(posted on behalf of Asha John)
What can I say about the Net Impact conference…It was everything I imagined and more. I knew before I even went to Net Impact that I would be extremely intrigued by the subject matter because I spent lots of time looking at the schedule of events. The topics included Microfinance, Fair Trade, Green Investing, Ending Poverty in Africa, volunteering abroad, the future of Wind Power and many more. The most challenging time of the conference was deciding which session to attend.
There were two speakers that truly inspired me – Darell Hammond and Vail Horton. Darell is the Founder and CEO of KaBoom! From the age of 4, he was raised in a group home. His positive experiences playing at the playground pushed him to devote his life to building playgrounds all around the U.S. Vail Horton is the CEO of Keen Mobility, a company that is devoted to various products made for elderly, injured or disabled individuals. His story brought tears to my eyes. He was born without legs and his parents gave him up because they could not handle the responsibilities that came with raising a boy with no legs. His adopted mother encouraged him to look beyond his disability. Instead of feeling
sorry for himself, he pushed himself to excel in life. He is now happily married with beautiful kids and a very successful business that he started. For someone who was born without legs, he has accomplished more than most people I have encountered. It was quite inspirational!
If you want to hear them, go to this site and start at 23:00 http://vimeo.com/31578354
If you want to hear any of the other conference main speakers, here is the link: http://vimeo.com/channels/netimpactconference/
One misconception of Net Impact is that it is only geared for people interested in Sustainability. This is definitely not true! The range of topics is quite broad, so most people could find at least one or two topic sessions that they would find of interest. I personally think that everyone should attend at least one Net Impact conference because the future of the people and the planet require efforts of everyone.
-Asha-
