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Buddhist Geeks Conference reports? Chris? Tom? Gozan? Ron?

  • Dharma Comarade
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14 years 2 months ago #3168 by Dharma Comarade
Buddhist Geeks Conference reports? Chris? Tom? Gozan? Ron? was created by Dharma Comarade
If you went to the conference please provide any news, impressions, etc.

THANKS.
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14 years 2 months ago #3169 by Chris Marti
Replied by Chris Marti on topic Buddhist Geeks Conference reports? Chris? Tom? Gozan? Ron?
I have a very positive feeling about the conference, very happy I was here, very happy to meet so many people face to face that were only avatars and ascii text voices for so many years. It's sounding like this is the first of what may be many such BG conferences -- and next time you all must be there.

Or else ;-)
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14 years 2 months ago #3170 by Ona Kiser
Replied by Ona Kiser on topic Buddhist Geeks Conference reports? Chris? Tom? Gozan? Ron?
I really hope to go next time. It was a strange twist of events that prevented it this time, at the last minute. I look forward to the various post-conference blog posts.
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14 years 2 months ago #3171 by Tom Otvos
Replied by Tom Otvos on topic Buddhist Geeks Conference reports? Chris? Tom? Gozan? Ron?
I'll say that, for me, I was really happy I came down.

The conference content was really good -- room for improvement, of course -- but by far the better part of it was being able to interface with others. Spending a lot of time with Chris and Gozen enabled a lot more intimate discussion than can be achieved just here. And then, being able to talk with others like Vince, and the various presenters was equally precious. I was able to have a long and intimate talk with Shinzen Young, for example, that would simply have been impossible for me otherwise.

Clearly this conference was a proof-of-concept, but it was extremely well received and so it will grow and evolve for several years at least, such that more people will feel comfortable making the time and money investment to participate.
-- tomo
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14 years 2 months ago #3172 by Tom Otvos
Replied by Tom Otvos on topic Buddhist Geeks Conference reports? Chris? Tom? Gozan? Ron?
I'll add that, specifically, one of the great parts was the cross-section of presenters, from established and well-known teachers, to technology geeks, to people in the brain science domain. It really underscored the "emergent" theme.
-- tomo
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14 years 2 months ago #3173 by Chris Marti
Replied by Chris Marti on topic Buddhist Geeks Conference reports? Chris? Tom? Gozan? Ron?
Yes, the content was very good. That's REALLY hard to do when you're putting on your very first conference. Prominent speakers like some of those Vince Horn was able to book are usually shy about participating in new conferences. My guess is that the Buddhist Geeks brand and all of Vince's hard work to make it what it is now really helped in that regard.

And to agree with Tom, the nicest part and a lot of the value was meeting people face to face and schmoozing and talking and eating and drinking and sharing a really awesome experience and being human beings together for a few days.
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14 years 2 months ago #3174 by Chris Marti
Replied by Chris Marti on topic Buddhist Geeks Conference reports? Chris? Tom? Gozan? Ron?
Okay, second try -- images from the BG2011 conference, posted to Flickr by who I do not know but *thank you* to that person:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/albill/sets/72157627188725929/
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14 years 2 months ago #3175 by Eran
Replied by Eran on topic Buddhist Geeks Conference reports? Chris? Tom? Gozan? Ron?
I think those were posted by Al Billings, aka @openbuddha .

Oh, and the conference was fantastic. I enjoyed most of the talks, met some very interesting people and was inspired (by Rohan's talk) to start planning a small project.
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14 years 2 months ago #3176 by Eran
Replied by Eran on topic Buddhist Geeks Conference reports? Chris? Tom? Gozan? Ron?
By the way, did any of you guys attend the future of pragmatic dharma breakout session? anything interesting to report from that?
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14 years 2 months ago #3177 by Chris Marti
Replied by Chris Marti on topic Buddhist Geeks Conference reports? Chris? Tom? Gozan? Ron?
I attended that session, Eran, but it would be really difficult to summarize here. Mainly, it was about what we mean by "pragmatic" but it started out as a prediction kind of thing, with Kenneth Folk predicting some stuff, and then Hokai Sobol, and then the track became sort of winding and we talked a lot about Vajrayana and how it can work using deities as proxies for our emotions and those parts of ourselves that we'r afraid of or disconnected from, and so on.

It was fun to experience to but hard to describe. Since it was in the main theater maybe it was recorded so we can listen later.

BTW - it was great to meet you in person, face to face!
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14 years 2 months ago #3178 by Eran
Replied by Eran on topic Buddhist Geeks Conference reports? Chris? Tom? Gozan? Ron?


... we talked a lot about Vajrayana and how it can work using deities as proxies for our emotions and those parts of ourselves that we'r afraid of or disconnected from, and so on.It was fun to experience to but hard to describe. Since it was in the main theater maybe it was recorded so we can listen later.

-cmarti


It would be interesting to see the pragmatic vajra/tantra movement form and if anyone can make that happen, it's Hokai.


BTW - it was great to meet you in person, face to face!

-cmarti


Likewise :)
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14 years 2 months ago #3179 by Chris Marti
Replied by Chris Marti on topic Buddhist Geeks Conference reports? Chris? Tom? Gozan? Ron?
http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2011/08/the-bgeeks11-round-up/

The official roundup.
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14 years 2 months ago #3180 by Ron Crouch
Replied by Ron Crouch on topic Buddhist Geeks Conference reports? Chris? Tom? Gozan? Ron?
Sorry to jump in so late - that is the problem with going to a conference - you've got to catch up on stuff when you get back.

I'll second the meeting people in person notion for sure. Hanging out with Chris, Tom, and Gozan was wonderful. Meeting Vince, Shinzen and Hokai for the first time, however briefly, was pretty cool.

There is something that happens in face-to-face conversations that just can't happen online, and what it is I just can't put into words, but it is important and worth the trip. I left feeling energized and very optimistic about the future, and a lot of that was due to the joy of getting to meet people (finally).

A personal highlight of the conference for me was holding a discussion on the Dark Night and Depression that turned out to be much larger than expected and informed and influenced a lot of people IMHO.

I can't wait for next year.
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