BIL Conference 2014 is a GO! Join us in Vancouver from March 21 to 23 to help kick off the community event in its inaugural Canadian edition.
Most of you have heard of TED or have watched the conference talks online, but perhaps you’ve not yet heard about BIL, the quirky, populist, unconference taking place this coming weekend. Open to the public and fully participant powered, BIL features a wild mix of technologists, scientists, artists, hackers, and those with a passion for community awareness.
“The curious always make their way over to our event from TED…”
Born out of a play on BIL and TED’s Excellent Adventure, this conference emerged in 2008, when a group of friends in Monterey, California decided to crash a TED event, looking to discuss change amongst the conference’s affluent crowd. That event sparked a desire to get their own conference going, and thus, BIL was born.
Since then, BIL has been held at UC Long Beach, the Mexican Heritage Museum, The Queen Mary, and at Long Beach’s oldest downtown building, a former Masonic Temple.
The conference aims to get folks together to share ideas, solve problems, and discover an international network of diverse, talented creative people in our city and beyond.
Two of the first BIL’ders are proud continue the tradition of hosting BIL across the street from this year’s 30th Annual TED Conference.
BIL (TED’s free-flowing cousin) is held in a similar format, however it’s not nearly as regimented (nor as expensive). In fact, the suggested donation is anywhere between $5 and $2,000, depending on how much you care to give.
If you didn’t attend TED, here’s your chance to participate in a similar fashion. Show up at Club 560 (8 am to 6 pm, Saturday and Sunday; talks begin at 10 am) and prepare to engage, or help set up the room. This is a hands-on experience, people!
For more information, visit the BIL Conference website. Follow BIL Conference on Twitter at @bilconf, with hashtag #bil2014.
