Saturday, January 15, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Volunteer for CLS West - it's easy, social, and makes you a good person
Why volunteer for CLS West? Three reasons:
1) It's really pretty easy
We're looking for a lot of volunteers to do very small jobs, rather than a few to do big jobs. Volunteering won't prevent you from getting to attend most sessions, nor will it exhaust you.
2) If you don't, this event won't happen
CLS West is entirely run by volunteers, so if nobody volunteers it won't happen (and there won't be food). There are a number of people doing the hard work for free...the least you can do is volunteer a few minutes of your time to help make this run smoothly.
3) You'll meet people
Networking helps you get jobs, learn more, and make new friends. By volunteering you'll have a great excuse to interact with the organizers, volunteers, and attendees.
Convinced? Shoot me an email at volunteer[at]clswest.us and I'll get you hooked up with a slot.
-Evan Hamilton
Volunteer Coordinator, CLS West
Photo courtesy of Charlie and Kasie Bennett
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Calling all Sponsors
We did get a late start organizing CLS West 2011. As a result, we are behind where we were last year at this time with respect to sponsors for the event. We do have the following Silver Sponsors so far:
We are still hoping to provide lunch during the unconference and dinner at the evening social gathering afterwards. If your company is interested in sponsoring CLS West 2011, you will find information on the cost/benefits of the Platinum/Gold/Silver corporate sponsorship levels here. You can also send inquiries about sponsorship to this email address:
sponsorship [at] clswest [dot] us
Another thing we are doing this year is giving attendees the option to be individual sponsors of the event when they register for the unconference. There will continue to be the free registration option. We added two paid ticket options. For professional community workers, there is a $100 registration option. There is separate option to be a personal sponsor where you can specify the amount of your sponsorship when you sign up. We are recommending $25 for personal sponsors, but, we will gladly accept lesser or greater amounts.
Similar to the way we list our corporate sponsors, there will be an option (you decide when you sign up) for public attribution of our personal and professional sponsors. Anyone that has already registered for a free ticket can still become a personal or professional sponsor of the event. Send us a request to cancel your free registration first though at this email address:
info [at] clswest [dot] us
Sunday, November 14, 2010
CLS West 2011
Plans are in motion for our second annual CLS West unconference. Registration is now open for this free one day unconference. We will be back at DeVry University in Daly City on January 15th, 2011. We also have Kaliya volunteering her professional services to facilitate our unconference again. Please join us!
If you would like to help organize the CLS West unconference or the Community Dinner that evening, you can join our separate Mailing List where the planning discussions take place. You will also find information on the mailing list about the brief (30 minutes) weekly conference calls leading up to the event.
Finally, we need to move fast to get sponsorships lined up. Similar to last year's event, we have sponsorship opportunities at the Platinum ($2000), Gold ($1000) and Silver ($500) levels. Adobe is already on board as our first sponsor at the Silver level. If your company would like to sponsor CLS West 2011, you can contact us here:
sponsorship [at] clswest [dot] us
Monday, July 19, 2010
To call it a Camp or NOT to call it a Camp, That is the Question
At the recent Community Leadership Summit in Portland, Dave Nielsen proposed that regional unconferences be called Community Leadership Camps rather than Community Leadership Summits. The rationale being that the unconference format we use is closely aligned with the "Camp" brand (FooCamp, BarCamp, CloudCamp, etc...). In practice, I don't think people would spell it all out. So, we are really talking about the term CLCamp. This would then lead to qualification of the regional events by geography appended to that. At least, that is how it tends to work for the other branded camps. In our case, that would mean CLCamp West.
My first reaction was a very strong one against this proposal. However, I have since realized that Dave's proposal only pertains to the unconference events and not all the other activities associated with the existing CLS West brand: Ignites, First Fridays, Special Events, etc...
You see, CLS West is not just an unconference. CLS West is a "community" of community leaders here in the bay area that come together in many different ways. This led to the realization that CLS West needs to live on as the umbrella entity associated with our Ignite events, our First Friday dinner gatherings, and special events like the CLS West Karaoke Holiday Party in the works for December of 2010. =)
So, what we are really talking about is the event name for our next unconference gathering here in the bay area. Regardless of the name, the sponsoring entity/organization will be CLS West. With that in mind, the possibilities that I see for the event name are:
What I am strongly opposed to is calling it a CLCamp. This completely removes the "CLS" brand association. For me, the "CLS" brand represents the concept of bringing community builders together in a vendor-neutral environment. It just so happens that the first ever CLS event was an unconference. Through the activities of CLS West over the past 6 months, we have demonstrated that the "CLS" brand as described here can be effectively applied to other event formats too.
So, now you know my opinions on the matter. Although I spearheaded the formation of CLS West and continue to take a leadership role in the community, I realize that I am here to serve the community. The best way to serve the community in this situation is to solicit your input into the final decision. To that end, I have created this simple online poll where everyone that is a member of CLS West can vote and be counted. We will implement the community's decision whatever it may be.
My first reaction was a very strong one against this proposal. However, I have since realized that Dave's proposal only pertains to the unconference events and not all the other activities associated with the existing CLS West brand: Ignites, First Fridays, Special Events, etc...
You see, CLS West is not just an unconference. CLS West is a "community" of community leaders here in the bay area that come together in many different ways. This led to the realization that CLS West needs to live on as the umbrella entity associated with our Ignite events, our First Friday dinner gatherings, and special events like the CLS West Karaoke Holiday Party in the works for December of 2010. =)
So, what we are really talking about is the event name for our next unconference gathering here in the bay area. Regardless of the name, the sponsoring entity/organization will be CLS West. With that in mind, the possibilities that I see for the event name are:
- CLS West
- CLSCamp West
- CLCamp West
What I am strongly opposed to is calling it a CLCamp. This completely removes the "CLS" brand association. For me, the "CLS" brand represents the concept of bringing community builders together in a vendor-neutral environment. It just so happens that the first ever CLS event was an unconference. Through the activities of CLS West over the past 6 months, we have demonstrated that the "CLS" brand as described here can be effectively applied to other event formats too.
So, now you know my opinions on the matter. Although I spearheaded the formation of CLS West and continue to take a leadership role in the community, I realize that I am here to serve the community. The best way to serve the community in this situation is to solicit your input into the final decision. To that end, I have created this simple online poll where everyone that is a member of CLS West can vote and be counted. We will implement the community's decision whatever it may be.
That's All Folks!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Ignite CLS West: YouTube Channel
For those of you that missed Ignite CLS West, the videos of the talks are now available on our very own YouTube Channel. In order of delivery that night, we have:
- Peter Kellner: Befriending a Corporate Giant
- Ann Winblad: What's in a name?
- Carlos Hernandez: Social Media for the Uncomfortable
- Tammy Baker: Start a Community Event: Ready, Set, Go.
- Robert Stephenson: Program for the Future: CoLABoration 2010
- Sudha Jamthe: Extending your community from web to social ecosystem
- Vinnie Lauria: Social Alchemy - How to grow a community from 5 to 5,000
- Nancy Frishberg: Keys to Success as a Volunteer Organization
- Karsten Wade: The Open Source Way: Creating and nurturing communities of contributors
- Mary Vincent: Green Software - Case Studies and Opportunities for You and the Planet
- Dave Nielsen: The Unpanel - One way to get your unconference started
- Kaliya: We are not at WAR! How the Identity Community is Collaborating in 2010
I am confident that you will find each talk is well worth the 5 minute investment required to check them out. My personal favorite is Sudha Jamthe's talk. If nothing else, you must see her assertion that "I am not funny" at the start of her talk. It is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. I was definitely ROTFLOL and I was not the only one. =)
That's All Folks, Van
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