Earlier this year, I attended the FiRE conference in San Diego.  It felt like half an almost-typical technology conference (yes, there was a cloud computing session), half a “making the world a better place with technology” and in total, was the best three days I’ve ever spent on either topic.  Largely, the value was in the people there.  Mark Anderson has assembled a cast of smart people with the resources and desire to do interesting and good things.

Well, the FiRE Conference has birthed a child — FiRE Global, designed to capitalize on the idea of using technology (and other tools) to make the world a better place.

I’m speaking there, playing science fiction writer host for a group of excellent regional CTO types who are all highly capable people.  We have already been cooking up information for our CTO Challenge, which is:

“How do we promote intelligent discourse and decision-making on regional and national civic issues, given the deterioration of newspapers and other media and the polarization of politics? Can technology assist in the promotion of rational discussion?”

I highly recommend that you consider dropping your existing plans and heading over to join us.  Everything on the agenda looks good, and if it’s as good as FiRE in San Diego was, it will be fast-paced, busy, and brilliant.