Sarah Milstein, Boing Boing’s Operations Manager/Chief Loop-Closer, and CrowdVine‘s Tony Stubblebine are orchestrating a free unconference in San Francisco this week. Called Web2Open, it’s part of the program for the Web 2.0 Expo that started today. (Thanks Sarah for the free pass code below for the Web 2.0 Expo!) If you’re in the area, check it out! It’s sure to be full of smart people, big ideas, and good converations. In fact, Web2Open will also feature a rare Bay Area appearance from BB’s amazing community manager, Teresa Nielsen Hayden! She’s on a panel on the topic of “Troll Whispering” and community dynamics. Sarah writes:
Web2Open -– a free, highly participatory unconference hosted by the Web 2.0 Expo in SF — is going off this week on Weds and Thurs. In addition to offering the traditional open grid (where participants sign up on site to lead discussions) and tons of chances to connect with other participants, we’ve also pre-scheduled a handful of very cool sessions:
* Four round-table discussions, each with a panel of people passionate about their topics: Small Business Hacks; UI for Data Portability; Troll Whispering; and Social Responsibility for Web 2.0 Businesses: Geeks Doing Good.
* Three hybrids: We’ve picked three sessions in the main conference track that will be open to all Web2Open attendees. Then we’re following those presentations with discussions in the Open: Creating a Coherent Social Strategy for Business, Taking Web 2.0 Offline and On the Desktop and Influence Is Overrated.
* Speed Q&A with Clay Shirky, Kara Swisher, Matt Cutts, Saar Gur and Tim O’Reilly. This going to rock: we’ll have fifty minutes and five tables, one each for programmers, designers /UI specialists, marketing /community gurus, businesspeople and undeclared. Each of our five prominent people will hold an informal Q&A at each table, switching every nine minutes.
The Web2Open, open to anyone who would like to participate, is a part of the Web 2.0 Expo. You need a badge to attend, but you can register for free on site using the code websf08opw (this free badge will admit you to the Web2Open sessions, Expo Keynotes, Show Floor and Launch Pad).
