WELCOME LETTER

 

Dear colleagues and friends,
it is with great pleasure that I invite you to attend the 2nd Congress of the BSST World Network which will be held in the wonderful Florence (Italy), from 15th to 19th October 2014..

 

The program of this edition will focus on what makes possible the implementation of change interventions, ie., communication in its pragmatic aspects.

 

“Nothing exists that can not be cured with the words”, this marked the first therapist of history, the sophist Antiphon.

 

Words and actions have enormous power and almost unlimited possibilities in engaging, persuading, guiding, healing; they can console, free, influence, reframe, propel, but they can also hurt, provoke, offend and humiliate.
"Words are like bullets" Wittgenstein rightly said, they can wound as much as they can heal.

 

"Words were originally magic", a statement found in the Bible but used more than 2400 years later by Sigmund Freud and Steve De Shazer; Paul Watzlawick wrote the "Pragmatics of Human Communication," which became for the next generation of experts the new Bible and the vehicle for communication of change .

 

These quotes highlight the importance of communication in every sphere of life. In recent years, various studies have demonstrated that the relationship with the patient is the most crucial common factor amongst different forms of therapies, responsible for effective change.

 

We continuously communicate to inform, update, educate, organize, persuade, motivate, as well as to change people and ourselves.
Thus 50% of our time is taken up by such activities . Such a vast and rich activity, which holds highly significant influences on therapeutic and organizational outcomes.
"All realities can change depending on how they are communicated.”

In the managerial area, ​​strategic communication is considered by 91% of experts in the field as the most important skills necessary for effective leadership; in social and business spheres, the ability to communicate effectively and the ability to create a proper emotional relationship within the organization is one of the basic skills for the proper functioning of the system.
Finally, in performance (sport, music, arts, etc.,) it would be impossible to drive a person to overcome his limits without the art of persuasion.

 

There exist tons of work on communication, but very few are the contributions that refer to effectiveness, replicability and transferability and thus to communication strategies that can be learnt and applied by anyone who wants to be an agent of change.

 

The 2nd BSST Network Congress: "The Magic of Words and Gestures", proposes to offer to its participants the "state of the art" of techniques and strategies so as to increase the capacity of practitioners abilities to acquire an effective communication competencies and build an effective therapeutic rapports; whiles for those working in non-clinical contexts, it's an opportunity to learn the most advanced methods of communication and management skills.

 

As in previous editions, the conference will be divided into presentations, symposia and workshops, whith in-depth exposure of the methods of intervention, which resulted to be the most effective and efficient by the top experts or their creators in the field.
Moreover during these days of the conference there will be a space dedicated to specific PRESENTATION; thus we invite all colleagues who wish to present their work to submit an abstract by filling in the form available on the website of the congress.

 

We are proud to say that the previous editions have hosted more than 3,000 colleagues from 36 different countries all over the world, making our congress the most important event in the field of modern Psychology, Problem Solving and Strategic Communication.

 

We hope to meet you again in the up-coming event, which will be held inin the wonderful location of Florence,
           

Yours sincerely

 

Giorgio Nardone
Coordinator of the BSST World Network