Srivastva, Cooperrider's advisor notices David's excitement and suggests going further with the excitement-making it the focus. Having been influenced by earlier writings by Schweitzer on the idea of "reverence for life", David obtains permission from the Clinic's Chairman Dr. William Kiser to focus totally on a life-centric analysis of the factors contributing to the highly effective functioning of the Clinic when it was at its best. Everything else was ignored. The Cleveland clinic became the first large site where a conscious decision to use an inquiry focusing on life-giving factors forms the basis for an organizational analysis. The term "Appreciative Inquiry" was first written about in an analytic footnote in the feedback report of "emergent themes" by David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva for the Board of Governors of the Cleveland Clinic. The report created such a powerful and positive stir that the Board called for ways to use this method with the whole group practice. The momentum set the stage for David Cooperrider's seminal dissertation, the first, and as yet, one of the best articulations of the theory and practice of Appreciative Inquiry.

1987: First Formal Introduction

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Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva publish their seminal paper 'Appreciative Inquiry into Organizational Life,' introducing AI to the academic world. This publication establishes the theoretical foundations and marks the official birth of the Appreciative Inquiry methodology.

1990: The 4-D Cycle is seeded with 3-Ds

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Suresh Srivastva, Ron Fry, and David Cooperrider team up in SIGMA to work with Romania's healthcare System after the collapse of communism, and create a model to describe Appreciative Inquiry in more poetic and simple terms. It was the beginning of the 4-D model-- describing the cycle of AI as "Discovery, Dream, and Destiny".

1990: The Organizational Excellence Program (OEP),

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A pilot project to create ways for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to offer innovative management and leadership training to US Private Voluntary Organizations - PVOs - in the US, was founded under the leadership of Ada Jo Mann. Case Western Reserve was chosen as the University partner for the pilot because of the work of David Cooperrider and his colleagues with Global Social Change organizations. At the end of the pilot phase, the OEP became the Global Excellence in Management Initiative (GEM) operating under a USAID grant given to SIGMA/Case Western Reserve University. GEM's goals are to (1) Promote organizational excellence in development organizations in the US and abroad; (2) Create new forms of global cooperation; and, (3) Sustain excellence, develop capacity to continually learn, adjust and innovate over time. AI provides the foundational operating principles. The OEP and the GEM Initiative have fostered major innovative ways to use AI in the global arena, creating approaches and models that are being used in all organizations today. It was in this work, with Save the Children, that the 3-Ds were transformed and elaborated into the "4-D" cycle.

2004: United Nations Global Compact

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With over 400 participants, Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his opening remarks, said, “This is the largest and highest-level gathering of leaders from business, labor and civil society ever held at the United Nations. Indeed, far more of you were determined to attend than we anticipated in our wildest estimations”. This summit helped launch the UN Global Compact (https://www.unglobalcompact.org) and resulted in Secretary-General Kofi Annan saying, “I would like to comment you more particularly for your innovative methodology of ‘appreciative inquiry’ and o thank you for introducing it to the United Nations. Without this, it would have been very difficult, perhaps even impossible, to constructively engage so many leaders of business, civil society, and government throughout the day.”

2004: Publication of 'The Power of Appreciative Inquiry'

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Diana Whitney and Amanda Trosten-Bloom publish this influential book, making AI principles more accessible to practitioners and leading to wider adoption in various fields.

2020: Virtual AI During Global Pandemic

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The COVID-19 pandemic leads to innovations in virtual AI practices, demonstrating the methodology's adaptability and resilience. New digital tools and approaches are developed to facilitate online AI processes.

2018: World Positive Education Accelerator

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In June 2018, over 800 people from over 30 countries gathered in Fort Worth, TX to turn inspiration into action at the World Positive Education Accelerator (WPEA). Co-convened by the Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry and the International Positive Education Network (IPEN), the WPEA brought together, educators, students, parents, researchers, policy makers, business leaders, philanthropists, and foundations interested in accelerating education that, in addition to focusing on academic excellence, also imparts the tools and skills that enable wellbeing and human flourishing.

https://appreciativeinquiry.champlain.edu/2018/06/25/the-world-positive-education-accelerator/

1984: Cooperrider makes the first public presentation of his still evolving ideas about AI to the Academy of Management

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He reports, his ideas are met with great challenge (e.g. it is Pollyannish), debate (e.g. there are such "things" as problems), and even laughter (e.g. organizations as "miracles" of human interaction, dialogue, and infinite imagination).

1987: The first public workshop on AI

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Promoted by two MBA students, is held in San Francisco with David Cooperrider as the key presenter.

1987: Round Table Project

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At a Canadian accounting firm (with John Carter as the external lead) becomes the first large-scale change effort in which AI is conceived of as a comprehensive intervention framework from data gathering to implementation. After four years of collaboratively searching for the right organization-wide intervention, John Carter offers his client Appreciative Inquiry as a possible framework for change and brings in David Cooperrider to create a video tape explaining the idea of AI for all partners of the firm. Within less than three months and without any coaching from Carter, the client selects AI as the way to ensure the future of the firm. Over a one- year period, Carter, Cooperrider and the client system plan and implement a 12- step process that starts with the establishment of a philosophically congruent project structure, incorporates the systematic design of a customized AI protocol, and includes widespread interviews followed by the development of provocative propositions (PPs), followed in turn by widespread consensual validation of the PP's and an organic, rather than mechanistic, implementation process. Some 400 partners came together with Carter and Cooperrider in large group format "the roundtable" and used the AI data and stories to help create a plan for the future. A major innovation in the use of AI - having members of the organization interview each other - was piloted by Carter and has become a major part of AI methods for organization intervention. Note however that although this project was highly collaborative, the data analysis (the meaning making) was still in the hands of the external consultants.

1988: AI Wins Paper of the Year

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David Cooperrider & Frank Barrett team up to extend AI approach-"generative metaphor intervention"-- as a way to work with a Hotel management team locked in seemingly intractable conflict. Breakthroughs occur. A paper they write on the use of AI wins the "Best Paper of the Year" Award in 1988 at the National Academy of Management in the OD Division.

1988: AI Research Carnival

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An innovation that resulted from Tojo Joseph Thatchenkery's dissertation research, marked the first incidence in which clients took over the "meaning making" (analysis) with the data. As part of his dissertation research at Case, Thatchenkery begins a major 3-year AI based data gathering process with the Institute for Cultural Affairs (ICA) in the USA. Much to his surprise members of the client system wrest from his control the data analysis and the process of developing future plans based on the data. Thatchenkery calls the process, that had been initially designed to gather data to build more grounded theory, "The Appreciative Research Carnival". The following year Thatchenkery experiences the same phenomenon again. ICA inadvertently becomes the most "fully blown" collaborative use of Appreciative Inquiry for organizational change to date.

1989: SIGMA Program for Global Change

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is founded by The Weatherhead School of Management at Case as a center for research and education dedicated to the study and development of worldwide organizations and leaders capable of addressing the most complex and pressing global issues of our time. Committed to the premise that there are no limits to cooperation, the center mandate asserts that virtually every item on the global agenda for change can be dealt with given the appropriate forms of effective management and organization. SIGMA focuses its attention on innovative organizations that are pioneers in building a healthy and vibrant world future. AI is the theory building method. Highlighted are organizations from across sectors (public, private, non-profit, cross-sector partnerships) that take a lead role in advancing positive global change. Issues of focus include (1) intelligent environmental policy and practice, (2) people-centered approaches to sustainable economic development, (3) the growth and support of local and global civil society, and (4) the emergence of a global ethic or set of higher values that inspire human action in service of the widest possible good.

1989: Social Innovations in Global Management Conference

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held at Case Western in November of 1989 highlighted studies of five global social change organizations, one of which was ICA. Articles from these studies, along with papers on the subject of social innovations in management in the global arena were subsequently published in "Research in Organizational Change and Development," Volume 5. From JAI Press Inc and a special series of articles in Human Relations. This marked the first major activity of SIGMA and laid the groundwork for what in 1990 developed into a role for SIGMA in the Global Excellence in Management initiative for management of international development agencies.

1990: Appreciative Management and Leadership: The Power of Positive Thought and Action in Organizations published

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This book contains Cooperrider's much quoted research on the power of the positive image, an article entitled "Positive Image; Positive Action."

1990: The Taos Institute is founded

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Taos is founded by Ken and Mary Gergen, Diana Whitney, David Cooperrider, Suresh Srivastva, Sheila McNamee, and Harlene Anderson and becomes a major center for AI training and learning. (http://www.taosinstitute.net/)

1992: Imagine Chicago

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This is a major community development effort based heavily on AI principles and practice. Here Bliss Browne invents an intergenerational way of doing AI, with children doing hundreds of AI interviews with adults and elders.

1993: NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Science work

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NTL initiates an internal Appreciative Inquiry based diversity project to discover and promulgate the innovative and effective lessons that NTL learned from nearly 20 years of work with organizations on ways to value diversity. Cathy Royal is the lead consultant for the project. In preparation for the year long diversity study project, Jane Watkins, Cathy Royal, David Cooperrider and John Carter offer a three day AI lab for NTL members. (http://www.ntl.org/)

1994: NTL Training on AI

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AI training is offered for the first time, trained by Jane Watkins and Cathy Royal. Subsequently, the team of Watkins, Royal, Bernard Mohr and Barbara Sloan staff yearly workshops in basic AI, and AI practicum workshop.

1996: Thin Book of AI is Published

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by Sue Annis Hammond, providing the first widely available, basic introduciton ot AI as a philosophy and methodolgy of change.

1996: AI applied to Diversity Work

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In a continuing expansion of AI to new applications (in this case Diversity) Cathy Royal and Alexsandra Stewart lead the first and only statewide Citizen's Summit and Public Dialogue on Building Communities that Work, Emerging from this success in 1997, Imagine South Carolina, becomes recognized (in two publications, Interracial Dialogue Groups Across America and Bridging the Racial Divide, DuBois and Hutson) as one of the nations most effective programs on improving racial dialogue.

1997: AI Listserve Created

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by Jack Brittain at University of Texas, Dallas. It serves as a forum for practitioners at all levels to share and learn from each other.

1996: GTE Award

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GTE receives the ASTD "Best Organization Change Program" in the country for the work done for two years with AI guided by David Cooperrider and Diana Whitney.

1998: Lessons from the Field Published

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Edited by Sue Hammond and Cathy Royal, it is the first widely available book of case histories of organizational development projects done from an appreciative perspective. It is the first widely available book of case histories of organizational development projects done from an appreciative perspective.

1998: The AI E-newsletter is established by Anne Radford in London.

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This newsletter evolves into the AI Practitioner: International Journal of Appreciative Inquiry https://aipractitioner.com

1999: Appreciative Inquiry: Toward a Positive Theory of Human Organization and Change Published

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by David Cooperrider, Peter Sorensen, Diana Whitney, and Therese Yaeger

1999: Work with the Dalai Lama

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David Cooperrider is asked to facilitate and to bring Appreciative Inquiry into a program started by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in an effort to have religious leaders, across the world's great religions, create new levels of cooperation and peace. This effort highlights the essence of AI practice-the crafting of "the unconditional positive question". An article is written called "The Surprise of Friendship" and led to the launch of the United Religions Initiative (URI). https://www.uri.org

1999: AI recognized at Academy of Management

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Ed Schien and Richard Beckhard invite David Cooperrider to join them at the Academy of Management on symposium titled "The Past, Present, and Future of Organization Development". As it turns out it was Beckhard's last major talk at the Academy before his death later in that year. Beckhard said this of AI: "appreciative inquiry is creating a powerful and enduring change in the way OD will be conceptualized and practiced now and in the future…it is changing the way we think about change itself."

2000: AI recognized as a Paradigm

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The OD Practitioner does their millennium special issue on AI. Peter Sorensen of Benedictine University argues, as editor, that AI is more than a method; it is a paradigm change uniquely created for the opportunities of the 21st Century while at the same time extending the deepest and most important early values of the field.

2001: First International Appreciative Inquiry Conference

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is held in Baltimore Maryland. The First International Conference on Appreciative Inquiry opened just three weeks after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the US Pentagon. After the attacks, the conference design team met to decide whether to proceed with the conference. After much soul searching, we decided that if ever there was a time when the world needed to develop affirmative competence, it is now. However, we decided to refine the design to place the focus on how business might serve as an agent of world benefit. For reasons we can only imagine, the total number of registrants for this conference not only didn't drop, it increased between September 11 and the conference, which opened on September 30th. Over 500 people attended the conference. In spite of nervousness around the world about travel, people arrived from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and South America. (https://appreciativeinquiry.champlain.edu/educational-material/first-international-conference-on-appreciative-inquiry-accelerating-positive-change/)

2001: Appreciative Inquiry: Change at the Speed of Imagination published

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Written by Jane Magruder Watkins, Bernard Mohr and Ralph Kelly provided an excellent history of AI, articulated the principles, and had great case studies, in ways that made this a real resource to practitioners. This was an influential book that gave more details in the case studies than had previously been written about, and giving an unvarnished history, without falling into sycophancy. These elements made this a winner at Royal Roads University for the over 100 MA-Leadership students who completed their action research capstones using this resource. The 2011 edition updated the history section and gave new case studies.

2004: 2nd International AI Conference

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Convened in Miami Florida and was another superb gathering bringing together the foremost practitioners and scholars of Appreciative Inquiry and the bold innovators who harness the power of positive change in their organizations.

2007: 3rd International AI Conference

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Convened in Orlando Florida. With keynotes including Marty Seligman, Marcus Buckingham, and Barbara Fredrickson, the conference really lifted up the cutting edge work happening in the field of strength-based management.

2009: 4th International Conference held in Nepal

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Now referred to as the World Appreciative Inquiry Conference – WAIC this event convened in Kathmandu, Nepal, marking the first international convening outside of the U.S. The conference drew 400 participants from 40 countries who participated live in Kathmandu and also virtually from their homes. There were a total of 47 live presentations, 25 online presentations and 8 posters presentations during the four-day conference. The conference was inaugurated by Rt Honorable Dr Ram Baran Yadav, the first president of Nepal.

2009: Sustainable Cleveland Launches first AI Summit in 10 Year Process

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With a stated mission to “engage people from all walks of life, working together to design and develop a thriving and resilient Cleveland region that leverages its wealth of assets to build economic, social and environmental well-being for all,” this project is one of the largest uses of the AI Summit methodology over a sustained period to advance a sustainability agenda in an entire region. More information is available at: (http://www.sustainablecleveland.org/)

2012: 5th World AI Conference in Ghent Belgium

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Convened in Ghent, Belgium. Once again, practitioners, researchers, and students of Appreciative Inquiry gathered from across the globe to share best practices and new innovations happening in their work on positive change.

2013: AI work with Dairy Industry Celebrated at the White House

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In 2007, the board of directors for Dairy Management Inc. use the AI Summit methodology to bring together more than 250 stakeholders from farms, academia, governmental and non-governmental organizations, and food retailers to focus on opportunities to build consensus for a “constitution for sustainable dairy” and to find ways to spark sustainability innovations that would strengthen farm businesses, reduce GHG emissions for fluid milk by 25%, and increase business value. That first summit created consensus for action around projects that would increase in farm business value on the order of US $238 million by 2009. In April 2013, representatives from the effort were hosted at the White House, not only to recognize their achievements but also to recognize the innovative design process with stakeholders from across the whole life-cycle value chain.

2014: The David L. Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry Launches

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The Cooperrider Center is dedicated in the Robert P. Stiller School of Business at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont. The Cooperrider Center takes its name from Dr. David L. Cooperrider, the world-renowned thought leader on Appreciative Inquiry. The Cooperrider Center was made possible through the transformational $10 million gift from Robert and Christine Stiller in 2012 to support programs in Appreciative Inquiry.

https://appreciativeinquiry.champlain.edu

2014: David Cooperrider Named Intellectual Shaman

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David was named one of 28 "intellectual shamans of thought" in a newly published book, Intellectual Shamans: Management Academics Making a Difference by Sandra Waddock (Cambridge University Press, 2014). Waddock defines intellectual shamans as "scholars who become fully who they must be, and find and live their purpose, to serve the world through three capacities: healing, connecting, and sensemaking, and in the process seek or come to wisdom."

2015: 6th World AI Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa

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Convened in Johannesburg, South Africa. Colleagues from around the world gathered to explore the overarching question of, “How can we collaborate to elevate, magnify and refract our best strengths to create a flourishing and prosperous world for all?”

2016: 30 Year Retrospective on AI in the AI Practitioner Journal

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After founding editor, Anne Radford, passed the helm of the AI Practitioner International Journal of Appreciative Inquiry to it’s new editor, Wick van der Vaart, his first issue asked, “How Has Appreciative Inquiry Lived Up To its Promises?”

2009: Thin Book of SOAR published

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The Thin Book of SOAR: Building Strengths-Based Strategy by Jacqueline M. Stavros and Gina Hinrichs introduces SOAR—a transformative framework for strategic planning that emphasizes an organization's strengths, opportunities, aspirations, and measurable results. Rooted in Appreciative Inquiry, SOAR shifts the focus from problem-solving to amplifying what works well, fostering innovation and engagement across all organizational levels.

Dr. Jacqueline Stavros, a professor at Lawrence Technological University, co-developed SOAR to facilitate inclusive, strengths-based strategic conversations. Her extensive work in leadership and organizational development has empowered numerous organizations to adopt this positive approach to change.

This concise guide offers practical insights and real-world examples, making it an essential resource for leaders, coaches, and teams aiming to cultivate a collaborative and forward-thinking organizational culture

2019: 7th World AI Conference in Nice France

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The global AI community convened in Nice France

2020: Cooperrider & Fry write "Appreciative Inquiry in a Pandemic: An Improbable Pairing"

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2007: Gervase Bushe publishes Appreciative Inquiry Is Not (Just) About The Positive

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2013: Organizational Generativity (Advances in Appreciative Inquiry, Vol 4) Published

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The Advances in Appreciative Inquiry series facilitates an emergent dialogue within the social sciences and supports innovative and challenging scholarly work. It is dedicated to the advancement of Appreciative Inquiry as an approach to organizational and human development, and as an interdisciplinary, non-deficit theory of positive change processes in human systems. Guided by the ethos of Appreciative Inquiry, the book series supports an ongoing, distributed inquiry into the true, the good, the better and the possible. It is dedicated to advancing a ‘scholarship of the positive’ and ‘positive scholarship.’

This volume aims to push the frontiers and solicit new tools and insights for expanding the state-of-the-art applications of Appreciative Inquiry. It revolves around three fundamental aspects of organizational generativity, namely: generative knowledge and organizational life, collective action and the appreciative inquiry summit, and sustainable inter-generative dynamics.

2023: Cooperrider Center's "Inspiring Impacts" Podcast launches

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2008: Appreciative Advising

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Dr. Jenny Bloom, a pioneering figure in higher education, co-founded the Appreciative Advising movement, transforming the landscape of student support by focusing on strengths-based, student-centered approaches. In 2002, she and Nancy Archer Martin introduced the concept through their seminal article, "Incorporating Appreciative Inquiry into Academic Advising," laying the foundation for what would become a transformative framework in academic advising.Western Carolina University | Home+3Wikipedia+3Florida Atlantic University+3

Building upon this foundation, Dr. Bloom, along with Dr. Bryant Hutson and Dr. Ye He, published The Appreciative Advising Revolution in 2008, expanding David Cooperrider's Appreciative Inquiry model into a six-phase process tailored for educational settings: Disarm, Discover, Dream, Design, Deliver, and Don't Settle.

Currently, Dr. Bloom serves as a Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Research Methodology at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), where she also founded the Office of Appreciative Education. Through this platform, she has spearheaded initiatives such as the annual Appreciative Advising Summer Institute, the Appreciative Education Conference, and certification programs for advisors, all aimed at fostering positive, collaborative educational environments.

Dr. Bloom's work emphasizes the importance of building meaningful relationships between advisors and students, encouraging institutions to adopt an Appreciative Education approach that permeates all levels of campus life. Her contributions have not only redefined advising practices but have also inspired a broader movement towards creating educational spaces where all members can thrive.

For more information on Dr. Bloom's work and resources on Appreciative Advising, visit AppreciativeAdvising.net.

2021: Godwin & Stavros write "AI: A Life-Giving Personal Operating System"

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2020: Whitaker, Thatchenkery & Godwin validate an Appreciative Intelligence Scale

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2016: Stavros, Godwin & Cooperrider publish, "Appreciative Inquiry: Organization Development and the Strengths Revolution"

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In book: Practicing Organization Development: Leading Transformation and Change (pp.96-116) Edition: Fourth Chapter: 6 Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Editors: William Rothwell, Jacqueline Stavros, Roland Sullivan

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285056157_Appreciative_Inquiry_Organization_Development_and_the_Strengths_Revolution

2015: Cooperrider & Godwin publish, "Elevation-and-Change: An Eight-Step Platform for Leading P.O.S.I.T.I.V.E. Change"

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2011: US Navy hosts an AI Summit

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2019: Tampa hosts Connect & Propel AI Summit

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https://connectandpropeltampabay.org

2006: Appreciative Intelligence: Seeing the Mighty Oak in the Acorn is published

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2012: Appreciative Inquiry in Higher Education published

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2007: Appreciative Coaching: A Positive Process for Change published

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2014: The Joy of Appreciative Living: Your 28-Day Plan to Greater Happiness Using the Principles of Appreciative Inquiry published

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2021: Conversations Worth Having, Second Edition: Using Appreciative Inquiry to Fuel Productive and Meaningful Engagement published

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2003: The Appreciative Inquiry Summit: A Practitioner's Guide for Leading Large-Group Change published

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2001: Encyclopedia of Positive Questions Volume I : Using Appreciative Inquiry to Bring Out the Best in Your Organization published

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2023: Cooperrider & Godwin's Earthshot OD article named one of 18 best OD Review articles of all time

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Their article was chosen as one of the 18 best OD Review articles of all time to be featured in the new OD Review Essentials Volume 1: History & Evolution of Organization Development issue.

https://case.edu/weatherhead/about/news-and-events/news/weatherheads-david-copperrider-and-alumna-lindsey-godwins-article-featured-new-od-review-issue

2004: Appreciative Team Building: Positive Questions to Bring Out the Best of Your Team published

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2020: First Virtual AI Jam: Positive Pivot

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In the fourth year of this annual in-person event, and in the midst of the Covid pandemic, we took the Jam virtual! In October of 2020, over 200 people from over 26 countries gathered virtually to renew their energies, revitalize their practice, and reflect with each other on what the world is calling for from this community.

https://appreciativeinquiry.champlain.edu/2020/10/15/positive-pivot-a-global-virtual-ai-jam/

2022: Second Virtual AI Jam: Thriving Together

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With two days of synchronous virtual gatherings and one 24-hours of jamming around the world, the second Jam sought to elevate where AI was helping us thrive together. We created opportunities for meaningful connections between practitioners and brought to light how and where AI was being used in impactful ways in the world!

https://appreciativeinquiry.champlain.edu/2022/04/21/thriving-together-a-global-virtual-jam-april-2022/

2023: Third Virtual AI Jam: Cultivating Connections

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Our October 2023 Jam gathered over 200 people from over 20 countries for 3 days of inspiration and connection. We had thought catalysts, dynamic dialogue panels, and a day of 24 hours of jamming from around the globe – where you all shared your work and insights with each other in the form of over 20 sessions in different languages across multiple time zones – and several regional gatherings, including in Buffalo, NY, Chile, France, and Zimbabwe!

https://appreciativeinquiry.champlain.edu/2023/10/19/cultivating-connections-global-inspiration-local-activation/

2019: 3rd AI Jam hosted in Burlington VT

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With the theme "Practices Amplified, Connections Elevated: PACE" the 3rd AI Jam gathered in Burlington, bringing together 60 people from around the world.

2017: First AI Community Jam gathers in Burlington VT

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Inspired by Ada Jo Mann and Sallie Lee's connection at an event celebrating Jane Watkins, the idea of the AI Jam was seeded and the first AI Jam was gathered in Burlington VT as an opportunity for the community to gather in between the WAIC events. This first gathering had 37 participants.

2018: 2nd AI Jam Gathers in Burlington VT

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Inspired by the generative gathering in 2017, about 75 people gathered again to learn and lift up AI around the world.

1994 The GEM Initiative

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Seven years of grant funding from USAID to CWRU introduced Appreciative Inquiry to leaders around the world for leadership and community development, partnership strengthening and whole system change.

2025: 4th Virtual AI Jam: Rooted and Rising

lindseygodwin — 2025-05-19 23:30:23 UTC

This year at The AI Jam, we’re diving into the powerful story of Appreciative Inquiry—honoring its origins while boldly imagining what’s next. Over the course of three energizing, interactive days, you’ll be immersed in a global learning community. Be inspired by visionary thought leaders who are shaping the future of strength-based change. Roll up your sleeves in hands-on workshops exploring the most innovative practices and real-world cases from around the world. Connect with passionate peers and seasoned practitioners, and join in dynamic conversations that will spark new possibilities. Together, we’ll not only reflect on where AI has been—we’ll co-create where it’s going.

2002 Appreciative Inquiry: New Thinking at Work

slzolno — 2025-05-20 21:48:00 UTC

Sherene Zolno published article in 2002 Human Resources Annual, Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer.

2009 AI World Conference in Nepal

slzolno — 2025-05-20 21:57:13 UTC

Sherene Zolno presented "Appreciative Leading: Seeing a Way to a Healthy World."

2011. Facilitator's Guide for an Appreciative Inquiry

slzolno — 2025-05-20 22:37:49 UTC

Sherene Zolno developed and distributed this Leader's Guide to all The Leading Clinic's Certified Appreciative Coaches, and made it available to all AI Practitioners.

2006: Publication of the first book applying Appreciative Inquiry to evaluation

johnsonamys — 2025-05-21 13:14:56 UTC

https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/reframing-evaluation-through-appreciative-inquiry/book227039

2021: Faith Addicott starts the series "Our Principles in Action" for the AI Practitioner

2025-05-21 19:03:37 UTC

"As practitioners, we are in a position to use Appreciative Inquiry to deepen and shift not just what we talk about, but also what we understand about the nature of our ongoing conversation with reality. And with each other. It is the richness of inclusive creation and truly shared ownership of the collective narrative that allows us to build towards justice." First article here: https://aipractitioner.com/2021/09/02/20398-2-2/

2008: Dawn Dole, Ada Jo Mann, Jen Herzl Silbert and Diana Whitney partner to write a set of appreciative questions to bring out the best in families at all stages of development.

2025-05-21 20:51:29 UTC

2000: AI Consulting

adajomann — 2025-05-21 21:04:00 UTC

David Cooperrider and 20 AI practitioners create AI Consulting, LLC to form a worldwide network of AI practitioners to create communities of practice to support each other and spread AI across the globe. Their first event was the first World AI Conference which took place in Baltimore, Maryland weeks following 911.