Creative Problem Solving Institute 2025

Start your day at CPSI with some delicious breakfast.  Sit with someone new or some old friends.  It's a great way to connect!

Fuel your creativity with your favorite Starbucks® treats—right here on campus during CPSI 2025: Stretch!
Please note: Starbucks food and beverages are not included in the CPSI meal plan and must be purchased separately.

Check in with Jamie and Rosie and receive your conference bag and name tag. Get any questions answered and decorate/customize your name tag with sharpies and stickers.

If you are new to CPSI, Foundations of Creative Problem Solving is your fast track to a deliberate creativity process for solving problems and capitalizing on opportunities. You’ll learn the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) Process, the research-based gold standard of creativity methods, and be exposed to the FourSight framework, which can help you understand how you and your teammates approach challenges.

In an incredibly engaging format, your team of experienced facilitators will use hands-on activities, real-world examples, and a variety of divergent and convergent thinking tools to give you the skills you need to advance your personal and professional goals.

Foundations of Creative Problem Solving is the first of four skills-building courses in Creative Problem Solving. After completing all four CPS courses, you will deepen your ability to facilitate and train others in the CPS process, while also becoming eligible to be considered to lead CPS programs at future CPSIs!

In this course, you will:
• Recognize and overcome blocks to creativity.
• Identify attitudes and behaviors conducive to creative thinking.
• Apply core concepts of creative thinking.
• Use a variety of divergent and convergent thinking tools.
• Apply the CPS method to many simulated or real situations.
• Consciously be creative when facing problems and opportunities.

NOTE: You must attend your Core CPS Course all four mornings of the conference in order to complete this program. This core track is limited to 45 attendees. You must select Foundations of CPS when registering for CPSI to attend this track (selecting it here in Sched does not qualify as reserved spot).

*PREREQUISITE: Level 1: CPS Foundations at previous CPSI or FLCC. If you did not take Level 1 but have a solid understanding of the Osborne-Parnes Creative Problem Solving process, you must connect with CPSI Program Staff before being enrolled.

Level 2: Creative Problem Solving Tools is a natural stepping stone if you have previously taken Level 1: Foundations of CPS. This fast-paced course allows beginner to intermediate facilitators to go deeper into the CPS process, adding more facilitation tools to your repertoire.

You will gain a clear understanding of which tools to use at each stage of the CPS process, as well as how to modify them to fit your session objectives or add a bit of creative flair. You will have time to practice tools to gain real mastery of them. You will also learn a variety of energizers and fun grouping games to keep your sessions engaging and interactive. Learn through small- and large-group work, including round-robin sharing and show-and-tell exercises.

In this course, you will:

• Explore a variety of divergent and convergent tools for individual and group problem solving.
• Learn how and where to apply different tools within the CPS process.
• Practice facilitating tools.
• Discover how to use tools when you or your team are unable to progress or working in areas of low preference.

NOTE: You must attend your Core CPS Course all four mornings of the conference to complete this program and qualify for the credential assessment for CPS Level 2.
This core track is limited to 25 attendees. You must select Tools when registering for CPSI to attend this track (selecting it here in Sched does not qualify as reserved spot).

*PREREQUISITE: Level 1: Foundations of CPS and Level 2: Creative Problem Solving Tools at previous CPSI or FLCC. If you did not take Level 1 or 2 at CPSI/FLCC but have a solid understanding of the Osborne-Parnes Creative Problem Solving process and have experience with CPS tools, you must connect with CPSI Program Staff before being enrolled.

Level 3: Facilitating CPS
Facilitation skills are central to the effective use of CPS, whether in formal meetings or informal brainstorming sessions. This course is designed for those who already know the CPS process in theory and are ready to put it into action as a facilitator. This course uses peer-group practices to prepare participants for working with actual clients. Characteristics of successful facilitation will be identified and practiced, and you will develop an awareness of your own strengths and areas for development. In this course, you will:

•Review and internalize the CPS process through the lens of the facilitator.
•Experience CPS from several points of view – as a facilitator, as the problem-owner, and as part of the resource group.
•Understand how to facilitate each step of the CPS process.
•Receive general facilitation tips that enhance any meeting.
•Receive individual and group feedback on facilitation skills.
•Explore and develop your facilitation style.

*PREREQUISITE: Level 1: Foundations of CPS at previous CPSI or FLCC. If you did not take Level 1 at CPSI or FLCC but have a solid understanding of the Osborne-Parnes Creative Problem Solving process, you must connect with CPSI Program Staff before being enrolled. PREFERRED: Completion of Level 2: Creative Problem Solving Tools and Level 3: Facilitating CPS. Registrants should have a solid understanding of CPS tools and facilitation skills.

This is a series of workshops being delivered by the senior faculty at the Center for Applied Imagination at Buffalo State University. While we recommend attending all four days for a coordinated experience, each day can be taken as a free-standing, individual experience.

Day 1
Ignite Your Superpower: Creative Thinking as the Ultimate Coping Skill
Instructor: Dr. Gerard Puccio, Ph.D., State University of New Distinguished Professor and chair of the Center for Applied Imagination

Led by Dr. Gerard Puccio, State University of New York Distinguished Professor and chair of the Center for Applied Imagination, this dynamic introductory workshop explores the essential role of creativity in today’s rapidly evolving workplace. Participants will gain a deep understanding of what creativity truly is, why it has emerged as a top-tier workplace skill according to the World Economic Forum, and how it can drive innovation, adaptability, and transformation within organizations, as well as the recent research on the potent ways in which creative problem solving promotes well-being. The session will examine the powerful tension between conformity and creativity, and ways to most productively resolve this polarity. Furthermore, grounded in the latest research, Dr. Puccio will uncover the key factors that make creativity training and education effective. Through an engaging organizational simulation, attendees will experience firsthand how self-imposed constraints can stifle imagination and problem solving, and how creative thinking can break through these barriers to uncover novel solutions.

Key Learning Objectives:

• Define creativity and understand its multidimensional nature
• Recognize why creative thinking is increasingly vital in the modern workplace
• Explore the transformative potential of creativity for individuals and organizations
• Understand the tension between conformity and creativity, and how to navigate it
• Learn evidence-based principles behind successful creativity training programs
• Experience how self-imposed constraints can limit problem solving and how to overcome them through creative strategies

In YouthWise, kids will explore Creative Problem Solving through fun, hands-on activities, "field trips," and games. They will put their new and enhanced skills to work as a team, by creating and presenting a solution to a unique challenge.

This Immersion will be four experiences in one! Each day will focus on a different topic, yet they’re all connected by developing the creative person, the creative process, the creative culture, and a creative product. Creativity thrives with a multidimensional approach. This Immersion experience will explore various facets leading to enhanced creativity.

Day 1: Trailblazing Through Change: Map Your Path with Confidence - Kathy Goller, Teal Horizon Coaching, Life & Leadership Coach, Facilitator & Presenter

Change can be challenging, but this session makes it easier by introducing an innovative model for understanding the change process and people’s responses to it. Through reflection, discussions, and hands-on activities like “change mapping,” you will learn strategies to navigate your own changes and lead others through change with greater confidence. Whether you're facing change at work or in life, this session provides strategies you can use immediately to navigate transitions effectively.

Key Takeaways:

• Gain a deeper understanding of the process of change and common responses to it.
• Learn actionable strategies to navigate change with greater ease and resilience.
• Develop tools for leading others through change more effectively.

It has been said that everyone has a book inside them. This workshop helps prospective book authors take the first steps toward getting that book OUTSIDE. This workshop is for anyone who has wanted to write a book, but hasn't been able to get it done, or even get it started; anyone who feels that they need to write a book, for career or personal reasons; and anyone who just wants to know what it takes to get a book written and published. The lessons here apply to any type of book-length manuscript: novel, memoir, poetry or essay collection, business or self-help book.

Three Takeaways:
1. Explore WHY you might want to write a book, and WHY you have been finding it
difficult to get it started or get it done.
2. Identify WHAT books you should write and who it’s for.
3. Learn HOW to actually get the book written, and HOW you might get it published.

In this dynamic series, we will explore the integration of Creative Problem Solving (CPS) with other problem solving approaches such as design thinking and agile to enhance innovation. Participants will explore how CPS underpins these processes, and how to view the collaborative process through a series of diagnostic filters. The session challenges the myth of linear workflows, emphasizing the iterative and turbulent nature of innovation. Through engaging activities and reflective exercises, attendees will identify personal strengths and areas for growth in their collaboration approach that align with the non-linear demands of creative leadership.

Participants will:

• Identify personal strengths and areas for growth in your collaboration approach that align with the non-linear demands of creative leadership
• Visualize where you and your team spend the most time in collaboration
• Learn how to map your team’s project and use diagnostic filters to identify blind spots and ways to enhance innovation

Why is Adult Play so important? How we play is directly linked to how we learn, think, work, feel, perform, and interact with others. What you learn in play you remember for life!

This immersion program includes everything you need for your one-stop facilitator play chest! We have strategically blended Jump into LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® methods, Playsonality™ Assessment, What the Duck, and LSP 3D Diagnostic Cards into one complete 14-hour program:
Day One: The Power of Play & LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® methods
Day Two: Playsonality™ Assessment
Day Three: Now What the Duck Activities
Day Four: 3D Diagnostic Cards and

If you are looking for a new way to engage with your team and you want to add morefun to your work or workplace culture, this session is designed for you. This is a facilitated thinking & communications technique. Our Playology program draws on extensive research from the field of business, organization development, psychology and learning. Using hand-brain knowledge we will share the processes that help individuals and teams surface information, explore ideas, create better options, develop deeper knowledge and identify solutions faster with 100% engagement. And yes, we have corporate, community, and education examples with case studies.

You will walk away with new insights about the power of play and how we all use play daily, and multiple new tools that you can use immediately to improve individual and team performance, while adding more play to corporate culture.

Are you looking for a session which will:
1. Unpack the value of play at work and discover the ROI of play
2. Access the Playsonality© app to decode your facilitator play style
3. Conduct a deep dive into how play formulates our identity
4. Discover new ways to stimulate powerful conversations
5. Supplement your creative program with engaging activities that people will remember
6. Gain new tools and techniques for your facilitator’s play chest
7. Explore how play paves the way to the flow zone where we do our best thinking

Learning Objectives:
-Add LEGO® bricks and directives to your workshops to improve engagement;
-Apply the five-step processes to improve communication;
-Identify when PLAY can be most useful;
-Supplement your creative program with the playstyles assessments;
-Avoid conversational roundabouts;
-Use flow theory and underlying neuroscience principles that make this so powerful and memorable.
-Facilitate and explore ideas on a deeper level using a play chest of new tools.

Let’s get ready to PLAY!

All Aboard! Join us for a dynamic journey in our fun, hands-on facilitation session that will supercharge your skills and bring your sessions to life! Whether you’re teaching a class, leading a board meeting, guiding a strategic planning session, or simply communicating with your team, this highly interactive session will give you the tools, tips, and techniques you need to keep everyone engaged and energized. Along the way, we’ll make stops at practical exercises, engaging discussions, and real-world scenarios with real-time feedback, all designed to make facilitation feel less like a boring, highways-only road trip and more like an exciting, collaborative adventure. By the end of our journey, you’ll be ready to lead with confidence, spark creativity, and make every session a memorable experience!

Need a little something? Join us in the HUB (Caudell Hall) for some snacks, coffee and tea.
They'll be available each day - just drop in when you have chance.

Stop by our pop-up bookstore and explore a curated collection of titles published by our very own CEF Press.
Everyone’s invited—leaders, attendees, and curious minds alike! Take a moment during your break to browse, grab a snack, and maybe even spark a conversation with a fellow creative thinker. There’s something for everyone!

12:00-1:00 Core CPS Track and YouthWise
12:30-1:30 Immersion Track

Join everyone at the Dining Hall for an array of meal options. Healthy, fun, and specialty diet options are available. Join a table of people you have not met yet and find your next best friend!

Every afternoon, treat yourself to short CPSIesta after lunch. Visit the bookstore in Caudell Hall, go for a walk outside, or go back to your room and decompress. How you use this mini midday break is up to you.

Exploring the human-machine interactions for all steps of CPS.

Participants will be taken through the basics of LLM (large language model) and image generative AI formats to show how AI can fuel increased creativity, but not provide the best ideas without human interaction.

Through a fun exercise, participants will find the most relevant market to address, ideate items, create packaging, and present their final products at the end of the session.

The project (workshop) is designed to neither advocate for nor against AI, but to show how this exciting new tool can be leveraged in creativity. The result is that participants see how to use AI well instead of being concerned about it or accusing AI of doing things it can’t.

This presentation will explore the transformative power of effective questioning in creative problem-solving. Attendees will learn advanced techniques for crafting probing questions that uncover deeper insights and drive innovative solutions. Through practical exercises and real-world examples, participants will enhance their inquiry skills and stretch their capabilities to new heights.

What if issues exist that are inherently “unsolvable,” regardless of our best attempts to solve them? Polarity Thinking™ asserts that paradoxical issues not only exist but also present exciting opportunities for creativity, sustainable solutions, and being more effective in complex situations. Polarity Thinking is a proven way to use the energy of a universal phenomenon in human experience. You’ll learn to distinguish between either-or problem solving and both-and thinking.

You are well-trained in solving problems. Figure out the problem, figure out the solution, develop, and implement. But what about when it is more complex? It's not asking "do we need connection" or "do we need individual autonomy?" We need both.

In this two-part interactive workshop, participants will work in small groups to identify and work with one or two polarities in their lives. You will learn how to map those polarities in order to develop an effective approach for managing tensions.

We provide the framework; you provide the content.

Part 2 attendees MUST attend Part 1.

Are you looking for new tools for engagement?
Time to add LEGO bricks to your tool kit!

Come and sample this is a facilitated thinking & communications technique. It draws on extensive research from the field of business, organization development, psychology and learning. This session will be action packed with 90 minutes of hands-on real time learning through play!

This three-part interactive session focuses on how we might Stretch participants’ thinking (1) at the beginning of, (2) during the core of, and (3) after a session. In this session you will participate in activities, riff on them, and share your own activities that help Stretch participants’ thinking at these three important points of a facilitated experience. Come to participate, to share your own ideas, and to connect with others as you reflect on your own practice.

Join us in the Hub (Caudell Hall Lobby) and grab a quick drink and snack so you can recharge your batteries!

Illuminators shine a light on others. They make people and their ideas come alive.

With their distinct blend of skills, they excel as facilitators and relationship builders. Illuminators make others feel seen, heard and appreciated. Their curiosity invites richer stories and deeper insights. They see and celebrate others’ strengths.

In this session you’ll work with a partner to cultivate illuminator skills and instincts. You’ll see what distinguishes an illuminator from a diminisher and learn a variety of illuminator “moves”:

• Genuine Curiosity: Asking surprisingly simple questions that reveal richer stories
• Active Listening: Using your eyes and body (and silence) to make others feel heard
• Celebration of Strengths: Expressing your partner’s unique qualities to create a deeper connection

What if issues exist that are inherently “unsolvable,” regardless of our best attempts to solve them? Polarity Thinking™ asserts that paradoxical issues not only exist but also present exciting opportunities for creativity, sustainable solutions, and being more effective in complex situations. Polarity Thinking is a proven way to use the energy of a universal phenomenon in human experience. You’ll learn to distinguish between either-or problem solving and both-and thinking.

You are well-trained in solving problems. Figure out the problem, figure out the solution, develop, and implement. But what about when it is more complex? It's not asking "do we need connection" or "do we need individual autonomy?" We need both.

In this two-part interactive workshop, participants will work in small groups to identify and work with one or two polarities in their lives. You will learn how to map those polarities in order to develop an effective approach for managing tensions.

We provide the framework; you provide the content.

Part 2 attendees MUST attend Part 1.

Unlock the power of business sketching to create stunning, clear, and engaging flipcharts for workshops, meetings, and sessions. In this hands-on session, you’ll learn the basics of sketching, discover design strategies for effective flipcharts, and create your own eye-catching flipchart. Walk away with practical tools to make your visual presentations more engaging and impactful.

Brain Storming is often a process of using our sense of sight and sound, but we often ignore the influence of taste, smell and touch. This session is going to challenge participants to notice all five senses and how the influences can broaden our creativity. We will use a variety of activities that engage the sight, sound, taste, smell and feel experiences to broaden our thoughts and ideas.

This workshop introduces a dynamic visual tool designed to map out your personal creative process. During this 90-minute session, you’ll explore key enhancers and critical blockers that make up your creative ecosystem. Through hands-on activities and guided discussions, you’ll design your own creativity canvas, gaining insights into how to unlock your full potential and drive creative breakthroughs.

Join us for the "From Insights to Action: Leveraging CPS Results to Empower Stakeholder Decisions" workshop! This dynamic, hands-on session will provide you with practical tools to turn data into insights and insights into actionable business decisions. Through interactive exercises and real-world examples, you'll gain the confidence to facilitate insights-driven workshops. Don't miss this chance to enhance your skills and understand how customer-driven insights can lead to impactful business decisions.