In our last post, we talked about how we were taking a new approach to mesh by embracing a new format that puts the spotlight on thought-provocative speakers from a wide variety of sectors.
We’re still covering the media, business, marketing and society sectors but the format is not as structured as in the past. Instead, it’s more free-flowing, offers more variety and lets us program speakers rather than sessions.
In some ways, it has been an interesting experiment after six years of running mesh in a particular way. And there is no doubt it has provided us with a refreshing recalibration.
With the schedule now nearly complete, we’re really excited about the line-up for mesh, which happens May 23 and 24 at the Allstream Centre.
The speakers include Clay Johnson, Rebecca MacKinnon, David, Winer, David Weinberger, Andy Carvin, Alexandra Samuel, Michael Geist, Zane Caplansky, Ivy Knight, Bruno Morency, Brian Halligan, Robin Goldberg and Jon Lax.
The topics we’re covering include food, books, education, email, design, politics, the information overload, health, marketing, big data, content marketing and social media. So, there’s lot of variety and something for everyone. At the same time, we’re hoping people will explore new areas to open their horizons and spark new ideas and thoughts.
You’ll also notice the schedule has a new format. Rather than the traditional keynotes, panels and workshops, we’ve embraced a new format in which we have lots of keynotes – some of them are 50 minutes, some are 30 minutes and some 20 minutes – and most of them are happening during a single track of programming.
Finally, we’ve got back to our roots with a round-table workshop on startups. When we started mesh in 2006, Toronto’s start-up community was just starting to gain momentum, and we were able to put the spotlight on some of the key players and interesting companies. As mesh evolved, we strayed away from start-ups but it has always been a key part of how we work and live so it feels good to get back to supporting the startup world.
We hope you’ll join us at mesh. Early-bird tickets are now on sale for $579, and student tickets can be purchased for $99.