Totally Wired Conference
Posted by anastasia on 10-19-2006I want to throw this out there…I've been thinking about trying to organize a conference in the Bay Area for the fall of 2007 that would be an extension of the blog and the book. It would focus on youth and technology and would have the following tracks:
Media/Entertainment
Marketing (including social marketing)
Education & Society
I would want media & marketing folks to attend, youth media staff/directors, educators, technologists and academics to attend. I would blend roundtable formats with unconference time to get together and brainstorm about whatever people are interested in. I also envision some sort of awards/celebration of totally wired projects, campaigns, companies who really get it. And of course a party.
My challenge is time and money. I'm in this really tough process of having to go through everything I want to do now that I'm doing Ypulse full time, and focus on what will pay the rent (and my bookkeeper - I already gave up on doing my own accounting). Basically it's a painful ROI analysis of all my ideas. What I'm finding so far is that Mashups, while fun and great for visibility and networking, are not big money makers for me. I will keep doing them, but probably only four for 2006-2007 (two are already planned and there will be an L.A. and another NYC event this winter/spring).
As you all have gathered, I am really leaning towards developing a premium subscription product for those who can afford it — it's regular income that is guaranteed to come in every month. And if enough people subscribe, I can hire a freelance writer to help me produce this product.
I want to do the teen podcast (where teens critique media/marketing targeting them), but need to find a sponsor to justify the time and expense as well as to pay the teens a small weekly stipend.
I'm open to short-term consulting projects (the one I did in Miami was great) - have me in for a day as an expert to brainstorm, help you with a new business pitch/proposal, work on a trend report for your company, etc. and would love to do more paid speaking.
So the conference is a big question for me — as anyone who has planned a large conference knows, the time and money requirements are nothing to sneeze at. But looking at the new MacArthur Foundation ($50 million) initiative around these issues, I feel like a conference that is Ypulsey - i.e. blends commercial, education and non-profit interests around these issues could be really cool. I'm going to reach out to them to see if there is any interest in collaborating. If anyone is interested in helping or has ideas about how to make this happen (as an advisor or potential sponsor), and for me to make some money to make it happen, get in touch.
October 23rd, 2006 at 8:27 am
Anastasia, I would pay very good money to attend a Totally Wired conference — youth, youth culture, & technology are my bread & butter, and I think you & your presenters would be talking about it in a different way from what I usually hear about at library conferences. I would also strongly consider paying for a premium subscription to this blog, and I bet many of my Teen Librarian colleagues would find a way to afford it, too.
October 23rd, 2006 at 9:19 pm
Hey Sophie. Thanks so much for your encouragement. I'm exploring at this phase and am going to see if there are interested sponsors/partners. Ideally I could subsidize registration for educators/librarians. If I move forward, I would love to hear more about what you would like to see discussed. I may pull together a reader advisory panel that can meet online and brainstorm. I'll keep you posted.