BIL is an unconference organized and observed by the participants. It was founded in 2007 [1] by Cody Marx Bailey, Todd Huffman, Bill Erickson and others who volunteered to help with the idea.
BIL started as an unaffiliated unconference satellite to TED’s structured ‘invite only’ paid conference. BIL is an open, self-organizing, emergent arts, science, society, and technology conference. Anyone can come, and anyone is able to sign-up to speak, limited only by space and time. [2] The unconference structure allows for egalitarian treatment of anyone in any role; everyone is encouraged to participate where they can, whether that's clean up, set up, getting coffee, listening, AV work, blogging the conference, registration, etc.
BIL's mission statement: "BIL is an open, self-organizing, emergent, arts, science, society, and technology unconference."[ citation needed ]
There is no permanent staff or location, no one that organizes or speaks is paid, and even the acronym changes to reflect the will of the participants. [3]
The name BIL was proposed as it was catchy, short, and unclaimed. It also humorously referenced the 1989 film Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure . [4]
The week of BIL 2008, the number of RSVPs had eclipsed the space limitations and the group was forced to announce that they were full. Subsequent BILs have been hosted in Long Beach, [5] Vancouver, [6] and San Francisco, timed with TED whenever they can. [7] BIL went on to have conferences worldwide - Afghanistan, India, England, France, Canada and Tunisia, to name a few. [8] There are also subject-focused variants such as BIL:PIL mirroring TEDMED, and JIL for women. [4]
After the first BIL, the TED organization contacted BIL leaders for advice on what later became their TEDx brand for individuals hosting their own versions of TED. They launched 3 months after the 2nd BIL. The core difference between TEDx and BIL is the amount of overhead and restrictions. TEDx requires that each applicant be thoroughly screened and already have conference experience; thus, TEDx is willing to exclude people. [9]
In politics, emergent democracy represents the rise of political structures and behaviors without central planning and by the action of many individual participants, especially when mediated by the Internet. It has been likened to the democratic system of ancient Greece in the sense that people could publicly participate as much or as little as they please, although a form of representation exists which is based on personal trust networks instead of party affiliations. More recently, American writer and researcher Clay Shirky has referred to this as "the power of organizing without organizations."
A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic.
TED Conferences, LLC is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". It was founded by Richard Saul Wurman and Harry Marks in February 1984 as a tech conference, in which Mickey Schulhof gave a demo of the compact disc that was invented in October 1982. It has been held annually since 1990. It covers almost all topics—from science to business to global issues—in more than 100 languages. As of June 2015, more than 13,000 TEDx events have been held in at least 150 countries.
BarCamp is an international network of user-generated conferences primarily focused around technology and the web. They are open, participatory workshop-events, the content of which is provided by participants. The first BarCamps focused on early-stage web applications, and were related to open source technologies, social software, and open data formats.
Open Space Technology (OST) is a method for organizing and running a meeting or multi-day conference, where participants have been invited in order to focus on a specific, important task or purpose.
An unconference is a participant-driven meeting. The term "unconference" has been applied, or self-applied, to a wide range of gatherings that try to avoid hierarchical aspects of a conventional conference, such as sponsored presentations and top-down organization.
Chris Anderson is a British-American businessman who is the head of TED, a non-profit organization that provides idea-based talks and hosts an annual conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Previously he founded Future Publishing.
Rafe Furst is an entrepreneur, impact investor, writer, producer and poker player. He is co-founder of Crowdfunder and advises many projects that involve technology and social entrepreneurship. Furst has spoken about transformation of early-stage finance at TED, and in 2006, he won a World Series of Poker Championship Bracelet. A 2011 book titled, Shake the World featuring Furst along with other business and non-profit leaders, described him as a "twenty-first century polymath."
Adora Svitak is an American writer, public speaker, former child prodigy, and activist. She did work for the Wikimedia Foundation as a communications associate.
A fishbowl conversation is a form of dialogue that can be used when discussing topics within large groups. Fishbowl conversations are sometimes also used in participatory events such as unconferences. The advantage of fishbowl is that it allows the entire group to participate in a conversation. Several people can join the discussion.
Indian Institute of Management Shillong is a public, fully autonomous management institute in the city of Shillong, Meghalaya. It was the seventh Indian Institute of Management to be established in India.
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure is a 1989 American science fiction comedy film directed by Stephen Herek and written by Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon. The first installment of the Bill & Ted franchise, it stars Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter and George Carlin. It follows Bill (Winter) and Ted (Reeves), who travel through time to assemble historical figures for their high school history presentation.
Rob Lilwall is a British-born adventurer, author and motivational keynote speaker. He currently lives in Singapore, and is one of the most popular and acclaimed professional speakers in Asia.
An EdCamp is a participant-driven conference – commonly referred to as an "unconference". EdCamps are designed to provide participant-driven professional development for K-12 educators. EdCamps are modeled after BarCamps, free participant-driven conferences with a primary focus on technology and computers. Educational technology is a common topic area for EdCamps, as are pedagogy, practical examples in instructional use of modern tools, and solving the problems technology can introduce into the classroom environment.
TEDxYouth@Doha is an independently organized TED conference which is localized to the youth in Qatar. The event is held annually in the month of November to commemorate United Nations Universal Children's Day. Youngsters across the nation aging from 15 - 18 are recruited as speakers in the event. TEDxYouth events are independently organized by schools and colleges across Doha and are run and hosted by the youth.
John Werner is the founder of Ideas in Action, Inc. (IIA) and Managing Director at Link Ventures and Chief Network Officer, SVP of Corporate Development at Cogo Labs in Cambridge Ma. Prior he was a Vice President at an augmented reality company. He is also founding Managing Director for MIT Media Lab's Emerging Worlds Special Interest Group (SIG), and former Head of Innovation and New Ventures for the Camera Culture Group at the MIT Media Lab for Ramesh Raskar, director of the Camera Culture Group at MIT Media Lab. He is one of the founding members of the non-profit organization Citizen Schools and the curator of TEDxBeaconStreet, and TEDxMIT with Daniela Rus - both independent event licensed by TED as part of TEDx. He started first ever AR-in-Action Augmented Reality Conference "ARIA" at MIT Media Lab in January 2017 and Blockchain+AI+Human = Magic Summit, now called Imagination in Action at MIT and Davos which he curates with Professor Sandy Pentland.
Todd Huffman is an American technology entrepreneur and prolific photographer. He is a co-founder of the biomedical imaging company, 3Scan.
'TED is a nonprofit devoted to the philosophy of 'ideas worth spreading' through short, powerful talks that began in 1984, including topics related to 'Technology, Entertainment and Design'. TED talks now cover a wider range of ideas, from "science to business to global issues"
Pot Planet: Adventures in Global Marijuana Culture is a 2002 nonfiction book about cannabis, cannabis tourism, and drug policy by Canadian author Brian Preston.