What I Want From 140 Conference
I am in transit, flying the friendLy skies out west to the center of the United States, in Kansas to attend the #140 conference. The #140 conferenceis a one day conference located ia variety of cities throughout the globe where droves of characters and change agents present on their latest use of social media as a tool to improve the quality of life. The conference usually takes place in larger cities, like Ontario, San Francisco, New York City, Tel Aviv and Barcelona. This week, the #140 conference takes place in Hutchinson, Kansas, population 30,000. Conference founder, Jeff Pulver started this endeavor in 1998. The brandname of the conference has been shared with other conference managers who lead all the efforts worldwide, but Jeff still holds the heart strings for the #140 conference Small Towns and attends it every year. Jeff resides in Long Island and drove across the midwestern half of the country to attend this year's conference.
In 2010, there were over 30 speakers and over 230 attendees representing 12 states. The conference was available online and has been viewed 1375 times in one year. Planners for this year's event predict to have twice as many online views. Becky McCray, is responsible for bringing the conference to Kansas. She along with her efforts in the 140 conference Small Town in Hutchinson, Kansas has been recognized by Kansas Magazine as one of the top 20 reasons to love Kansas. The event will take place in the historic downtown theater on Main Street. Presenters slated to share will address a variety of topics ranging from mom-bloggers to philanthropists and educators to entrepreneurs.
I arrived this afternoon, after a two hour drive to Chicago, a two hour flight to Wichita and another one hour drive to Huchinson. I have no idea what to expect from this conference but here are a few things I'd like to experience:
- inspiration from like minded professionals who are experiencing the rigorous rates of change in technology and media and still finding opportunity to make aimpact.
- real connections with real social media professionals who share stories from their hearts and exemplify living a life with purpose.
- hope for small town America, because, like John Cougar and countless others, "I was born in a small town." I then went to live as a yuppy in the city and now, I am back, living in a small town. I know that there are others with a similar story.
- statistics on economic development of small towns and how the use of social media and technology in general is making an impact on rural living and working. I want to learn more about coworking, historical downtowns, rural sourcing, virtual services, telecommuting, etc.
My number one goal I am aiming for during this conference is to promote goodness through live event correspondent services, both live and later.
To cover this fastpaced conference, I plan to share one main tweet takeaway from each speaker. The conference will be available to watch however, I do not have the link to share yet. You may find more information on each presenter by following them on twitter. Here is the list of speakers:. http://smalltown2011.140conf.com/speakers .
I plan on live tweeting from this event from my new Twitter account, EventCorrespond >
I've talked about what I want, now, what is it you'd like to gain from tomorrow's updates?
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