Beyond 2020 is a sustainability unconference.
The next Beyond 2020 will take place on May 6th, 5-8 pm, at KEEN, 926 NW 13th Ave. #210. Details coming soon. Stay up to date with updates: subscribe to the RSS feed.
What is an unconference?
Every unconference has a theme, but all the actual content is participant-driven: YOU decide what the event is going to be about and YOU decide what sessions will be held. There is no agenda until YOU make one!
At Beyond 2020, all participants gather at the opening agenda-setting session. Those who wish to facilitate an unconference session come forward and post their session on a blank grid, in their preferred time slot and location.
Once the unconference agenda is set, participants disperse to sessions according to their interests. After the sessions, everyone gathers again to debrief and pledge follow up actions.
Beyond 2020 timeline
Past Beyond 2020 Sustainability Unconferences followed this timeline.
- 5:00-5:20 – Unnetworking, food/beverages
- 5:20-5:50 – Opening, agenda setting
- 5:50-6:40 – Round 1 of sessions
- 6:40-6:50 – Break and transition
- 6:50-7:40 – Round 2 of sessions
- 7:40-8:00 – Debrief and unnetworking
We will likely move the time to 4-7 PM. Stay tuned for updates or subscribe to our RSS feed.
Beyond 2020 location
The first two Beyond 2020 Sustainability Unconferences took place at the Olympic Mills Commerce Center, in Portland, Oregon, courtesy of Beam Development. We are currently searching for another venue for future unconferences. Stay tuned for updates or subscribe to our RSS feed.
Why Beyond 2020?
Beyond 2020 is a brainchild of Peter Korchnak and Renee Spears, both sustainable business owners in Portland, Oregon, who wanted something different from the city’s multitude of sustainability-related networking and conference events
- to learn from and interact with other business people,
- to build a stronger sustainability community out of the many sector- or initiative-specific ones,
- to bridge conversation and action by discussing what sustainable businesses can do and then do it, and
- to enjoy themselves while at it.
Beyond 2020 aims to look beyond the year 2020, which, in 2009, figures prominently in discussions and targets around sustainability in general and climate change in particular. We believe we must look sharply beyond the short term horizon, and take sustainable action now. We believe businesses must play an active role in meeting the human kind’s needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs.
Beyond 2020 will, we hope, be a model business communities around the nation and the world can adopt to discuss and implement sustainability now. Email Peter if you’d like to start Beyond 2020 in your community; a short manual will be available on this website in early 2010.
The next one
Beyond 2020 Sustainability Unconference #3 will take place in April 2010. Date, location, and theme coming soon. Stay tuned for updates or subscribe to our RSS feed.
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[...] 2 of Beyond 2020 is titled, “Growing the Choir: Engaging Business Leaders in Sustainability.” This [...]
By: Growing the Choir: Engaging Business Leaders in Sustainability | The River PDX: A Mixed-Use Real Estate Site on February 22, 2010
at 7:18 PM