"If you're running into brick walls, help each other find ways of getting over, around or under them. And if you cannot, I want you to tell Elaine Kamarck, Bob Stone, and other NPR staff folks here where we need to punch holes in those walls so you can go right through them." --Vice President Al Gore at the conference.

"When people's voices are taken seriously, communications become healthier and more real. Putting a note on the Town Hall Wall puts a little of yourself on record. It assumes you have something of value to say and that people who read the Wall need to take your message into account." --Wall developers Phyllis Yampolsky and Jay Chatzkel

"Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers. How do we make sure all these troublemakers we are growing in our reinvention labs--how do make sure we honor the troublemakers before they're dead?" --Jan Zeigler, GSA lab rep, panel

The Reinvention Revolution

Town Hall Wall

This was not a traditional conference, with one-way "speechifying." Instead it emphasized the "bottom-up" nature of successful organizational change. Much of the three days were devoted to intensive, facilitated discussions among attendees and reinvention leaders from across the federal government.

A Town Hall Wall was constructed to encourage free and unrestrained discussion. On this 8 foot high, 40 foot long wall, participants posted over 400 comments: ideas, obstacles and barriers, success stories, concerns, advice, and lessons learned.

The Wall was organized by four themes. Choose one to begin exploring the comments posted by reinvention revolutionaries: