Tomorrow I’ll be joining a range of social innovators and technological cats at the 2009 Making Links conference to discuss the challenges of the global financial crisis and environmental sustainability through practical workshops, panels, oral presentations and networking opportunities.

It’s a fantastic opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals in an interactive space to both learn new skills and focus on how we can work together to minimise the risks of climate change. There will be a number of really interesting presentations over the course of the event, including a workshop by Enda Murray from Virus Media, who’ll be talking about the politics and sustainability of participatory media with young people.

I’ll be facilitating a workshop on ‘building communities around Community and encouraging local citizenship to increase sustainability’, specifically highlighting the thinking behind the live local project and it’s effectiveness in reaching an audience and promoting sustainability without an overt call to arms. I’ll also talk about some of the methods that Digital Eskimo have employed in the social media space to connect with and support this emerging community. My workshop forms part of the Community Building and Social Media stream, which will feature various case-studies on how organisations are using web 2.0 to engage, connect and empower their clients and communities.

As the event is based in Melbourne, I decided to instigate our new ‘no-flight’ company policy and catch the overnight express train from Sydney last Friday. Travelling by rail was a much more eco-friendly option and also remarkably comfortable! For a play-by-play account of my journey, be sure to check out my website. I’ll be writing this up as an experiment in slow/low carbon travel soon after I return.

Related posts:

1. Making Links …