Communicopia

With Web of Change only a few weeks away, we're very excited to be hosting the largest and best organized conference yet.

I founded the conference 7 years ago, on the advice and guidance of my mentor Joel Solomon at Renewal Partners, who is also the board chair of Hollyhock, where Web of Change takes place. At the time Joel suggested I start a conference in the rainforest that connected leaders in social change and technology, I said "cool, but I only know 3 of them". That year, 28 folks made their way to Cortes Island (10 days after Sept 11 no doubt) for a mind-blowing experience and we've been gaining momentum and changing people's lives ever since.

Many people are worrried, and I think rightly so, about the impending housing market slowdown. Some of our largest clients are green developers who have an 8 - 14 year business plan for their properties, so it's an issue we pay close attention to as well.

It was fun to spend the day at our Toronto office again, which is at the Centre for Social Innovation at 215 Spadina St. It’s a beautiful scene, in a vibrant, diverse and hip part of town – steps away from Chinatown, Kensington Market, and Queen St West. The building itself is very cool, with a “living wall” of plants cleaning the air and welcoming you into the lobby, a roof top deck, and one of Toronto’s only green roofs. Very livable.