Cameron's Brain

CRITICAL 11.04 - register now for the conference of the year!

Well we've been threatening to do this for a few months, and now the time is here! The registration site for CRITICAL 11.04, my inaugural conference, is NOW OPEN.

Who are Australia's best I.T. innovators? Which individuals and companies continually demonstrate how to take advantage of emerging technologies ahead of the curve? What are the key technologies that will impact the way business is done over the next 36 months? That's what we want to discover at CRITICAL.

CRITICAL 11.04 (Cameron Reilly's I.T. Innovation Conference Alternative) will be held on November 3rd, 2004 at the Sun Theatre, Yarraville, Melbourne, Australia. I hope you can join us!

If you feel like you want to be a discussion leader, email me (cameronreilly@gmail.com). Otherwise I'll end up doing all the talking, and that can't be a good thing.... trust me...

A huge thanks to Anthony Malloy for putting together the site! If you need webdev done, make sure you look him up!

we get linked from tompeters!

Buzz Bruggeman, the CEO of Activewords, told Tom Peters about the innovation conference we're running in Melbourne and Tom pointed to it in his blog! Very cool. Coincidentally, I got a copy of Tom's new book "Re-imagine" yesterday, something many people have urged me to buy since it came out. I'm looking forward to reading it. Actually it's the audio version and I'm going to drop it on my new 40Gb iPod when it arrives today and I'll probably listen to it while driving through France next week.

Thanks Tom and Buzz and Cathy for the promotion of the event! It's going to be a blast.

progress on the IT Innovation conference in Melbourne

NAME: We've got a working name: "C.R.I.T.I.C.A.L." which stands for "Cameron Reilly's I.T. Innovation Conference ALternative". I'm open to better suggestions but this is good enough to get us started.
DATE: I'm working on November 1, 3 or 4 as the date. Melbourne Cup is on Tuesday November 2, so holding it either side of that gives out-of-state visitors multiple reasons to come to sunny Melbourne.
VENUE: I'm having positive discussions with The Sun Theatre in Yarraville. It's a beautiful art deco cinema from the 1930's which was recently renovated. It's situated in the middle of the Yarraville Village, so is surounded by funky cafes and restaurants, a pub, a bookstore, etc. Is this a better idea than having a conference in a sterile conference venue? Kudos to Anthony Malloy who came up with the idea of using the Sun after we had a very stimulating coffee and chat up the road one night last week.
AGENDA: There's been lots of interest from people who'd like to present and sponsor the event. At this stage I'm still working on the best format.
FORMAT: I've been reading stuff like Frank Carver's ideas on constructivist theory for Conference Version 2.0. Buzz & I have been discussing models he's experienced where no Power Point is allowed. We'll be asking presenters to post their presentations up to a public share at least a week before the event, giving attendees time to digest them. Then perhaps some of the agenda will consist of the "presenter" and a "facilitator" conducting a discussion with the audience about the content. This gives audience members an opportunity to ask considered questions of the presenter, debate ideas, etc., rather than just be a passive participant in the proceedings. I've asked Trevor Cook if he'd like to speak on the intersection of PR and blogging.
MORE IDEAS? I'm keen to hear best practices stories on Aussie companies who are successfully deploying new technologies ahead of their competition. If you know of any success stories, let me know and I will see if we can use them in the conference.

[Listening to: Dancing With Mr. D. - The Rolling Stones Goats Head Soup]

Innovation Conference in Melbourne needs a funky name

Well it's looking good. Since I first blogged the idea of running a conference in Melbourne a few days ago, we've received 20+ registrations and several offers to speak, help out, sponsor, etc. Even talk of some high profile folks flying in from overseas to speak.

So here's the challenge - the event needs a name. Send me your original suggestions by 20 July and the winner will get either a free registration to the event or a Gmail address, whichever they prefer.

[Listening to: Louie, Louie - Iggy Pop - (0:-1)]

Innovation Conference in Melbourne

I've been talking with a few guys like Buzz Bruggeman, Frank Arrigo and Mick Stanic about running a conference in Melbourne around the Nov/Dec timeframe that focuses on IT innovation. The theme I'm particularly interested in is "examining which businesses are putting into practice relatively new technologies to improve their agility and then examining what methodologies they have adopted to allow them to integrate them quickly into their businesses". We'll look at technologies from blogs to wireless networks, from Tablet PCs to web services.

I haven't gone looking for sponsors, so I'm trying to figure out how we run such a conference on a meager budget. Here's what you can do to help.

1) if you would be interested in attending such an event, email me. There'll be a modest cover charge to cover the event venue, but this is a cost recovery exercise only. I expect it will be a one day exercise.

2) if you are able to help in setting up and running an event, please email me and let me know.

3) if you or your company would be interested in sponsoring such an event, please email me and let me know. There are a couple of folks I'd love to bring out from the US to present, but we'd need to cover their expenses, etc.