Web of Change

I've been back for a few days from my California trip now, and meaning to write about my experiences at both the NetSquared Conference, and WineCamp. Between the two of them I learned a lot, and also had a lot of opportunity to reflect on the differences in the offerings, and where Web of Change fits in. At the risk of tooting our own horn, I think that Web of Change combines the best of both of those events. And that's why you should come this fall!

Winecamp was an informal "un-conference", held out in the Sierra foothills on a very beautiful vineyard. A diverse mixture of people showed up, and there was no real structured agenda. The idea, at this and other Barcamps, is that all the wisdom required is held by those who show up, and the right conversations will happen when given the space to.

I'm off later this week to attend NetSquared, a sort of unofficial sister event to Web of Change. From their site:

The Net Squared conference will bring a dynamic mix of international leaders in emerging technology, politics and philanthropy together to discuss the future of tech enabled social change work. 

Obviously these folks share some similar goals to us here at Web of Change, though I think our events have slightly different things to offer. We keep things smaller, and less explicity "tech" focused. Besides that, I don't think that Hollyhock and Cisco Systems in San Jose could be much more different as far as venues go—and we wouldn't trade our island experience for anything. :)

We're pretty much set to launch with our beautiful new website! It's been a labour of love by the Web of Change and Communicopia team and we're very excited to have a site with a fresh face, a new look, and some great functionality.

We're launching with a fairly basic model, but look for additions to be made in the coming months. We'll be featuring success stories from members of the Web of Change community, a wiki to help registered participants get things going in advance of the event, and who knows what else down the road.

Well, our beautiful new site won't be launched for a few days yet, but we're all pretty excited about it! In the meantime, things are definitely starting to come together for this year's conference. Our convening team is thick in conversations about possible themes, speakers, and participants, and this is certainly shaping up to be a ground-breaking year for Web of Change. The network is growing, the word is spreading, and if you are hoping to be at this year's conference, mark it on your calendar and get in touch now. 

Our convening team gathered recently and did some work around clarifying what we are, what we are not, and what we offer that other conferences don't. There are certainly many conferences (and un-conferences) out there competing for limited attention, time and financial resources. How do we explain what we are in such a way that the right people don't hesitate to show up?