Archive for the 'Meetings+Events Calendar' Category

June Event: The Economics of Abundance

Published on May 13, 2010 in Abundance, Meetings+Events Calendar and San Francisco Events by Neal Gorenflo. 0 Comments

You’re invited to a workshop cohosted by Abundance League featuring Wolfgang Hoeschele Ph.D, a geographer and author soon to be released book, The Economics of Abundance: A Political Economy of Freedom, Equity, and Sustainability.

In this workshop, Wolfgang will first introduce participants to his ideas about an economics of abundance; then, participants will break out into groups to discuss how they can realize greater abundance in various different aspects of their lives; finally, these groups will report their ideas back to all participants. The goal is to generate ideas, energy, and momentum that participants can take back to their own life projects.

The “economics of abundance” is based on a critique of our present economic system, which finds value only in scarce commodities – i.e., things which can be sold at a high price because demand exceeds supply. Because this economy depends on demand always outstripping supplies, it also depends on “scarcity-generating institutions” – institutions that either manipulate supply or demand in order to keep us in a constant state of need.

An economy of abundance seeks to dismantle or reform these scarcity-generating institutions in such a way as to affirm our freedom to live life as art (self-expression to others), social equity (so that everyone is enabled to live life as art), and sustainability (so that all life thrive into the future). Among other things, this implies a much greater role for various forms of shared property, individual and community-level self-reliance, and participatory decision-making.

This event is cohosted by Shareable.net, Independent Arts & Media, and Abundance League.

MEETING:

When: Thursday, June 24th, 2010, 6:30-9:30pm

Where: Citizen Space , 425 Second St., #100, San Francisco

AGENDA:

6:30 – 7:00 Arrive – mingle, nosh

7:00 – 7:30 Member announcements, one minute each

7:30 – 8:00 Break – make connections based on announcements, nosh

8:00 – 9:15 Presentation and discussion

9:15 – 9:30 Clean up, take the discussion to the 21st Amendment

BRING

-Willingness to give help and receive help

-Healthy finger food and drink for the potluck

-Yourself, friends

Teaser image courtesy of Gwen Meharg.

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Design 4 Resilience: Thriving in an Uncertain World

Published on March 15, 2010 in Meetings+Events Calendar and San Francisco Events by Neal Gorenflo. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Abundance League is proud to co-host Design 4 Resilience (D4R). Shareable is cohosting D4R because a resilient society is one that’s democratic and shares. I hope you’ll join us!

REGISTER>>

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Have you ever wondered what qualities enable certain people, organizations or communities to thrive despite unexpected challenges?

D4R is a full-day exploration of resilience as a strategy for thriving in an uncertain world. And a call to action to prepare for the crises and opportunities unfolding today.

D4R will empower you to explore resilience through a combination of presentations and workshops (in Open Space format). As an Open Space participant, you’ll collaborate with innovators from the social enterprise, design thinking, transition town, network science, local economy, urban planning, green evangelical, open source, public media, and positive psychology communities to create a unique, cross-sector learning experience.

At D4R, you’ll:

  • Add resilience thinking to your strategy toolbox
  • Build relationships across sectors by learning with diverse participants
  • Take home valuable insights to apply in your life and work.

D4R is designed for those managing dramatic change in business and civil society, and are determined to thrive on the challenge.

D4R will be held at The Hub Berkeley, a co-working and events center for social enterprise. D4R will be the first in a series of events culminating in a D4R presence at SOCAP10. This is your invitation to inaugurate the D4R community.

WHERE: The Hub Berkeley, 2150 Allston Way, #400, Berkeley, CA. #D4R on Twitter. Check the pre-event blogging and day-of livestream at http://shareable.net/tag/d4r

WHEN: April 10th, 2010, 8:30-5:00

HOW: Our speakers will talk about design thinking, resilience, and the commons in the morning to set the context. The afternoon will be Open Space. You’re encouraged to facilitate a session on a topic of choice rethinking it from a resilience perspective.

If you’re wondering what we mean by resilience, please read this post:  A Very Short Primer on Resilience

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PROGRAM

8:30 WELCOME: Neal Gorenflo, Shareable.net

8:40   Resilience Thinking, Harald Katzmair, Ph.d, CEO of FAS.research

8:55   Resilience & the Commons, Neal Gorenflo, Shareable.net

9:10   Design Thinking, Stephanie Smith, founder, WeCommune.com

9:30 Q & A

10:00 Structured networking faciliated by Jerry Michalski of Sociate.com and our MC for the day

10:30 BREAK

11:30 OPEN SPACE INTRODUCTION, Jerry Michalski

All tracks are decided on by participants. You’re strongly encouraged to facilitate a track on a topic that you’re passionate about linking it to resilience. DELICIOUS BOX LUNCH PROVIDED to take into sessions.

12:30 – 1:20 Track 1

1:30   – 2:20 Track 2

2:30   – 3:20 Track 3

3:30 BREAK

4:00 RECONVENE ASSEMBLY FOR DISCUSSION, facilitated by Jerry Michalski

5:00 WRAP UP

5:30-7:00 CASH BAR RECEPTION (at a nearby restaurant, TBD)

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Hosts:

FAS.research, The Idea Hive, Sociate.com, The Hub Bay Area, SOCAP10, Shareable.net

Sponsors:

The Green Arcade, Open Collaboration Encyclopedia, clear-bits, shapeshifters, Greater Good Science Center, The Sharing Solution, Independent Arts & Media, The Abundance League, On The Commons

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February Event: Get Off…Line!

Published on February 12, 2010 in Meetings+Events Calendar and San Francisco Events by Neal Gorenflo. 0 Comments

In our November event, we discussed how the social web can disempower if not used wisely. On February 24th, we’ll discuss how to use it to improve the quality of our offline lives. Three panelists will help seed the discussion. They’ve explored the interplay between the real and virtual deeply in both practice and thought, and have a passionate commitment to empowering others with the knowledge they’ve gained:

  • Stephanie Smith is a designer and social entrepreneur. Her most recent company WeCommune.com (private beta) facilitates on the ground resource sharing.

And fittingly, this will be a hybrid online / offline event. We’ll be livestreaming the event from the coworking innovation loft, PariSoma.com. We’ll have both online and offline participants. Expect hiccups, failures, and fun. It’ll be a great learning experience in content and form.

All the event details are on Shareable.net, our event partner: http://bit.ly/9bBjAD.

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January Abundance League: Real Places for Real Lives

Published on November 17, 2009 in Meetings+Events Calendar and San Francisco Events by Neal Gorenflo. 0 Comments Tags: , .

There’s a swift invasion underway of our cafes, bars, restaurants, and public spaces all over America. In the last few years, you may have showed up to your favorite neighborhood hangout one morning to suddenly find there’s a flat screen behind the cash register broadcasting advertisements at you. Or you may have taken a date to what used to be a quiet, intimate bistro, only to find that every visible wall is now occupied by giant, blinding TV screens.

When did force-fed TV and “hot media” become de rigeur in our places of dining, conversation, and community? It’s now so commonplace that speaking up or complaining about it will earn you blank looks or confused reactions.

What can we do? Especially when the hospitality industry is barely holding on in a brutal economy, and will do anything to draw more customers?  Might there be another way?

The Real Places Campaign has a plan. Join Jen Burke Anderson and Neal Gorenflo as the Abundance League shares a plan to positively define what we need from our public places, and reward those who deliver.  Come learn about and help shape a grassroots experiment to create real places for real lives.

Event cohost: Shareable, an online magazine about sharing. Join Shareable’s Facebook page here to get ideas for creating a shareable world and chime in with your ideas.

MEETING:
When: WEDNESDAY, January 20th, 2010, 6:30-9:30pm
Where: Cafe Royale, 800 Post St.  San Francisco
(415) 441-4099

AGENDA:
6:30 – 7:00 Arrive – mingle, nosh
7:00 – 7:30 Member announcements lightening round: share your passions, needs & gifts quickly
7:30 – 8:00 Break – nosh, make connections based on announcements
8:00 – 9:15  Presentation and discussion
9:15 – 9:30  Clean up, clear out.

BRING
-Willingness to help others and receive help. Yourself, friends. Note: no potluck this time. Reasonably price fare available at the Cafe Royale.

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From Participation to Power: The Dark Side of Web 2.0 & What To Do About It

Published on October 20, 2009 in Abundance, Meetings+Events Calendar and San Francisco Events by Neal Gorenflo. 0 Comments

On November 19th, pioneer social change strategist Harald Katzmair, Ph.D will lead us in an exploration of the media environment and cultural moment in which we live, and point the way to from mere participation to power.

Harald’s talk will begin with an exploration of the dark side of Web 2.0. How it can overload us with messages, shrink attention spans, erode focus, and thus disrupt our ability to find common ground and take common action. Through Web 2.0 we may be, as in the title of cultural critic Neil Postman’s influential book, amusing ourselves to death.

We must recognize that individual participation does not necessarily equate to power.  Power is the ability to act. And collective action is what enables citizens to be powerful politically.  Being hyperconnected can overload us and cripple our ability to act as individuals and groups at a time when we need to be really good at taking common action in order to avoid a climate disaster.

In Harald’s view, what’s needed to survive are new tools that can help us do just that. We have to go beyond mere individual participation to collective action. And realize that it’s not the size of your network that counts, but how it’s patterned to achieve a clear goal.

Harald will share cutting edge tools he’s developed to help groups set agendas, act collectively, and mobilize networks for change. What sets Harald’s approach apart is that it’s based on social network analysis and complexity theory, which are especially useful for modeling complex systems, harnessing collective intelligence, and identifying actions that have maximum impact with minimal blow back.

Harald is CEO and Founder of FAS.research, a pioneer in applying social network analysis and complexity theory to solving complex problems in multi-stakeholder environments.   His passion is helping people come together to solve “wicked” problems.   One of his current projects is helping tribal leaders in Jordan develop a water sharing system.  If Jordan does not succeed in this, they’ll run out of water in 20 years.

It should be an eye opening night. I hope you’ll join us.

Event cohost: Shareable Magazine.  Join Shareable’s Facebook page here to get ideas for creating a shareable world and chime in with your ideas.

MEETING:
When: Thursday, November 19th, 2009, 6:30-9:30pm
Where: Citizen Space , 425 Second St., #100, San Francisco

AGENDA:
6:30 – 7:00 Arrive – mingle, nosh
7:00 – 7:30 Member announcements lightening round: share your passions, needs & gifts quickly
7:30 – 8:00 Break – nosh, make connections based on announcements
8:00 – 9:15  Presentation and discussion
9:15 – 9:30  Clean up, take the discussion to the 21st Amendment

BRING
-Willingness to help others and receive help
-Healthy stuff for the potluck
-Yourself, friends

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September SF League Meeting: Beyond Awkward – Dating & Relationship Strategies that Bring Joy & Confidence

Published on August 29, 2009 in Meetings+Events Calendar and San Francisco Events by Neal Gorenflo. 0 Comments

For our September meeting we’ll tap our collective intelligence using the World Cafe process to share ways to make dating and relationships more rewarding.

The idea for this event came out of a conversation with my friend Erica. Dating and romantic relationships are central to creating a great life, but for many people navigating the sea of love is daunting. Dating misfires and relationship meltdowns are the norm. There’s no way to make love pain free, but Erica and I thought that suffering could be reduced, and perhaps dramatically. The pitfalls we discussed included differences in expectations about dating and love relationships, a lack of frameworks for how to find a partner or nurture our most important relationships, a lack of awareness about what we actually need in a partner, and varying levels of interpersonal skill. There’s no question it’s complicated!

As Erica and I talked about the pitfalls, we began to see that many of them could be addressed. And what waited on the other side was something we all seek – more joy and confidence in our romantic lives. We also recognized that there’s a lot of wisdom out there, but it’s not evenly distributed.

So this is a call to all those who either seek wisdom or have wisdom to share. Let’s attempt to raise our collective relationship IQ in a focused burst of effort. In case there’s any question, this event is open to folks of all sexual orientations.

I hope to see you there for an experiment we’ll create together.

MEETING
When: Thursday, September 17th, 6:30-9:30pm
Where: Citizen Space , 425 Second St., #100, San Francisco

AGENDA
6:30 – 7:00 Arrive – mingle, nosh
7:00 – 7:30 Member announcements lightening round: share your passions, needs & gifts quickly
7:30 – 8:00 Break – nosh, make connections based on announcements
8:00 – 9:15 World Cafe on dating and relationships
9:15 – 9:30 Clean up, take the discussion to the 21st Amendment

BRING
-Willingness to help others and receive help
-Healthy stuff for the potluck
-Yourself, friends

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October Abundance League SF, Screening & Discussion of Re:Invention

Published on August 25, 2009 in Meetings+Events Calendar and San Francisco Events by Neal Gorenflo. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

The media constantly reports how the economy is hurting people, which can be disempowering. To offer a counterpoint and make space for healing, we need to tell new stories that shift the conversation to new possibilities. What if we saw the crisis as the crucible where deep alchemy happens? How would we evolve as a society if we faced the economic meltdown with courage to see the wisdom that is waiting on the other side?

Our guest facilitator for this month is dedicated to exploring these questions. Catherine Goerz is a filmmaker whose creative mission is to catalyze social change by documenting stories of people who have experienced crisis and transformation in this economy. Catherine’s journey into film making began when she lost her job 2008. Inspired by the idea that her layoff was an opportunity for positive transformation, she decided to document how other people were responding to the loss of homes, investments and work. After traveling cross-country for 4 weeks in a RV, attending the inauguration, and shooting interviews, she created a documentary short called “RE: Invention.”

Continue reading ‘October Abundance League SF, Screening & Discussion of Re:Invention’

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Jack into the Bay Area’s Alternative Economy with Heather Young – The World’s First Alternative Economic Organizer

Published on July 24, 2009 in Abundance and Meetings+Events Calendar by Neal Gorenflo. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

An alternative economy is emerging that’s run by people like you and I. And it’s built to serve us, unlike that other f@%$! economy. The way to make it real is to begin transacting on its platforms and using its currencies. And we must begin our withdrawal from the platforms and currencies that steal our health and wealth. This month’s Abundance League is designed to help us do just that.

Heather Young is an alternative economic organizer and has been an environmental and social justice activist for over a decade. She will be discussing the many ways we can create this economy together right now in a more loving, abundant, just and sustainable way here in the Bay Area. She’ll give us an overview of the movement in the Bay Area and share it’s various projects including:

-Bay Area Community Exchange – a network of alternative currency projects in the Bay Area, including a time exchange project that is in trial phase.

-The Really Really Free Market – an event that demonstrates a pure gift economy in SF and over 50 other cities in the US and around the world.

-JASecon (Just Alternative Sustainable economy) – an all volunteer organization that aims to tie together and synergize all the different aspects of the alternative economy and to host a grassroots economic festival/conference on Sept. 26 in Oakland.

-Plus Neighborhood Vegetables and others.

MEETING
When: August 20th, 6:30-9:30pm
Where: Citizen Space , 425 Second St., #100, San Francisco

AGENDA
6:30 – 7:00 Arrive – mingle, nosh
7:00 – 7:30 Member announcements lightening round: share your passions, needs & gifts quickly
7:30 – 8:00 Break – exchange support, mingle, nosh
8:00 – 9:15 Presentation & discussion
9:15 – 9:30 Clean up, take the discussion to the 21st Amendment

BRING
-Desire to help others
-Healthy food and drink for the potluck
-Your real self, friends

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The History & Future of Money – SF July Meeting

Published on July 2, 2009 in Meetings+Events Calendar and San Francisco Events by Neal Gorenflo. 0 Comments

Money they say is the root of all evil. But does it have to be? We’ll explore this question in our July meeting with guest host Ken Lynch. Here’s what Ken told me about what he’ll share:

“If you were to redesign money, what would you do? Ken Lynch of SCCBank.com, a monetary innovation startup, will be presenting an short history of American money, and where this has brought us. We’ll talk about what’s happening at the international level, including IMF money, and what’s happening at the local level, including Carbon Coins, Ken’s concept currency.

The discussion will focus on what you think money should be based on, what values it should support, and what our options are with the future of money.”

I hope to see you there for our discussion with Ken.

MEETING
When: Thursday, July 16th, 6:30-9:30pm
Where: Citizen Space , 425 Second St., #100, San Francisco

AGENDA
6:30 – 7:00 Arrive – mingle, nosh
7:00 – 7:30 Member announcements lightening round: share your passions, needs & gifts quickly
7:30 – 8:00 Break – exchange support, mingle, nosh
8:00 – 9:15 Presentation & discussion
9:15 – 9:30 Clean up, take the discussion to the 21st Amendment

BRING
-Healthy food and drink for the potluck
-Yourself, friends

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SF June Meeting: Thriving in Chaos

Published on June 5, 2009 in Meetings+Events Calendar and San Francisco Events by Neal Gorenflo. 2 Comments Tags: , , , .

How to have fun, save money, and make a difference in a punk economy.

We live in uncertain times. “Civilization” seems to be falling apart. What to do?  Like always, nature has an answer.  Insects, mammals, birds, and fish often “swarm” to find food, built shelter, or evade predators.  We’re going to model nature for our June event by using the World Cafe format – a conversational swarm – to generate ideas about how to thrive in today’s crap storm.  Thriving in Chaos will focus our attention us on the possibility, freedom, and fun offered by the unwinding of the zombie economy.

Here’s what we’re going to do:

There will be one table for each of the evening’s topics:
- Table 1: Having fun in a down economy
- Table 2: Saving money
- Table 3: Making a difference

Continue reading ‘SF June Meeting: Thriving in Chaos’

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