topic ideas

I want to learn about action, and making dreams and high ideals turn real. Not just as individuals, but as groups, communities, and peoples.

I'd like to learn more about getting into local rock climbing.

Culinary topics are fun -- I would love an introduction to Indian cooking (or something similar that people are unlikely to know).

I'm always a sucker for talks on interesting mapping techniques (w/historical examples), neuroscience (I'd love to hear someone from the Allen Institute for the Brain, give a talk), and stories of people tackling problems with really unique and novel approaches.

I'd love to hear about people/groups/organizations that have ported the open-source model to areas other than software.

I am interested in technical conversations about collaborative software tools. Technologies like EC2, google-app engine, json, jquery and how they are being used. I am interested in startups and finding people who want to engage in startups.

I'm been knocking around an #amazonfail talk idea for a few weeks, so look for that.

I would like to learn more about SEO lifts and legality of using brand names in meta data.

Would like to hear about visualization of complex data. Specifically information or concepts around determining worth or value of peers on one network vs another.

In terms of talks I can give, I've been kicking around the idea of putting together a talk on web security for non-developers (aka, how the bad guys hose you and what you can do about it).

If there's interest, I can also pull some slides on web security for web developers (I do this sort of training in my day job).

I'm not sure how interesting the topics are to other people, though.

For those of us prepping talks, what's that target format? 30 minutes? Slides?

I'd like to chat with fellow personal productivity practitioners, procrastination fighters & people interested in getting more from their life.

Excluding technology? I'll second Don's suggestion of culinary topics. I'd like to know more about being a kitchen hacker - making my own sauces,condiments,dressings, and learning how to swap out ingredients are all things I'm interested in.

Good job guys! You've proposed some interesting things. keep it up!

I'm looking forward to tech talks (especially if there is any local geo+Django hacking), but I'd also like to talk with people about the proper care and feeding of the fourth estate (journalism). We're losing a piece of our intelligence infrastructure and it's a good idea to consider what will grow into the void it has vacated.

I have a love/hate relationship with how social media analytics and BI are evolving. I would love to lead a discussion on how they can be used for good and evil. I'm especially interested in how this will apply to social software on the enterprise.

I'm putting together a talk on the need for a better technological platform for journalism.

I want someone to run a demo of how to build a Yahoo! Pipes application. :-)

I'm interested in technical conversations about

1. Tools/products/technologies/platforms like EC2, S3, Simple DB, SQS, google-app engine, json, jquery on how they are being used in real-life applications & what challenges are faced implementing it.

2. If I choose a tools (listed in #1), how do I verify I did not make a Architectural mistake. Are there any forums that can evaluate my Architecture & help me make that decision

What? Topics other than technology or social media actually exist? I had almost forgotten that...

I'm interested in:

1. How does the information age affect brain development, especially with regard to ADHD? If there is a correlation, is it a bad thing or just something very different from the norm?

2) How do we overcome an educational system that defaults to making the most important subjects BORING? (Math, science, history, language, etc.)

3) We're seeing increasing use of mmphmmph mmmmphmmmmph (one of the topics we're excluding from this conversation) during times of disaster, but what happens when the infrastructure fails? The power's out. The cellphone relays are unavailable. The antennae are under a bunch of trees. OMFG, what if I can't Google?!!! Does anyone have a phone that plugs into a wall and doesn't need additional electricity? What's going to happen in case of an emergency?