For the past two years, Griffin has been a proud sponsor of the Gnomedex technology conference in Seattle, WA. Hosted by web superstar, self-confessed geek and our friend, Chris Pirillo.
I first began attending Gnomedex in 2006, and I’ve always been impressed with the quality of the speakers and attendees. Chris, his family and a small army of volunteers have consistently put on a fantastic event. Unfortunately, it seems, this year was the final one of it’s kind.
The underlying theme of the conference is “human circuitry“, which makes sense because I always leave connected to new friends and re-connected to old friends. The speakers and audience always leave me inspired, here’s a taste of some of my favorite speakers this year.
The Speakers
Brian Solis is globally recognized as one of most prominent thought leaders in new media. A digital analyst, sociologist, and futurist. His keynote presentation really got the room buzzing with his wise outlook of the future of social media. Brian explored interesting topics like online privacy and social currency.
Trish Millines Dziko founded Technology Access Foundation in 1996 after spending 15 years as a developer, designer and manager in the high tech industry. Her presentation focused on “rebooting public education”, she was truly inspiring. Trish has received dozens of local and national awards for her work improving the educational opportunities for children of color.
Austin Heap is one of the founders of the CRC and the organization’s Executive Director, as well as an entrepreneur, technologist and activist whose work centers on developing Internet-based technologies to facilitate the rapid transfer of knowledge between people, groups, and organizations. If you have an interest of free speech and censorship you should check out his Haystack project.
Steven Fisher and Michael Dougherty are the creators and producers of the Browncoats: Redemption film. This was a truly inspiring story of passion and love for a project. Together they crowdsourced a team of dedicated actors and film makers to create their own full length movie. On top of this, they were able to raise money for several charities.
Scott and Alex Mueller started an experiment in life and living, called Moosicorn Ranch. Through the help of friends and colleagues, they hope to make Moosicorn Ranch a sustainable home and farm. But there are even bigger dreams in the works including providing a place for workshops, seminars, and even a place for artists to live, learn and create. The crowd burst out laughing when the outgoing couple shared that they had installed Internet access before a toilet! 
Charles Brennick founded InterConnection, a non-profit who’s core mission is to provide computers to underserved people and communities around the world. They run a wonderful computer recycling and reuse organization which ships refurbished machines to an array of needy people.
This is just a small group of some of the amazing speakers who participated in this year’s Gnomedex.
Thank you!
I’d like to personally thank everyone who came out to our PreGnomedex tweet up. It was such a nice way to connect with you before the official festivities began.
A big thank you goes to Chris Pirillo and his family, Kat Armstrong, Stuart Maxwell, Liana Shanes, Ellen Kwor, Michelle Gamboa, Veronica Sopher, Imei Hsu and Kristin Marshall for running such an incredible conference. Let’s hope it’s not the last one.
For more coverage of Gnomoedex, I recommend reading Derek K. Miller’s notes.
Photos from Flickr by: paulbalcerak and kk+
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tagged: Austin Heap, Brian Solis, Browncoats: Redemption, Charles Brennick, CRC, Derek K. Miller, Ellen Kwor, Gnomedex, Gnomedex10, Gnomedex2010, Imei Hsu, InterConnection, Kat Armstrong, Kristin Marshall, Liana Shanes, Michael Dougherty, Michelle Gamboa, Moosicorn Ranch, Scott and Alex Mueller, Steven Fisher, Stuart Maxwell, Technology Access Foundatio, Trish Millines Dziko, Veronica Sopher
