(Update (10/2/08): Thanks to swissmiss for pointing out that “hate” is a strong word, so I’ve changed it to “dislike”)

As I’m putting together and curating The Feast Conference, I’ve started to generate some new ideas to make the entire conference experience unique and different.  As someone that goes to a lot of conferences, I have developed a personal list of things I would like to see that I’m incorporating..

1)  No panel discussions.  I haven’t been to any panel discussions that added any value, were informative or useful.  It’s just a bunch of people having a big ego-fest or one guy dominating all of the speaking to prove that he is the smartest one in the room.

2)  18-minute presentations.  All speakers at The Feast will stick to a strict 18-minute presentation (TED-style) to make sure that they present concise, short, and inspirational presentations/talks.  I read somewhere that the average attention span for a person ranges around the 10-minute mark.  We’ve decided that 18-minutes would be a good time frame, and would also prevent speakers from digressing on a tangent.

3)  Breaks between each speaker. We’ll be adding some type of multimedia experience between each speaker.  Kind of like eating ginger between each sushi roll.  We’ll be playing music videos, short 3-5 minute films to switch things up.

4)  Young Stunner Speakers. We’ve brought in young speakers who will wow the crowd with their valuable insights and passion.  There’s so much to learn from this group!

5)  Extra long breaks. I have an extreme case of ADD so I get restless when I have to sit for a long time.  We’re giving a 30-minute break every 1.5 hours to give people to relax, network, and eat!

6)  Networking opportunities. We’re sending personal emails to introduce people to each other BEFORE the conference.  This gives them the ability to have at least one person to approach and talk to when they come to The Feast.  We have a bunch of other networking ideas but we’ll keep those secret as we can’t reveal all of them.

7)  Healthy organic food. We’ll be providing organic, natural, and healthy food that should energize people and not make them suffer from “food coma” which happens at most conferences.  We’re not counting corners as all of our food will be locally sourced.  Mmmmm delicious…

8)  Legendary After Party. I mean, who doesn’t like to party?

9)  Great Speakers. Unlike most conferences, we’ve spent a lot of time curating a great speaker lineup to ensure high quality, mind-blowing speeches.

So, I guess that leads to my next question.  What else can I do to ensure a great experience at The Feast?  Even if we can’t incorporate it into the conference this year, it’s something we can add to The Feast 2009.

1. What are some things you’ve liked about conferences?
2. What are some thing frustrate you?
3. What are some thing you’d like to see?
4. What would make The Feast crazy awesome?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

The idea for The Feast came from a couple of places. Being based in New York, we’ve noticed a strong creative and social community without an outlet to spark innovation and connect with other likeminded innovators. Couple that with most conferences being lame (i.e. panels where the speakers brag about themselves) and the ridiculously high prices that conferences like TED and Pop!Tech were charging; we decided to bring something unique, creative, and affordable to the NYC community.  Hopefully, it’ll be a unique, inspiring, and extraordinary experience for everyone!

The New Orleans 100:
A look at The Good That’s Happened Since Katrina.

Millions of voices will unite to speak out about positive change in New Orleans during the week of August 25th – the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.  The “New Orleans 100″ project, sponsored by alldaybuffet, will highlight and encourage discussion among millions about 100 of the most innovative and world-changing ideas to take root in the city since Katrina.

“After hearing so many of the positive changes and innovative projects post-Katrina, we’ve decided enough is enough,” said Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Co-Founder of alldaybuffet.  “It’s time to put an end to the negative press in mainstream media.  We know that the levees broke.  We know that our city is dysfunctional.  We know that.  But do you know about Prospect.1?  Or about the influx of young professionals into New Orleans?  The world needs to know about the NEW New Orleans.”

To combat top down media, the project will leverage bottom up tools on the social web (email, blogs, twitter, facebook, digg, etc.), which can reach a combined audience of millions to raise awareness about New Orleans and inspire action to make a difference.

“The New Orleans 100″ features projects like Prospect.1, the largest biennial of international contemporary art ever organized in the United States, and NOLA YURP, an organization that offers a support and resource network to connect, retain, and attract young professionals from diverse backgrounds for a sustainable New Orleans.  The list will highlight 100 of the most inspiring people, organizations, and projects that define the rebirth of New Orleans.

Alldaybuffet will release the list on Monday, August 25th and calls on everyone on the social web to participate.  Help them by writing about the list on your blog, reposting it, emailing it, digging it, stumbling it, etc.  Everyone can make a difference.  All it takes is a click!

To view the list and find out more information, please visit http://www.alldaybuffet.org/neworleans100

• Move to NYC
• Quit drinking for 30 days (working on it)
• Quit smoking (almost there)
• Have better posture
• Cut meat out of my diet
• Full cleanse
• Work at a startup
• Run a half-marathon
• Grow alldaybuffet into a real company
• Throw a conference on Social Innovation (The Feast – planning it now)
• Meet a new person a week
• Live in NYC and NOLA
• Learn CSS and Rails (working on it)
• Increase my overall happiness
• Launch my own startup
• Do something really crazy (TBD)
• Create a documentary
• Open up a bar
• Have a lifestyle that allows me to work for 9 months and travel for 3 months EVERY YEAR.
• Travel for 3 months with no predetermined destination
• Read a new book a month (business related)
• Be worth over $1M
• Change the World
• Figure out what to do with my life
• Buy a condo in New Orleans
• Get organized and productive
• Be more confident in everything that I do
• Work/Life balance
• Meet more interesting people
• Produce a music festival
• Do something so revolutionary and innovative that it gets picked up in Fast Company, Inc., Good Magazine, etc.

OK, maybe some of those won’t happen in 2008 but maybe in the next 4 years…

While reading through the latest issue of Fast Company, I came across a great article about Ning.com. The intro paragraph reads, “it isn’t just a site where users can build their own social networks — Ning is a model of how to create a perpetual growth machine.” It’s true. Ning has a smart business model. Let other people create their own niche social networks and invite their friends.  This has put Ning in a great place to monetize it. Imagine if you are trying to target mothers in Kansas City that knit as a hobby. I’m sure you can find them on Ning. But even more importantly, the article talks about a concept called “Viral Expansion Loops” which I find both interesting and fascinating..

Here’s something you probably don’t know about the Internet: Simply by designing your product the right way, you can build a billion-dollar business from scratch. No advertising or marketing budget, no need for a sales force, and venture capitalists will kill for the chance to throw money at you.

The secret is what’s called a “viral expansion loop,” a concept little known outside of Silicon Valley (go ahead, Google it — you won’t find much). It’s a type of engineering alchemy that, done right, almost guarantees a self-replicating, borglike growth: One user becomes two, then four, eight, to a million and beyond. It’s not unlike taking a penny and doubling it daily for 30 days. By the end of a week, you’d have 64 cents; within two weeks, $81.92; by day 30, about $5.4 million.

When your currency is ideas, people become emotionally attached,” Ning’s Bianchini says. “Then you become a public utility like Blogger, YouTube, or Facebook.

Now, I like this for a couple of reasons. It goes back to a couple of beliefs that I have regarding branding. If you build the product around utility and experience for people (and not for profit), they will tell their friends about it. It’s really that simple. If it’s really cool and helps make my life easier, I’ll use it and advocate to all my friends about it.

Noah, over at okdork.com, created a pretty simple equation to determine viral loops.

General Viral Formula
X * Y = virality level / viral coefficient

10 people join your site *
15 invites per person sent *
10% of those people convert to new users =
15 new users to the site

15 new users / 10 original = 1.5 viral coefficient / virality level

Things you can do to make viral:

improve x: figure out a way to get them to send more invites. Or return more times to be able to invite more often.
increase y: work on ways the recipient is more likely to accept an invite.

So, it got me to thinking, what are some ways to improve x and increase y?

Improve X
Why would someone send out invites to their friends? What are the factors?
- Utility, experience, network effect (“I sign up because all my friends are on it”), etc.

What are some mechanisms that a website can place to facilitate this?
- Clear explanation of benefits, simplicity in use, build the product with “viral hooks”

Increase Y
What would make someone accept an invite?
- Trust the person it’s sent from, they understand what the invite is for, etc.

What are some mechanisms to increase invite acceptions?
- Explanation of what they are signing up for in emails, a customizable page explaining benefits when they click on a link in the email,

Any thoughts out there? I would really love to dig deeper on this topic.

The city of New Orleans is looking for the crazy ones. “The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo.” Four local entrepreneurs created “Startup New Orleans” to attract more entrepreneurs. Due to the “clean slate” offered post-Katrina, New Orleans is going through a massive rebuilding process centered around innovation and fueled by entrepreneurs. This is evident in the movement that is currently going on.

According to Sean Cummings, a local developer and co-founder of Start Up New Orleans, “New Orleans has always been a beacon for people with imagination, daring, and alternative approaches to solving problems. Our mission is to attract these types of people to New Orleans, and provide them with the information and resources they need to start their businesses here.”

“Silicon Valley became the nerve center for technology in the U.S. because of the investment businesses in the region made in attracting and retaining technology people,” said Nic Perkin, also a co-founder of Start Up New Orleans and president of the New Orleans Exchange, a new technology start-up. “The same can be said for New York City with financial people. What we’re doing here in New Orleans is making this the city of choice for entrepreneurs. If you’re smart, motivated and have a track record of success, we want you here.”

Check out the website at startupneworleans.com. Some of our favorite blocks include NOCCA, NOLAYURP and Trumpet. And, oh yeah, alldaybuffet! Read more about the initiative here.

- cross posted at alldaybuffet.org -