2010’s Must Attends

A look at our favorite conferences for the spring and summer seasons.

Despite winter’s continued icy grip, conferences are blooming. Over the next few months you can fill up on media tactics, mobile tech trends, social innovation strategies, and more. There isn’t an open weekend until August. Here are our must-attend, most-tweetable events for the spring and summer seasons. We’ll see you at a few.
 

O’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing    
Feb. 22–24, New York City
http://www.toccon.com/toc2010
As you may have heard, the publishing industry needs an innovative revamp. This conference provides insights on emerging trends around digital publishing, including the mobile Web, ebooks, digital printing, and evolving business models for paid content —basically all the tools needed to survive the future of publishing and thrive in the world of digital content.  Publishing is dead! Long live publishing!

Social Enterprise Conference
February 27-28, Cambridge, Massachusetts
http://socialenterpriseconference.org
The Social Enterprise Conference is one of the world’s leading forums to engage in dialogue, debate, and expression around socially impactful initiatives with leaders from across the world.

South by Southwest Interactive
March 12–16, Austin, Texas
http://sxsw.com/interactive
SXSW Interactive is where counterculture meets geek techies for five days of presentations from the brightest minds in emerging technology, design, and digital media. Not only does this conference debut new Web sites, video games, and social networks like Twitter, word on the street is they have an epic opening party thrown by, ahem, frog design.

MIX10 
March 15–17, Las Vegas 
http://live.visitmix.com
Now in its fifth year, Microsoft’s MIX conference is a gathering of designers and developers who are building the world’s most innovative Web sites.

EComm 2010
April 19-21, San Francisco
http://america.eComm.ec
An all-in-one (Telecom, Mobile, and Internet Communications) forum focused on innovation where presenters are constantly answering the question, “What's next?”  Since the mammoth telecom industry is ever changing, attending this conference allows you to join the community that will restructure how humanity connects, communicates, and collaborates.

The Next Web Conference
April 27-29, Amsterdam
http://thenextweb.com/conference
You think you know the Web, but this conference proves you have no idea. This mashup of internet pioneers and start up techies provides an inspiring and international perspective on the future of the internet. This year’s conference will focus on the future of business.

LIFT10
May 5-7, Geneva
http://www.liftconference.com
Lift10 will explore the most overlooked aspect of innovation: people. A decade after the rebirth of user-centered design and innovation, the conference will  examine the myths and uncover the reality behind "connected people.”

next Conference 2010
May 11-12, Berlin
http://www.next-conference.com/next10
The theme for this year's next Conference in Berlin is "Game Changers." Speakers and attendees will explore the trends media, technology, and advertising in the European Web industry.

PINC conference
May 11-18, Amsterdam
http://www.pinc.nl

The acronym stands for People, Ideas, Nature, and Creativity. The eclectic program aims to recharge the brain’s batteries with “[a]n inspiring cascade of new ideas, great stories, and impressive visual presentations.”

Fire Conference
May-14, Palos Verdes, California
www.futureinreview.com/index.php
Hosted by Mark Anderson, founder and publisher of the Strategic News Service, the Fire Conference exposes participants to new ideas on the future of technology, including nanotechnology, space travel, biology, and medical diagnostics.

Frontiers of Interaction
July 4, Rome
http://frontiers.idearium.org/2010
Frontiers of Interaction explores themes around interaction design. The format is unusual: an immersive experience featuring music, interactive and artistic installations, demo sites, and keynotes, making it a great venue for doers and thinkers, academics and innovators, early adopters and long-term geeks.

Aspen Ideas Festival
July 5-11, 2010, Aspen, Colorado
http://www.aifestival.org/festivals.php?year=2010&sid=overview
Henry James said, “Ideas are, in truth, force,” so in its sixth year the Aspen Ideas Festival is a conversation-packed exploration of some of the most important ideas about the world’s most pressing issues. The Festival highlights the ideas of experts at the forefront of their fields and of leaders whose actions are currently making a difference.

TEDGlobal
July 12-16, 2010, Oxford, UK
http://conferences.ted.com/TEDGlobal2010
This year’s theme of TED Long Beach’s twin conference is “And Now the Good News.” frog will be a sponsor again in Oxford, UK. Like last year, frog will produce the official TEDGlobal program guide and a special edition of the design mind magazine, fully devoted to the conference theme, which this year will be “And Now the Good News.”