Web of Change

Last week we convened Canada's first ever intensive web training event for the social change sector. Called the Social Tech Training, the event was a collaboration between Web of Change, a series of events owned by the community but managed by Communicopia, and the social innovation group at MaRS, a new player in the Canadian social entrepreneurship scene. 

The event was fantastic - a sold out crowd of 65 participants from across North America learned from nearly 30 of the best trainers, facilitators, and strategists in the growing "web 2 for social change" field. We had 3 days of presentations, sharing, leadership development, and fun in hot sunny Toronto.

Note: This is a reprint from my blog at www.communicopia.com.

A few weeks ago I predicted that this year’s Web of Change conference would be our best ever. I guess you would expect a conference founder to make such a claim, but this year we really pulled something new and magical off.

Web of Change 2006 had almost 80 incredible attendees from all over North America (and one very notable guest from Europe) and the conversations and connections were some of the most thoughtful, insightful, and helpful of my 10 years in this industry.

As you've probably noticed by now, getting all the way to Cortes Island isn't so easy. And I doubt any of us will be canoeing there - we'll all be burning fossil fuels of some amount to make our way from where we live to the gathering. And at the conference, we'll be using paper for our participants package and energy at Hollyhock's facilities.

I'm not a big fan of guilt - other than sometimes motivating you to seek change I find it a rather useless emotion, especially after being environmentally minded for 20 years but still managing to buy things, eat, and live in our world. It's kind of dull to be down on yourself just for living.

So what is an earth caring, people loving, yet still economy participating human being to do?

You know, I really think so. If you're interested in hearing why I make this bombastic cliam, check out my pre-Labour day post here.

We are happy to announce that Martin Gil will be joining us this year from the UK as one of our keynote speakers. Martin is the new media manager for Comic Relief, and led online projects for Live8 and MakePovertyHistory.org.

Helping LIVE 8 be Gr8 - Adding a digital interactive dimension to the world’s largest concert

LIVE 8 was a series of ten concerts across nine countries on July 2nd, 2005, that set out to drive issues of poverty and injustice higher up the international political agenda. With Sir Bob Geldorf at the helm, and with Bono and Richard Curtis adding weight to the charge, the arrangements were finalised in the six weeks running up to the date – the weekend before the 2005 G8 Summit in Scotland.

For those of you who don't know much about Hollyhock, you'll be amazed at what a magical place it is. Hollyhock is a huge part of what makes Web of Change so special and unique, because it is nestled on 80 acres of untouched west coast wilderness, and is a place where transformation just seems to happen.

Hollyhock has been Canada's leading retreat centre for over 25 years. For the past 10 years, as a business it's been transitioning into hosting new types of conferences and retreats - ones that balance "kick-ass work in the world" with "spiritual and personal growth". Or, as Van Jones put it last week, "putting some feet under those prayers".