Welcome to Small Rooms | Big Ideas: weaving our social fabric with technology !
Where do we begin? You have to forgive us but there is no easy way about this. Like most groups of individuals we are acting out of fear. We are anxious to provide a real place where real conversations happen. We are fearful of framing the conference in the wrong context.
We could take the expected approach and dive into the state of the global economy and how we are facing rapidly aging populations, radically transformed working environments and business paradigms, increased competition, etc. The current financial crisis aside these anxieties have already been accounted for at CIT 2007.
What about our physical environment? Again the challenges seem staggering; water, power, and natural resources are being consumed well beyond what is sustainable. Businesses, communities and nations are reminded constantly of scarcity. Luckily the debate is no longer about identifying what are perceived dangers and real ones but now shifted to how we will adapt the fundamentals of everyday life. Some of this transformational change, while exciting and daunting, it is also adding to the bottom-line of organizations. But we already talked about this at CIT 2008 as well.
So what are we left with? Ramping up to CIT 2009 began in May 2008. The first thing we had to do was hash out what we were going to focus on in the following year. The bulk of this time is spent discovering what value we could offer in light of past conference themes while being mindful of fresh challenges and opportunities. We also spent a lot of this time developing a team where we would come to know the value of each member within the group.
Finding purpose in an anxious world of doubt and doom can be a scary thing. Goliath was staring us in the face and we needed to get creative. By using creativity as a driving force in both our theme development and in sizing up the organizational and community landscape we turned to one another and the City.
The individual as well as the City are the new vehicles of change. The idea of the individual being partnered with the City, although seemingly huge, is finally possible through technology advancements. We witnessed our team reaffirming that the individual—right now—is KING. The groups we form wield real POWER. And with that, the team—your team—was formed.
Connect IT Conference is where all these fears, challenges and hopes lay. The concept of Small Rooms | Big Ideas embodies our hope that even the smallest of groups can change their environment. This year nothing has changed but everything is different. The obstacles remain unparalleled in scope but now WE ALL have a voice in the solution. Opportunities of participation continue to pop-up. Everyday citizens are increasingly being included in key battles because technology is becoming integral to the social fabric of the City.
Team David has one mission: prepare students for life-after-University both professionally and as contributing members of society. We do this by calling on industry professionals, commentators and policymakers who will layout the groundwork for knowledge and adaptation within information technology.
This is no easy task and to keep it real we frame everything from a student’s perspectives by using students alone to organize. And on March 4th, 2009 you have an opportunity to first judge if we missed the mark and also include yourself in this discussion.
Scheduled to come down the [blog]pipe, and things I encourage you to look out for: speaker spotlights, our architecture design competition, and a whole lot of thank yous. The facts remain that although we are small and mighty everything being presented to you right now and on the day of is part of something more vast and far-reaching than Connect IT Conference alone. This is about your education and that is something that we and our sponsors embrace with earnest. More on this later…
Tags: change advocacy, citizenship, hope, information technology, new business professional, participation, social fabric, student-run