Web of Change

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've been hard at work this past few weeks lining up and confirming the keynote speakers for Web of Change next month. We're very excited about them and we think you will be too!

Our very own Madeline Stanionis will open the conference with an informal chat about her lessons learned from over a decade in the trenches. From door-to-door camaigner to kick-ass online money-raiser, now freewheeling on her book tour after retiring from DonorDigital, Madline never ceases to wow everyone at Web of Change. We're excited to highlight her more formally this year. Check our her bio here.

Our tentative (but fairly solid) agenda is now posted! Check it out. We'll be blogging more details about content in the coming weeks, but the important stuff is all there now, from keynotes to breakouts. We're really pleased with the session ideas that have emerged from all of our discussions with our community, and from the tireless work of the convening team.

Make sure you also check out the participants list, which is being constantly updated. (If your name isn't on there but should be, please let us know!) We've got some amazing people coming, so get inspired... and then get registered. We hope to see you in three weeks!

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.

Last fall, a bunch of motivated Web of Change participants conceived an idea to create and donate to a scholarship fund for this year’s Web of Change, a fund that would provide travel/tuition scholarships to those who could bring unique geographic, ethnic or cultural perspectives to WOC 2006. Springing from their profound gratitude for the experience and a desire to give something back, the Diversity Scholarship Fund, administered through the Hollyhock Leadership Institute, now holds $1500 CND!

The WOC organizing team will use these funds specifically to award scholarships. By alleviating some economic barriers associated with tuition and travel costs for global leaders and innovators that may not otherwise have been able to attend, the hope is to encourage and expand the range of viewpoints and insight contributing to the great level of discourse that makes Web of Change so special.

We've been hard at work coming up with great content for this September's conference, and we wanted to post some of what we're working on. Lots of you have been asking for an agenda, and while we won't have a finalized one for a bit longer, we do have a lot of fantastic evolving content.

What follows are brief outlines of some of the sessions we've been tossing around. They're really just a teaser, as the full agenda will include a whole lot more, but this will at least give you a sense of what to expect.

Please know that we very much welcome your feedback, either in the comments, or via an email to info AT webofchange DOT com. So drop us a line!