Better than TED: BIF Collaborative Innovation Summit Oct. 10 -11

I use to go to TED in Monterey in Feb. But I’m liking the BIF Collaborative Innovation Summit in Providence in October as much — maybe more. This year’s program, moderated by Walter Mossberg of The Wall St. Journal and Mavericks at Work author Bill Taylor,   will feature more approximately 30 fascinating people sharing 15 minute stories about how they catalyzed change or created innovation. Some I’m especially looking forward to:

• Mark Cuban, owner Dallas Mavericks
• Clayton Christensen, disruptive innovation guru and Harvard Business School professor
• Jason Fried, 37signals founder and CEO
• Joseph F. Coughlin, MIT AgeLab director
• Juan Fernando Santos, Studiocom chief creative officer
• William Herp, Linear Air president and CEO
• Matt Mason, author, producer and former London pirate radio and club DJ
• Col Dean Esserman, chief of police, Providence
• Euan Semple, former head of Knowledge Management for the BBC 

There are only 80 tickets left for the conference, to be held Oct. 10 – 11 in Providence, one of the coolest, creative cities in the U.S. If you click here to register – or use my name when registering – the price is $800.  (I’ve been involved with the Business Innovation Factory since this non-profit launched a few years ago and will be blogging from the conference.)

On a side note the conference will be held at Trinity Rep Theater, one of the best regional theaters in the country.  (Full disclosure: I’m a theater geek and on the board of Trinity.) All The Kings Men will be playing on Oct. 10 and 11. This production is not to be missed. See it while you’re in town.  Joe Wilson, Jr., an amazingly talented young African American actor ,will be playing the role of Willie Stark.. Talk about changing the conversation.