ADHD Creates Innovation: ADHD Mother and father’ Palooza 2021
Innovations arise for all sorts of reasons.
Sometimes we’re looking for something new and creative. Sometimes we are bored and want change. And sometimes – in the interests of self-preservation, efficiency or logistics – we stumble upon an innovation that makes us ask: “Why didn’t we think about it earlier ?!”
In July 2021, ADDiva.net and ImpactParents.com hosted an online summit – our fourth annual celebration at the ADHD Parents’ Palooza. Every year it is an extraordinary event that brings together many of the world’s leading experts in a single forum and offers high quality free programs to nearly ten thousand parents and professionals.
“But a summit is not exactly an innovation,” one might say, even if it has such a big name as Palooza (Linda Roggli’s brilliance!).
True. But remember my word: this year’s summit will be an innovation in the world of online summits that (I predict) will become part of everyday life in the years to come. In a world where time is a precious commodity, we did something else and it worked!
Instead of a series of 32+ individual interviews, we mixed everything up and created a series of 16 “interviews with colleagues”. We brought together experts with complementary expertise and invited them to talk to one another – and to learn from one another. And definitely a SPECTACULAR successful innovation.
Some of the couples already knew each other, like Carolyn Lentzsch Parcells, MD and Sarah Cheyette MD, Gretchen Wegner and Seth Perler, Penny Williams and Elizabeth Brink, or Deborah Reber and Debbie Steinberg Kuntz, LMFT (two friends who accidentally started it because we paired them together because we thought it would be fun!).
Some of the couples were new but didn’t really know each other, like Jerome J. Schultz, Ph.D. and Russell Barkley or Evelyn Polk Green and Jessica McCabe.
Some of the couples got together for a stimulating conversation, and who knows if they will meet again, such as Temple Grandin School and Diane Dempster, Dr. Laura Markham and Mark Bertin, Hayden Lee and Loucresie Rupert, Sarah Y. Vinson, MD and Edward (Ned) Hallowell, or Laurie Dupar and Taniesha Burke, PhD.
Some of the couples first met and clearly become friends and colleagues for life, like Caroline Maguire M. Ed. and Dr. Elizabeth Milovidov, Jeff Copper and Nikki Kinzer, Roberto Olivardia and Dulce Torres, and Mary Anne Richey and Sharon Saline, Psy.D.
ALL of these exceptional experts were part of an innovation that was born in part out of practicality: it takes longer than 16 to interview 32 experts.
The next time you think that your teen is just plain lazy, ask yourself if there are some efficiencies worth considering! Sometimes innovation comes in strange and unexpected ways. That’s why we have chocolate chip cookies!
More importantly (although someone of you tried planning a coaching session this summer, you know time efficiency is no small thing!), This innovation was born by professionals with ADHD who aren’t afraid to try something new, especially if it is could be fun and creative, have the potential to be more interesting and ultimately more efficient! Think PINCH and you will know how important engagement is for motivation!
Yes, it was a little harder to coordinate and it couldn’t have happened if we didn’t have a great team or our experts weren’t ready to work with us. I am so grateful to the professionals who have accompanied us on this adventure this year that they are entering something new and trusting that we will support them in it. Their conversations were fascinating and the feedback was excellent. It turns out that innovation out of efficiency can also be extremely interesting!
If you haven’t had a chance to check out the ADHD parents’ Palooza 2021, I highly recommend it. Not only will you find some of the most interesting conversations you have ever heard about ADHD, but you will also witness a real innovation in the world of online education.
It makes sense that it came from the world of ADHD right ?!
To learn more, visit: ADHDPalooza.com/Parents
