BrainJams D.C. Event

Think of BrainJams as the ‘unconference’ for everyone who is passionate about ideas and making a difference; it is a space for collaboration and new ideas; where smart people don’t talk at you, they talk with you. BrainJams is truly of, by, and for the people--the organizers provide the space, some basic structure for the day and an environment that enables participants to create the conference, with the conversations that matter most.

BrainJams bring together people from different backgrounds to share knowledge, experience, and ideas across traditional boundaries. According to Jack Welch, this sort of ‘boundaryless behavior’ was the key to his success at General Electric. By bringing together technologists, media people, non-profits, business leaders, civil servants, and artists, amazing things can happen.

**At the last event in Silicon Valley, an entrepreneur found a new board member, a non-profit found a volunteer technologist to help launch a community site, and several people with new ideas found the encouragement they needed to take action.**

The D.C. event starts at 10:30 am, with speed-dating style knowledge networking, where each participant gets a chance to meet 12-15 other participants in short one-on-one sessions. The afternoon session is run in a modified 'open space' format, where participants lead ‘breakthrough sessions’ on topics of their choosing related to Web 2.0, Social Networks, blogs, and other aspects of social media. Different tracks will be available for newcomers, experienced users and developers, allowing each to deepen their own knowledge with peers.

As Howard Rheingold says, ‘What it is is up to us.’

ABOUT BrainJams BrainJams is a non-profit organization whose mission is to encourage ad-hoc collaboration in the public commons through the use of emerging social media. As part of this mission, BrainJams is organizing live events and is building a community of practice for those interested in organizing similarly structured events. Inspired by BarCamp, Webzine, and the Tech Crunch Barbecue in Silicon Valley, BrainJams enables ordinary people with extraordinary ideas to make real, lasting impact by connecting with a diverse peer group and learning how to best use emerging technologies.

MORE: http://www.brainjams.org/whatarebrainjams.html

Web site: http://www.brainjams.org/ Event Details: http://brainjams.org/wiki/index.php?title=BrainJams30Jan2006 Registration Form: http://www.brainjams.org/regform.html Event Location: http://www.dcimprov.com/

For more information, email Chris Heuer, chris@brainjams.org

Attendance is free. A donation of $10 is suggested to help offset costs.