Area leaders in business, community organizing and education are invited to explore globalization, technology and complexity in a conversation that kicks off with international futurist and trend researcher Elliott Masie on Friday, April 25, at the DePaul Center, 1 E. Jackson Blvd., Chicago.

The conference will explore how to best prepare adults for global citizenship through collaborative relationships among business, higher education and community organizations. Masie will explore how to prepare for an increasingly complex society, workplace and world; new competencies for global citizenship; how to build better collaborative relationships between business, higher education and community organizations locally and internationally; and how to be part of the solution.

The program continues the efforts of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs to engage Chicago’s leaders and citizens in a broad discussion about the future in a fast-paced, complex global arena. The Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, C.M., president of DePaul and a member of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ study group, will open the conference.

“If we don’t know what it means to be global citizens and aren’t preparing our students to be global citizens, then we’re not adequately preparing for the future,” said Pamela Meyer, associate director of the Center to Advance Education for Adults in DePaul’s School for New Learning, which is organizing the event. The center engages diverse communities to improve adult education practices by providing a venue for researchers and practitioners to study the most effective and imaginative strategies for curriculum, teaching and mentoring of adults.

The daylong interactive conference also includes a panel discussion on global citizenship and the education of adults featuring a number of high-profile participants such as Willem Schiff, consul general of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and Nadalie Bosse, executive vice president of enterprise services at Tellabs and former senior vice president of VeriSign.

In addition, there will be a discussion and book signing by Dan Pink, author of “A Whole New Mind,” which charts the rise of right-brain thinking in modern economies and explains the six abilities individuals and organizations must master in an outsourced and automated world. Pink is a contributing editor at Wired magazine, where he has written about topics ranging from grassroots solar power to the rise of Wikipedia to the economics of creativity. He served as chief speechwriter to former Vice President Al Gore from 1995 to 1997.

There will also be a number of collaborative conversations on emerging trends, reports and facilitated conversations on current adult learning research and best practices, and networking opportunities.

Meyer hopes to bring together international and national leaders in business, community organizing and education at the conference. Seating is limited, so those interested in attending are encouraged to register early.

The cost to attend the conference, which runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the DePaul Conference Center, is $175 per person. For more information, visit www.caeaconference.com or call (312) 362-6508.