We have a confession to make: Conferences so aren't our thing. Yes, we're all about networking. But we prefer it to take a more organic form. We hate buzzwords. And we've heard enough boring panel discussions and keynote speakers to write a volume of bedtime stories.
So imagine our surprise and delight when we saw the lineup for Juice 2.0: Powering the Creative Economy. The conference, a follow-up to the 2007 Juice conference, takes place Nov. 13-14 in Camden. This year's theme is "building Maine's innovation networks," so why not bring in some of the country's top cultural leaders and innovators?
First on the speakers list is Nick Spitzer, host of public radio's "American Routes." He's incredibly entertaining, one hell of a public speaker, and he adores Maine (he has family here). Next up is master innovator Doug Hall, founder of Eureka! Ranch and all-around mad genius (in the interest of full disclosure, Doug and his students at UMaine, where he's in residence this semester, are working to grow Maine Maven, so we may be a little biased here). Even Liz Lerman of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange will be on hand — huge!
In the evenings, conference-goers can enjoy Pecha Kucha night and performances by Liz Lerman Dance Exchange and Aniruddha Knight.
Though the arts are a pivotal part of this year's conference, there's also a focus on engineering, business, venture capital and entrepreneurship and job growth — burning topics in today's economy. Over the course of the weekend — and after three pitch sessions — a total of $30,000 will be given to three Maine startups ($25,000 to the winner, $2,500 each to two runners-up).
Now THAT sounds like a conference we'd want to attend. And that's saying a lot.
For more information, visit www.juiceconference.org.
0 comments:
Post a Comment