betterment conference research notes

1. HelloWhat are we doing here?
Are our efforts a drop in the bucket, or a ripple effect?
Are we looking for a single magic bullet, or many approaches?
Individual actions, or client financed projects?
Are we, will we be, a “business” or is this a “hobby”?

2. movement
The Movement Pitch Off
Center for Social Innovation
February 15, 2009
Patrick Robinson
SpreadTheWord.org
Superpower.ning.com
Founding. Financing. Flaunting.

3. Ask not what The Movement can do for me,
ask what I can do for The Movement.

4. What do I already do?
How can I most effectively contribute to positive social change and betterment?
1. Incubate or play a role in communities surrounding people who
are already changing the world (or making a significant difference)
2. Influence the agenda of influencers (Individuals and Associations)
3. Encourage others to action their intent (ideally give them tools to do so)
4. Enlist others - collaborate (up and down the experience later)
5. Make it an increasing part of my 'day job'.
6. Continue to learn
7. Delegate / Invest (in a budget to hire researchers and copy editors)
8. Consult on education curricula
9. Don’t re-invent the wheel: “Stand on the shoulders on giants.”

5. Making “Betterment Ambassadors” a business
Or at least a project to finance operations and infrastructure?
My proposal for achieving this would be to hold a conference.
Lets get people to pay to hear us pitch to them.
Let’s commercialize our recruitment process.
movement
c o n f e r e n c e

6. Conferences overview – Is the market at saturation?

7. TED Conference Overview, Case Study
$6000 Cost to attend paid by 1200 attendees
$3750 Cost to attend satellite simulcast by 500 attendees
218 Videos online
8,500,000 Views of videos
8 Ted Prizes of $100,000 and build a community
11 FullTime Staff
$2,000,000 Profits (a stated minimum) from each conference
104,626 Online member profiles
Obviously we’re not going to achieveTED status, but we could consider partnering with bigger
brand names to help. Maybe even license a brand name.

8. Brand Building & Funding:We’re Not Event Planners, so
how does a conference make sense? Or dollars?
Our Vision:
The Betterment Movement will be a culture
of sharing knowledge using “social design”.
The Betterment Movement will have many
sharing,learning, and input opportunities with
“open access” that does not merely permit,
but requires social participation in order to
generate optimal outcomes.
Content, rich textured branded content, will drive our membership and awareness.
We are Smarter than me. Self-perpetuating, repeating results.

9. A better conference. A conference about Betterment.
Could we actually do a better conference? What would make it better?
• Attendance cost is considered as a membership cost
• tiered cost to attend ($100 individual, $500 corporate)
• attendee directed choice of charitable donation for 10% of fee (pre chosen like Good Magazine)
• speaker directed choice / request for their honorarium to go to charitable cause
• 5% of attendance cost goes to an annual bursary fund
• 5% of attendance cost goes to a book club or magazine subscription
• umbrella theme of betterment — ask speakers to speak on their methodology vs. the
‘canned speech’ about their book
• interview speakers on camera for site “content”
• include ‘discussion time’ in between themes
• have a mentor matching session for those interested
• consider starting a betterment “x prize”?
• make it media friendly — twitter screens & a discount for attendees who are reporting, or note taking
• offer reciprocal conference attendance trades --- so our top movers can attend other conferences
• 2nd day is free attendance to the willing to participate in a charette, notable speakers as the judging panel

10. Betterment Movement ConferenceTopics*
Community How can we help connect people, build communities and protect unique cultures?
Opportunity How can we help people better provide for themselves and their families?
Energy How can we help move the world toward safe, clean, inexpensive energy?
Environment How can we help promote a cleaner and more sustainable global ecosystem?
Health How can we help individuals lead longer, healthier lives?
Education How can we help more people get more access to better education?
Shelter How can we help ensure that everyone has a safe place to live?
Everything else Sometimes the best ideas don't fit into any category at all.
* borrowed from Google’s 10x1000 project

11. Judgement & Measurement: Weighted Criteria Chart
Impact
Reach How many people would this idea affect?
Depth How deeply are people impacted? How urgent is the need?
Attainability Can this idea be implemented within a year or two?
Efficiency How simple and cost-effective is your idea?
Longevity How long will the idea's impact last?
Business Suitability and Do-ability
Networking
Return on Investment (of time and money)
Reuse-ability
Originality
Do-able
Accomplishable
Innovative
Educational
** some are borrowed from Google’s 10x1000 project

12. ThankYou
It was nice to see you
movement
Founding. Financing. Flaunting.
Credentials. Conference. Content.

13. Hi Guys, so far, you are the ones that have told me you're pitching. This is a checklist email to help it all go
smoothly.
1. Put your pitch (title and summary) on the wiki: http://themovement.info/wiki/pitchoff
2. Make a sticky(with a word on it) for each of the ideas/proposals in your pitch
3. Time limit: 15 minutes
4. Projector available. If you have slides, come a bit early to get set up
A good pitch should explain the ideas involved. What is the basis of this pitch? Where did the approach come
from? What has been taken from December 20th? what have you built upon it?
Awareness. How will people find out about what we're doing. How can they get involved?
People. Who will be allowed in, who will be kept out. How will people apply to get in. Will there be levels of
membership?
Funding. How will it make money. How will the network sustain itself?
Betterment. How will we work on betterment. How will what we're working on make the world, or our lives
better?
Brand. How will we ensure good work that we're proud of comes out. How will it work on the individual and
group level. How about quality control.
Teams. When will people get together and do work? How will they find each other.
Measurement. What will we want to measure. What will we want to improve.
Judgement. Propose a way for these ideas to be judged and applied

15. Background Research >>
draft 1.3

16. Sponsorships to consider>>
TED -ideas worth spreading
February 4-7, 2009
Location:
Toronto, ON
Cost:
RT satellite Broadcast:$3,750
Registration: $6,000 plus acceptance
Donor: $12,000
Patron: 100k / 5 years
Sponsors: BMW, Nokia, Autodesk
Contact:Ronda Carnegie
212.346.9333
sponsors@ted.com
RGD Design Thinkers
October 28-29, 2009
Location: Toronto, ON
Cost:
RGD $495
PRGD $375
Student $175
Non-Member $595
Sponsors: Amoeba Corp., Cascades,
Masterfile, Resource, Integrated, Somer-
set, Supremex
Contact: Hilary Mulzer
416-367-8819 ext. 23
Flash FITC
Various dates
Location:
Toronto, ON April 19-22, 2008
Chicago, IL June 22-23, 2008
Seoul, Korea October 14, 2008
New York, USA November 10-11 2008
Venice Beach, CA December 6-2008
Amsterdam, NL Feb 22-24, 2009
Toronto, ON April 28-29, 2009
Cost: $849
Venice Beach -Free
Toronto Event Sponsor: Crispin Porter &
Bogusky
Ongoing sponsors: Adobe, Humber College,
Telefilm Canada, (MT) Media Temple, Electric
Company, Almer/Blank Algonquin College, Blitz
Sponsor Benefits: $2800 - 15% discount before
Nov 15, 2008
- Job day
- Logo Placement
- Job Promotion
- Swag bag insert
- 2 FITC tickets
- Paragraph in FITC newsletter
- Up to 10 additional ticket discounts
Contact info: David Girolami 416 840-1010
Extention: 132
*For ore Info see
ttp://www.fitc.ca/packages/TO09/FITC_TO_09_St
udio.pdf
Idea City
June 17-19, 2009
Location: Toronto, ON
Cost: $4000
Corporate sponsors:
Toronto Life, Steelcase, Telus, Panasonic,
Bennett Jones, Roots, Starbucks Coffee,
CIFA,
Speakers House Canada, 96.3 fm
Major Sponsors: Apple, Zipcar, Context,
CARP. Humber, Liberty, Metropolitan Hotel
Supporting Sponsors: Steam Whistle, Dan
Aukroyd, Aveda, Centennial College, UofT
Book Store, Humber, Sanda Ainsley Gallery,
SunVillage, Coyote
Angel Sponsors: NSB, Environics, Ryerson
University, Quadangle.Samata Mason, SimEx
Iwerks,Mountain View, Heads up, Sheridan,
Fifth Element, Metropolitan Knowledge
INternational
Private Individual Sponsors: Lisa Elder, Len
Wechsler, Jeff Seider
Contact: 362-IDEA (4332) or
allison@ideacityonline.com
Location: Camden, ME
Sponsors: Open, Canaan Partners, Cogni-
zant, Frog design, Lexus, MTN Group,
National Geographic Society, Nokia Siemens
Networks, Steelcase, Surdna, Text 100,
Thomson Reuters, Timbuk2 Designs,Yahoo!
Friends
Behance, dotSUB, Festo, Hashrocket, Inkling
, Know Technology, Maine Media, Meru
Networks, Gen Works, sigmaQ, Swans
Island Blankets
Contact info: info@poptech.org
POP Tech
October 21-24, 2009

17. www.poptech.org
Conference >> Pop Tech
Date: October 21-24, 2009
Location: Camden, ME
Sponsors: Open, Canaan Partners,
Cognizant, Frog design, Lexus, MTN
Group, National Geographic Society,
Nokia Siemens Networks, Steelcase,
Surdna, Text 100, Thomson Reuters,
Timbuk2 Designs,Yahoo!
Friends: Behance, dotSUB, Festo,
Hashrocket, Inkling , Know Technolo-
gy, Maine Media, Meru Networks, Gen
Works, sigmaQ, Swans Island Blankets
Contact info: info@poptech.org
A first visit to Pop!Tech is often surprising. Unlike traditional conferences, here you’ll find an eclectic
network of industry leaders, scientists, technologies, social change agents, artists, educators, the press,
bloggers, explorers and one-of-a-kind thought-leaders from a huge variety of fields and number of different
places – bound together by an intense curiosity about the forces, challenges and opportunities shaping
our future.

18. Each year, the world’s leading thinkers and doers gather in for an event many describe as the highlight of
their year. Attendees have called it “The ultimate brain spa,” “Davos for optimists” and “A four-day journey
into the future, in the company of those creating it.” This event is called TED, and it’s truly a conference
like no other.
Cost:
RT satellite Broadcast:$3,750
Registration: $6,000 plus acceptance
Donor: $12,000
Patron: 100k / 5 years
Sponsors: BMW, Nokia, Autodesk
Contact:Ronda Carnegie
212.346.9333
sponsors@ted.com
www.TED.com
Conference >> TED

19. www.designthinkers.com
Some of the 2008 DesignThinkers
Speakers:
Marc Alt
Nancy Duarte
Steff Geissbuhler
Lauren Connolly
Chris Hacker
Louise Fili
Bob Isherwood
Jeannette Hanna
Ji Lee
Luke Hayman
Bettina von Stamm
Lee Jacobson
Masamichi Udagawa
Kris Kiger
Tucker Viemeister
Tali Krakowsky
Véronique Vienne
Daniel Libeskind
Massimo Vignelli
Rick Poynor
Brett Wickens
Scott Stowell
Jenn + Ken Visocky O’Grad
DesignThinkers is the annual conference of the Association of Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario
(RGD Ontario). Representing over 3,000 design professionals and students, RGD Ontario is the
professional organization for graphic design in Ontario, and unique in Canada with its ability to grant the
designation Registered Graphic Designer (R.G.D.), signaling a high level of competence and ethics.
Conference >> RGD Design Thinkers

20. Established in 2002 by new media
guru and entrepreneur Shawn Puck-
nell, the company has held successful
events in North America and Europe,
and is expanding into Asia. Accord-
ing to FITC’s founder, the first step to
producing a successful event is choos-
ing a host city with a passion for the
interactive arts.
FITC has left its mark in the following
geographies:
Canada: Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto,
Vancouver, Winnipeg
North America: Chicago, Los Angeles
International: Amsterdam, Korea
FITC is a Canadian events management company that produces international design and technology events
that inspire, educate and challenge the best new media designers and developers from around the globe.
www.fitc.ca
Conference >> Flash FITC

21. ideaCity, also known as ‘Canada’s Premiere Meeting of the Minds’, is an eclectic gathering of artists,
adventurers, authors, cosmologists, doctors, designers, entertainers, filmmakers, inventors, magicians,
musicians, scientists and technologists.
www.ideacityonline.com
June 17-19, 2009
ideaCity Speakers:
Are varied in their origins,
professions and personal
make-up: Adventurers,
architects, astronomers,
entrepreneurs, authors,
scientists, technologists,
musicians, magicians,
politicians, historians,
designers, inventors, film
makers, agitators
Conference >> Idea City

22. Technology Events>>

23. Conference >> Mesh U
www.meshconference.com
September 16-19 New York
Canada’s leading Web conference, being held in Toronto on April 7th & 8th of 2009, is a chance to
connect with people who are just as interested and excited about the potential of the Web as you are —
people who want to know more about how it is changing the way we live, work and interact with the world.
You won’t just connect with them in the hallways, either — at mesh, we make sure that every panel and
workshop is as interactive as possible. If mesh is successful or helpful, it’s because you helped make it
that way.

24. November 5-7, 2008
San Francisco
also from the O’Reilly Family:
O’Reilly We2.0 expo in Berlin
http://en.oreilly.com/web2008/
public/content/home?CMP=ILC-
conf_promobox_ormhm
O’Reilly Web2.0 expo New York
http://en.oreilly.com/webexny2008/
public/content/home
http://en.oreilly.com/web2008/public/content/home?CMP=ILCconf_promobox_ormh
Only the Web 2.0 Summit (formerly named Web 2.0 Conference) brings the intelligence, innovation, and
leadership of the Internet industry together in one place at one time.
O’Reilly Summit >> Web 2.0

25. www.ad-tech.com
Networking Conference >> Ad-Tech
For more than ten years, ad:tech has provided media, marketing and technology professionals with the
tools and techniques they need to succeed in a changing digital world. With 11 shows in 7 countries,
ad:tech’s globally respected roster of speakers, workshops and exhibitors continues to make it the preferred
resource and destination for digital marketers everywhere.
Upcoming conferences:
Sydney
Paris
San Francisco
Miami
Singapore
Chicago
Tokyo
London
New York
Shanghai
Beijing

26. Stay Ahead of the Curve
An incubator of new, cutting-
edge technologies, the SXSW
Interactive Festival is ground zero
for the world’s most creative web
developers, designers, bloggers,
wireless innovators and new media
entrepreneurs.
Tony Hsieh to Deliver Opening•
Remarks on Saturday, March 14
•
Anderson & Kawasaki Set for•
Keynote Interview on March 17
•
Explore the first batch of panel•
programming for 2009
The SXSW Interactive Festival features five days of exciting panel content and amazing parties. Attracting
digital creatives as well as visionary technology entrepreneurs, the event celebrates the best minds
and the brightest personalities of emerging technology. Whether you are a hard-core geek, a dedicated
content creator, a new media entrepreneur, or just someone who likes being around an extremely creative
community, SXSW Interactive is for you!
Conference >> SXSW
www.sxsw.com/interactive

27. www.strategymag.com/socialresponsibility/2008/index.html
April 15, MaRS Collaboration Centre,
Toronto, ON
Doing good is good for business. if your employees, stakeholders and consumers know about your good
works.That’s where the Social Responsibility Forum comes in. Whether you’re a CEO, CMO, media buyer or
media seller, the event will help you identify the business opportunities that exist when CSR initiatives re-
inforce your brand DNA. But how do you create that alignment? Who’s doing it well? And most importantly,
does your marketing reflect the good things your company is doing?
Collaboration >> Social Responsibilty Forum

28. Creativity for change, ideas to make things better.
Thursday July 17. 2008
Sponsors for this event included:
Bates 141, Mtv, Yahoo, Nomaly, Fla-
mingo Internations, Privé, Attention!,
Mindshare and singapore.
www.psfk.com/psfk-conference-san-francisco
Conference >> PSFK

29. Our Goals:
Objective 1: To stimulate a productive
conversation about sustainability
among the Overlap’s community of
innovators
Objective 2: To facilitate practical
ways for innovators to create “pull” for
sustainability work
Objective 3: To roadmap sustainability
directions, challenges, opportunities
for the larger community of innovation
practitioners
theoverlap.org/2008
Now celebrating its third year, Overlap08 will look at the role design thinking and design strategy can play
in the transformation of products, processes and organizations. It will explore and confront the current
theories, methodologies and tools for catalyzing sustainable innovation. We will challenge ourselves to
provide insight into market-driven solutions that can meet social and environmental challenges.
Conference >> Overalap

30. Conference >> EmTech
The 8th annual event will be held
September 23-25, 2008, on the
beautiful MIT campus in Cambridge, MA,
and will include:
Powerful keynotes from respected•
business leaders
Interactive breakout sessions•
focused on developments in
specific areas of technology
Exhibition of emerging•
technologies from leading
companies, startups, and MIT
students
Unveiling of the 2008 TR35--the•
top 35 innovators under the age
of 35
Networking opportunities with•
Technology Review’s high-level
international audience
Explore the cutting-edge technologies that truly matter and the innovations destined to better our lives
and fuel economic growth--only at EmTech.Technology Review’s EmTech Conference brings together
world-renowned innovators and senior business leaders to discuss the emerging technologies that are
poised to make a dramatic impact on our world. Keynote sessions, insightful panels, and groundbreaking
presentations--of a caliber only Technology Review can deliver--are combined with networking opportunities
and live demonstrations.
www.technologyreview.com/emtech/08

31. www.econsm.com
Some Speakers include:
Rafat Ali, Founder, Editor and Publish-
er, ContentNext Media, Moderator
Robert Andrews, Editor,
paidContent:UK, Moderator
Joanne Bradford, EVP-National Mar-
keting Services, Spot Runner
Leonard Brody, Co-founder and CEO,
NowPublic
Dalton Caldwell, Founder and CEO,
Imeem
Shawn Colo, Co-founder and Head of
M&A, Demand Media
Frank Cooper, VP-Marketing, Pepsi-
Cola North America
Chuck DeFeo, VP and GM, Townhall.
com and Salem News/Talk Online
The Economics of Social Media 2008 is a one-day conference focused on investigating the evolving
economics of social media, looking at the survivors and up-and-comers, and at how deals and business
models are being affected by enabling technologies and the creative process.
Conference >> EconSM

32. www.ad-tech.com
www.econsm.com
www.technologyreview.com/emtech/08
www.theoverlap.org/2008
www.psfk.com/psfk-conference-san-francisco
www.strategymag.com/socialresponsibility/2008/index.html
www.sxsw.com/interactive
http://en.oreilly.com/web2008/public/content/home?CMP=ILCconf_promobox_ormh
www.meshconference.com
www.TED.com
www.Designthinkers.com
www.Poptech.org
www.fitc.ca
www.ideacityonline.com
www.designcity.com
Conference >> References