BIL Conference July 2009 - Help Needed!

BIL is "an ad-hoc conference for people changing the world in big ways. It's a place for passionate people to come together to energize, brainstorm, and take action." It started a year and a half ago as the free and open analog to the successful TED conference, and has since morphed into a unique and flexible independent event. And we're having one here in July.

At BIL SC, anyone can speak - you will sign up on our wiki (there are of course guidelines). We are also inviting a number of top-notch thinkers, doers, movers and shakers. So far, Christine Peterson from the Foresight Institute will probably speak. There will be three encouraged themes for talks - one will be Tomorrow's Problems, Today's Solutions, and the other two have yet to be decided. (This being Santa Cruz, I expect we'll see the themes of environmentalism and social justice make an appearance). More than talks though, BIL will be a place for conversation. We will host a number of open discussions on talks and other topics. There will probably be three rooms for speakers and one for discussions, all running simultaneously. It will be hosted on the UCSC Campus around the Baskin Engineering Courtyard.

When in July? I'm not sure. Who's going to be there? I don't know yet. Who is this "we" organizing the event anyhow? Well, dear reader, that might be you. BIL is a a "Do-It-Yourself" conference - everyone who attends is encouraged to contribute in some little way - this could be helping with logistics, moderating talks, spreading the word, managing the website, finding sponsors and speakers, bringing snacks, just being conversational, or even giving a talk!

If you want to help organize, please contact me immediately. If you are in Santa Cruz, the Bay Area or the San Jose area, we will be having a meeting in the next week in Santa Cruz. (I was thinking we would meet either this weekend downtown, or early next week on campus. If you can make it, let me know what works best for you.) You can still help organize even if you can't meet in the next week. Let me know.

If you don't want to help organize but want to participate, there will be more information available at the impending website, which I will announce next month. You can also help by suggesting speakers to invite - anyone can speak at BIL, but we'd like to invite a few of our favorite speakers sooner than later.

For more information on the BIL event in general, check out the website - be sure to look at the media coverage and the last event's schedule.

[EDIT] The conference will be happening in October, 2009.