DCWEEK Announces Speaker Lineup

Jen Consalvo Oct 10, 2011 Tweet

If you peek at the DCWEEK website, you’ll see very clearly that there are only 24 days until the start of the festival. While the thought of less than 4 weeks to go is enough to make my head spin (Tech Cocktail is the co-producer, along with iStrategy Labs), it should get you excited about the idea of coming to DC for such an amazing event. And the time to get your badge and book your trip is now.

In case you haven’t heard, DCWEEK is a festival, similar to Internet Week NY, that focuses on the “digitally creative and the socially innovative” with events throughout the week. The events range from community- organized meetups and games to festival-organized conferences and parties – there are already almost 7,000 people registered for the festival so far.

While there are many events we will be telling you about, first we want to focus on the people. We’ll have well over 100 people speaking throughout DCWEEK – here are a just few we wanted to highlight. Look for more surprises to be announced soon.

Mike Jones

Mike Jones, Opening Keynotes, Wednesday, Nov 9th at Warner Theater (RSVP NOW): Serial entrepreneur, Mike Jones has founded and sold numerous businesses, including web development firm PBJ Digital and application platform Userplane, which he led from startup to its acquisition by AOL. Mike also serves as an advisor to private startups and currently sits on the boards of Docstoc, GumGum, MoVoxx, People Media, Tsavo Media and FreeConference. A recognized industry leader, Mike was most recently the CEO of MySpace.

Frank Warren

Frank Warren, Opening Keynotes, Wednesday, Nov 9th at Warner Theater (RSVP NOW): Author Frank Warren is the creator of the blog phenomenon The PostSecret Project, a collection of highly personal and artfully decorated postcards mailed anonymously from around the world, displaying the soulful secrets we never voice. The website for PostSecret is one of the most popular on the web, has been featured prominently in the media, has received 450 million hits and was named Weblog of the Year at the Seventh Annual Weblog Awards. The PostSecret App hit #1 on iTunes immediately after its September release.

Amanda Rose

Amanda Rose, Core Conference, Thursday, November 10th at Artisphere (Get Your Conference Badge) - Founder of Twestival and Space-2, Rose is now advising technology startups and those with a social good focus to keep her energized. She is passionate about developing unique digital and creative strategies for brands and organizations looking to take the next step. Amanda is currently in development on an exciting new project to be announced in early 2012.

More speakers at DCWEEK’s Core Conference, November 10th at Artisphere:

Alex Howard – Gov2.0 DC Correspondent, @OReillyMedia. Session: Responsibility in Media in a Global Age

Andreas Weigend – Previously Chief Scientist of Amazon.com, lectures at Stanford, focuses on social and mobile technologies and in consumer behavior studying people and the data they create. Session: Inclusive Design through Data Sponsored by Brighter Planet

Andrew Warner – Mixergy.com, a project where proven entrepreneurs teach others how they built their businesses. Session: Closing Keynote Interview for New Ventures track

Anthony De Rosa – Reuters social media editor, integrating the “ambient wire” that exists on social networks, where news now breaks before anywhere else, into Reuters platforms. Session: Responsibility in Media in a Global Age

Caroline McCarthy - Writer and editor who worked as a journalist for five years covering technology for CNET.com, writing the column “The Social” and appearing as a commentator on MSNBC’s “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” NBC’s “Today,” CBS’ “The Early Show,” and her personal favorite, G4′s “Attack of the Show.” Session: Responsibility in Media in a Global Age

Cheryl Yeoh - Co-founder, CityPockets, a daily deal wallet that help users keep track of all their deal purchases in one spot and sell vouchers they can’t use in a secondary deals marketplace. Session: Mobile Apps: From Smartphones to Tablets and Beyond (designing for mobile audiences)

Charlie O’Donnell – Principal at First Round Capital, working on very early stage investments in the New York City area. Session: The Funding Panel

David Shing - AOL’s Digital Prophet, working across both North American and international territories to identify new opportunities for the business and assist in building the external profile of the company across the globe. Session: Future Media Trends Keynote

Geoff Livingston - Co-founder of Zoetica, whose new book, “Welcome to the Fifth Estate,” was released in May, 2011. Session: Startups for Good

Jayna Wallace - Principal UX Designer at Blockbuster’s Digital Design Team, Jayna is an Hybrid UX / Visual Designer with 11+ years experience in interactive media, specializing in the design of consumer-facing web applications. Session: Solution Oriented Visual Design

Jeffrey Kalmikoff - VP of Product for SimpleGeo, which provides building tools for developers to easily integrate location features into their apps. Session: Design: Creative Direction

Michael Galpert – aka MSG, Co-founder of Aviary, a suite of creative apps, advisory board for Web 2.0 Expo New York, mentor for TechStars NYC. Session: Solution Oriented Visual Design

Maya Baratz – Head of New Products, The Wall Street Journal. Previously at MTV and Flickr. Session: Media in a Digital World

Mike Macadaan – UrbanDig, User Experience professional, advisor and entrepreneur located in Los Angeles. Session: Design: Creative Direction

Natalia Oberti Noguera - Founder and CEO of the Pipeline Fellowship, which trains women philanthropists to become angel investors through education, mentoring, and practice. Session: The Funding Panel

Nick O’Neill – Serial internet entrepreneur, an avid blogger, a full-time tinkerer and currently the co-founder of Holler.com. Session: Mobile Apps: From Smartphones to Tablets and Beyond (designing for mobile audiences)

Olivia Khalili – Founder of CauseCapitalism.com, a resource to help entrepreneurs create purpose driven businesses. Session: Incorporating Social Good Into Your Mission

Pamela Castillo – Director of Product at Fashism, an online community for fashion and shopping advice, where she oversees their web and mobile products, designing solutions that will drive the company’s business goals as well as delight their users. Session: Solution Oriented Visual Design

Rachel Sklar – Founding editor of Mediaite.com, former media editor of the Huffington Post, Founder of Change The Ratio, which promotes visibility, access and opportunity for women in new media and tech, and also Founder at Charitini.com, which promotes social microgiving. Session: Responsibility in Media in a Global Age

Sloane Berrent - Vice President of Digital Marketing for Lippe Taylor and its sister agency ShopPR, both communications and public relations agencies in New York. Session: Incorporating Social Good Into Your Mission

Sol Lipman - Co-Founder of 12seconds.tv, Rally Up and Mobile Evangelist at AOL. Session: Incorporating Social Good Into Your Mission

Tereza Nemessanyi – CEO and Co-founder of Honestly Now, the Q&A social game that helps us make the best personal decisions. Session: Strategy: Social Good & Marketing

Tariq Khokhar – Open Data Evangelist at the World Bank, looking at where technology, transparency, poverty and data meet. Session: Inclusive Design through Data Sponsored by Brighter Planet

There are so many speakers and events, that we’ll follow up with another post listing more sessions you won’t want to miss. In the meantime, here are some of the events you should RSVP or mark your calendar for right away.

Opening Party, Friday, Nov 4th, 9:30 Club (Gold, Silver or Patron Badge, or a la carte ticket required)
Opening Keynotes, Wednesday, Nov 9th at Warner Theater (free but must RSVP)
Give2theMax, Wednesday, November 9, a one-day fundraising event that will unite local Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC communities to support nonprofits serving the area.
Core Conference, Thursday, Nov 10th at Artisphere (Gold, Conference or Patron Badge required)
Tech Cocktail DC, Thursday, Nov 10th, last one of the year! (Gold, Silver or Patron Badge, or a la carte ticket required)
Startups! Apply now to demo at Tech Cocktail
Workshops & Goodness: Friday, Nov 11th at Artisphere (free, will have RSVP form soon)
The Pièce de résistance: DCWEEK Closing Party, Friday, Nov 11th at Arena Stage!! (Gold, Silver or Patron Badge, or a la carte ticket required)