We're exactly seven days away from our next worldwide Social Media Week event and I wanted to take this opportunity to reach out to thank you for your support.
You are among a worldwide community of 100,000 industry leaders and practitioners who have worked so hard to make SMW a reality over these past few years. Together with our global partner Nokia, our Global Media Partners The FT and The Next Web, our Local City Organizers (LCO's), hundreds of advisory board members, event partners and sponsors and thousands of volunteers, SMW12 will be the largest event we've ever produced.
All of this collaboration has resulted in 1,000 events which will take place over five days in 14 cities around the world, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Vancouver, Bogotá, Sáo Paulo, London, Berlin, Barcelona, Torino, Glasgow, Jeddah, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Seoul.
Navigating the Global Program
With this number of events to choose from, navigating the program cansometimes prove challenging, so last week I spent some time reviewing all the events and pulled out the ones that most reflected our global theme of Empowering Change through Collaboration and that offered the greatest amount of depth and diversity. I strongly suggest reviewing the whole schedule of events, but check out My Curated List of the Most Interesting SMW Events Happening Around the World for a selection and also take a look at curated lists by our Global Curator Don Tapscott and by our board members and partners on Social Impact, Food, Photography, Sports, Mobile, Crowdsourcing, Jobs & Jobs Seeking and D-I-Y.
Announcing Global Keynotes
Today, we also published the list of Global Keynotes who will be providing inspiration in multiple cities around the world. Speakers include Caroline Drucker, Head, Germany, Etsy.com; Alex Balfour of London Organizing Committee of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games; Troy Carter, Founder & CEO, Atom Factory and Lady Gaga's manager; and John Tolva, CTO, City of Chicago.
How to Follow SMW12
Finally, we've worked hard together with our global partner Nokia to bring SMW12 to as many people as possible around the world. If you are unable to attend in person, you can watch more than 250 livestreamed events, follow the hashtag #SMW12 for real-time updates and download our Official Mobile App on Windows, iOS, Android, Symbian and Meego for access while on the move.
Thanks again to everyone who has worked with us this year to bring SMW12 to hundreds of thousands of people around the world. In a short time we've become one of the world's most connected and collaborative conferences, and it’s your participation that inspires us to always take the Social Media Week experience to the next level.
Please don't hesitate to reply to me with questions regarding SMW or suggestions for how we can improve things for you in the future.
We look forward to seeing you next week and making SMW12 not just our largest but our best event yet.
Sincerely,
Toby Daniels
toby daniels founder & executive director