Prosperity Talks: 2010-2011
Location
Ecotrust wants the Prosperity Talks to be the world’s leading online resource for people / profit / planet innovation. The talks are inspired by the TED talks (www.ted.com), but differ by focusing on content that helps a) green the planet, b) improve social welfare, and c) create more reliable prosperity.
About You
Section 1: About You
First Name
Seth
Last Name
Walker
Website
Organization
Ecotrust
Country
United States
Section 2: About Your Organization
Organization Name
Ecotrust
Organization Website
Organization Phone
503-227-6225
Organization Address
722 NW Ninth Ave, Portland, OR 97209
Organization Country
United States
Your idea
Name Your Project
Prosperity Talks: 2010-2011
What is your idea? What makes it innovative? Why is it important?
Ecotrust wants the Prosperity Talks to be the world’s leading online resource for people / profit / planet innovation. The talks are inspired by the TED talks (www.ted.com), but differ by focusing on content that helps a) green the planet, b) improve social welfare, and c) create more reliable prosperity.
Will you launch your idea as a business or non-profit?
Non-profit
Country your work focuses on
United States
What will be the impact of your idea?
Economic, social, and environmental crises are combining in ways never previously imagined. But there’s an opportunity to participate—to innovate, invest and inspire—in the wholesale redesign of our social and economic life. We have the opportunity to improve the way we fund and manage our most basic necessities: energy, water, food, forests, culture. In a struggling economy, entrepreneurs often stand up and say, “I have a better way.” The Prosperity Talks provide an inspiring and effective forum for those ideas to be heard around the globe. The free 18-minute-or-less Prosperity Talks web-based lectures are targeted at professors, students and changemakers of all types. The free online videos will serve countless thousands. We're inviting Joshua Cooper Ramo ("Age of the Unthinkable”) and Andrew Revkin (New York Times) to help kick-off the series. The goal here is to inspire, influence policy and business practice, and inform classrooms.
Who will help you develop your idea? Why are you the one to make this happen?
Ecotrust has a 20-year track record of inspiring fresh thinking that creates economic opportunity, social equity and environmental well-being. In 2009, in partnership with 50 socially-conscious organizations, we helped electrify Portland with two free-to-the-public sustainability lectures by Thomas Friedman and Andrew Revkin (the world’s best environment reporter), both of The New York Times. The events drew audiences of up to 2500; after their talks, each speaker met with hundreds of regional leaders in Q&A sessions to discuss finance, politics, and green innovation happening in the U.S. and around the world. The Prosperity Talks expand this experience to six cities and improve upon it by providing cutting-edge content free on the Web. We’re partnering with Mercy Corps, regional universities, regional business journal publications and regional nonprofits to produce each event. We want to create a network on the West Coast – already a hotbed of sustainable innovation – that inspires the world. We know this content is wanted: In 2009 we netted 3+ million media impressions with our people, profit, planet content. The Prosperity Talks will grow that impact exponentially.
How much will it cost to launch your idea? (This can be an estimate)
Each event will cost approximately $20,000 to produce and promote (this includes honorariums for speakers), which is what last year's lectures cost Ecotrust. We have extensive experience managing events such as this, as well as producing the Web and film content (we manage that in-house). The total for six events in six cities will likely be somewhere just north of $120,000 (including travel costs), and we’ll raise the rest of the money to cover any additional costs. No one else in the world is offering a free Web series with such a focus. The Prosperity Talks ask famous, internationally-recognized speakers to give "the talk of their lives" in 18 minutes or less, and all content will be broadcast free on the Web. We’re planning three West Coast events in 2010 (Portland, Seattle, San Francisco), and three in 2011 (LA, Vancouver, Anchorage). We believe that the time is now for the Prosperity Talks thanks to the confluence of several extraordinary factors: the economic crisis, the prioritization of green projects in recovery efforts, landmark federal and international climate discussions, the continued explosion of new media, the strength of green finance.
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