As I mentioned in my last post, last week I attended an amazing conference called The Feast. In addition to incredible speakers and a terrific crowd, one thing this conference did well was mix in videos to share stories and inspire the audience. One such video, Entrepreneurs Can Change the World, is a goose-bump inducing reminder of just how powerful an individual can be in driving change. I’d seen it before (and maybe you have too) but I found it to be just as enthralling and empowering as the first time I watched it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

To learn more about Grasshopper, the company that produced this video, check them out here.

This past summer I got wind of an organization called All Day Buffet and an upcoming event they were hosting called The Feast. With names like that, I was immediately intrigued (after all, I do love food!). But when I read more about the event, I started to get really excited.

The Feast Conference gathers the world’s greatest innovators from across industries and society to empower, inspire and engage each other in creating world-shaking change. A creative look at the world’s toughest problems, The Feast Conference presents the most innovative solutions, insights, and best practices as a catalyst toward action.

Sounds like fun, right? Even more intriguing:

More than a conference, The Feast represents a bottom-up movement, so we’re curating an audience as cross-disciplinary and diverse as our talks. But we’re doing something a little different — we ask those who can afford to pay higher prices to micro-sponsor The Feast, which allows us to offer $99 invitations to awe-inspiring vanguards whose brains get them where their wallets can’t.

This paragraph really caught my attention. I’m a student, so I can’t really afford to attend lots of conferences. But $99? I could do that. So I sent off my mini-application, including information about my interests and my work with The Changebase, and waited for a response. Amazingly, I only waited about half an hour before I got an email saying, “You’re in!”

At the time, I didn’t realize what a true honor it was to be accepted to attend. Now that I’ve been, I understand just how lucky I was.

Without hesitation, The Feast was absolutely the best conference I have ever attended.

Of course, a statement like that begs the question, “Why?” Let me explain.

The Speakers: All Day Buffet did an incredible job creating a lineup of diverse experts from a wide spectrum of industries.  In 8 hours, we heard from social entrepreneurs, designers, authors, musicians, executive directors, and even a professional poker player. What’s amazing was that even with such variety in speakers, the day definitely held some common themes. I thought I’d include some nuggets of wisdom passed down throughout the day:

Matthew Bishop, Chief Business Writer at The Economist, talked about the importance of the heart and the head coming together to create social change.

Bob McKinnon, Founder of YellowBrickRoad, told us that empathy is not just about understanding someone else’s suffering; it’s about creating solutions to overcome that suffering.

Uffe Elbaek, Founder of The KaosPilot, challenged us to not just be the best in the world, but the best for the world.

Annie Duke, Professional Poker Player, taught us about how to use “cooperative ultimatums” to win in poker and in life.

Kenna, a Musician, reminded us that we need to be clever, collaborative, and curious in order to find our spark and create change.

Jay Parkinson, Founder of Hello Health, showed us that there is potential for a new model of health care that relies on collaboration and communication between doctors and patients.

Joshua Viertel, President of Slow Food USA, encouraged us to eat food that has a story we’re proud to tell.

Ken Banks, Founder of Kiwanja.net and FrontlineSMS, proved that the possibilities are endless when you create a technology that’s adaptable and open for everyone to use.

Elizabeth Scharpf, Founder of Sustainable Health Enterprises, shared with us the potential to empower women in developing countries through market-based solutions.

Rod Arnold, COO, and Becky Straw, Director of Water Programs at charity:water, demonstrated that when business and nonprofits truly partner together, people on both sides of the money win.

William Drenttel, Partner at Winterhouse, explained that designers aren’t in the design business but the consequence business.

And certainly last but not least, Brian Bordainick, Founder of 9^th Ward Field of Dreams, engaged all of us in a discussion of just how far an entrepreneur will go for a mission he believes in.

As you can see, it was an incredible day – one that certainly can’t be recreated in a single blog post. Luckily for you, All Day Buffet was live streaming during the event, so you can check out what each speaker had to say.

The Attendees: While the lineup of speakers was impressive, and their messages were certainly inspiring, what made this day invaluable were the people.

I have never attended an event where people were so singularly focused on connecting, engaging, and helping everyone they could. In one day, I met social entrepreneurs, artists, business owners, marketers, and nonprofit leaders. And after talking for a few moments, inevitably they asked, “What can I do to help you?” That may not seem impressive in a small crowd of dedicated social innovators – but this wasn’t a small crowd. This was almost 400 people.

In fact, it turned out that a common theme, throughout all of the speakers and the conversations I had during breaks, was collaboration and community. At the end of the event, All Day Buffet’s Jerri Chou encouraged us to put out the energy of what you’re looking for, and let this amazing community support and help you.

For me, yesterday was a homecoming to a community that I knew existed but hadn’t been introduced to yet. I came home feeling renewed and energized and overwhelmed (in a good way) by the possibilities laid out before me: itching to get started yet sad to leave this incredible gathering of changemakers.

As if she read our minds, Cindy Gallop, Founder of If We Ran The World and our moderator for the day, challenged us to seize this excitement and inspiration and turn it into action. She called us a “crucible bubbling over with good intentions” and she warned us not to let this inspiration go to waste. Turn your good intentions into micro-actions of change, she said.

And, I’d add, don’t lose sight of the fact that you are part of a community that wants you to succeed. Because in our collective goal of long-term social change, when one of us wins, we all do.

To see some photos from the event, check this out.

To learn more and follow The Feast’s speakers and their organizations:

• Matthew Bishop – @mattbish
• Kenna – @OKKenna
• Annie Duke – @realannieduke
• Joshua Viertel – @joshviertel
• Rod Arnold – @rodlarnold
• Becky Straw – @beckystraw
• William Drenttel – @designobserver
• Ken Banks – @kiwanja
• FrontlineSMS – @FrontlineSMS
• Elizabeth Scharpf and SHE – @SHEnterprises
• Yellow Brick Road – @YBRTweets
• Hello Health – @hellohealth
• 9th Ward Field of Dreams – @9wfod
• Cindy Gallop – @cindygallop1
• If We Ran The World – @iwrtw

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to provide a quick update to my post from a couple months ago about Mashable’s campaign, Summer of Social Good.

It sounds like the campaign, raising money for World Wildlife Fund, Oxfam America, The Humane Society and Livestrong, was a big success – raising over $33,000 in just a few months. I’ve been checking Mashable’s site since the campaign ended on August 28th, and unfortunately they haven’t yet posted any information on what’s coming next. However, given the trend toward using social media for social change, I’m guessing we can expect more news from Mashable and their partners in the near future.

Keep checking The Changebase for updates – I’ll let you know as soon as I hear more news.

-Ashley

I was lucky to come across this TED talk by Katherine Fulton, President of Monitor in Cambridge, MA and I just felt the need to share it.

“You Are the Future of Philanthropy” is a compelling, articulate discussion of 5 emerging trends that Ms. Fulton has witnessed in philanthropy today:

• Mass Collaboration
• Online Philanthropy Marketplaces
• Aggregated Giving
• Innovation Competitions
• Social Investing

She talks about how philanthropy and foundations need to be “Open, Big, Fast, Connected and Long” and that innovation and entrepreneurship in philanthropy are creating a new, unified community of philanthropists.

Ms. Fulton ends her 12-minute presentation on a poignant note – talking about legacy and the kind of role models we, as everyday citizens and empowered philanthropists, want to be for future generations.

A must watch!

These days I’m loving the cross-pollinating going on between social media and “social good”; that is, using Web 2.0 and platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites to raise awareness and create change.

I was reading through my Twitterfeed today and came across a post, “10 Ways to Support Charity Through Social Media”. While it’s a quick rundown of a lot of ideas and strategies that most “plugged-in” change agents already know about, it did point me in one new direction today.

The Summer of Social Good is an intiative/experiment running from June 1st through August 28th with the goal of raising awareness – and money – for some very important charities: World Wildlife Fund, Oxfam America, The Humane Society and Livestrong. Run by Mashable, the hugely popular Web 2.0 and Social Media blog, the Summer of Social Good is:

…the first large scale online charitable campaign to raise funds through the power of Social Media and the Internet. The goal is to use the power of “Social Influence” via Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, blogs and other online media to raise an unprecedented amount for our fund benefiting The Humane Society, Livestrong, Oxfam America and WWF from June 1st until August 28th, 2009.

I thought this was a pretty cool idea, and as a way to show my support, I’ve not only Tweeted about it but I’ve placed the Widget in the right sidebar of The Changebase. Now, everytime you check this site between now and August 28th you can see how much money has been raised for these worthy charities. Not only that, but those talented folks at Mashable have made the Widget completely interactive: you can learn more, donate, tweet, or even share this campaign with your friends too. I hope you’ll take a moment to read more about these organizations and share what you’ve learned with others!

Hi Readers,

Just posted a new Promoting page about two terrific organizations creating change through social media: Carrotmob and Virgance. If you haven’t heard of these guys before, now’s your chance for a quick overview.

Enjoy,

-Ashley