I am a big fan of the 'Show. Do. Teach.' philosophy and this past Thursday we had another opportunity to see it in action when we partnered up with the National Coalition on Deliberation and Dialogue ('NCDD') and held a BrainJams during their annual conference.  We had 42 participants with us for the day and ended up being our first event where the non-techies outnumbered the techies in the room (by about 7 to 1).  It was fun for me to be a part of as most of the folks in the room are not currently blogging or using the social media tools available today and left the event realizing just how much more they could be doing, and the amount of people they could be reaching if they started utilizing what was currently out there.  Seeing that gleam in their eyes got me all warm and fuzzy on the inside.   It was a great way to start off the NCDD conference and we are now in discussions to do more BrainJams with the folks at the NCDD, so stay tuned for the details as we hope to be coming to a city/town near you soon!  Cheers! 

The National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation is hosting BrainJams!: A Conversation on Technology presented by Chris Heuer, founder of BrainJam Workshops and Beth Kanter, Nonprofit Technology Consultant on Thursday, August 3rd at the Parc 55 Hotel in San Francisco. This all-day exploration of online technology and how it can be used by practitioners of dialogue & deliberation to enhance their work, offers an opportunity to learn directly from technologists who will join us for a day of demonstrations and conversations. These technologists, leaders in the cutting edge online technology often referred to as Web 2.0, will offer their expertise on a wide array of networking and collaboration tools (including Wikis, Blogs, Podcasts, Online Workspaces and Social Networks) through BrainJam’s signature "12 Five Minute Meetings" as well as a broader conversation using the World Café. With the goal of examining the opportunities provided by the many freely available Web 2.0 tools for both individuals and organizations, our BrainJam will explore several themes including:

Related Links:  Blog Post | Wiki | Offer your Expertise |  Request some Expertise | Help us Organize | RSVP on the Wiki 

I am excited and a iittle nervous about the Rent an Expert event this Wednesday July 19th starting at 530pm.  It still seems that a lot of other people have expressed interest in coming that are not on the Wiki - I don't know if it is because they don't have the password "yeswecan" or because they don't know how to edit a Wiki or because they are not really coming but are being nice to me :) Whatever, the reason, I will be there along with at least a couple dozen other good folks who want to share their expertise with others so it looks like this will be a very interesting experiment.

Marc Canter would like to do an unconference as the same time as Supernova - across the street.  From his website: So it seems that Kevin Werbach is happy with his speaker list and I’m not and it seems that many people agree with me.  So I say let’s just do our own conference, charge a total of zero dollars and zero cents and have it at the bar across the street from the Palace hotel - at the same time as Supernova.   Being a bar - we won’t start til noon, but our evening events will be allot more fun. Most importantly - we’ll assemable a critical mass of young, compelling people who never get asked onto panels, who don’t work for large companies and who HAVEN’T been heard from - before.