Register Now: SoCon07 Unconference Site Up
Here it is: 2.0 Style Networking in 1.5 Days, at SoCon07 starting Friday night February 9, 2007, right here in my hometown of Marietta, Georgia and then working its way up to the Kennesaw State University campus on Saturday, February 10. I am helping host it, and we are calling it “the first social media mashup of the south!” Sign up now, it’s free but space is limited. 
Our keynote speaker is Christopher W. Klaus, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Kaneva, a virtual meeting place. I find it very interesting that Klaus, who started out making a name for himself in the internet security business, is now opening the flood gates to social networking. How big a name is Klaus? Well here is a headline in an October Atlanta Journal-Constitution story:
Chris Klaus built a company from scratch, then saw it sold to IBM last week for $1.3 billion
So one would assume he has some great information to share. Here is more:
Klaus, who founded Internet Security Systems while a student at Georgia Tech, is CEO and founder of Atlanta-based Kaneva, which aspires to build a virtual online world that combines features of online games and the popular MySpace community.
Why would Klaus bother with another start-up? He was already a rich man before the sale of ISS, and his stock was worth $95 million at the time of the sale. ISS’ success made him a legend in the Atlanta tech community, and he could spend his time dispensing advice or funding someone else’s labors.
Klaus, 33, says he started Kaneva to feed his passion for creating. “Believe it or not, I’ve never done this for money,” Klaus said. “I wanted to learn. To give you an idea, when I was starting ISS, one of my customers asked for an invoice. I said that would be fine but had to ask, ‘What is an invoice?’ ” …As Klaus sees things now, Kaneva will allow users to create virtual homes and businesses. The company will sell those users everything from a virtual dining table to a virtual restaurant that can operate in the online world. The gold needed to make those purchases can be earned online — or Klaus will be glad to sell it to them for real-world money.
As for the conference, Kennesaw State is just 18 miles from Atlanta. It starts Friday with a big dinner and great table talk in Marietta and then shifts into our free unconference on Saturday at Kennesaw. Plan to stay over night at the Marietta Conference Center and Resort. Here is the schedule. As you will see I am helping start the day with an introduction to open source, disruptive technologies and Web 2.0. But this is an unconference, which means that the audience collectively knows more than the speaker. Any how sign up now and spread the word.
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