Networking at ROI

I've just found a few minutes here at ROI - a conference that networks young Jewish innovators - to post a quick update. Until now, we've been pitching, meeting, mingling, workshopping, and of course, eating.

ROI (http://www.roicommunity.org/) - now in the 4th year of its conference - excels at bringing together an international collection of Jewish do-ers, and supporting a network of vision. PresenTense has always been a close ally of ROI - aligned in mission and vision, and so it's no surprise that about 10-15% of the conference's participants are involved in PresenTense in some way.

Further - today and tomorrow, PresenTense co-directors Ariel Beery and Aharon Horwitz will be presenting training sessions on media tools and guerilla campaigns, and tomorrow evening the PresenTense Fellows will be joining the ROI community for an evening of further networking. I'm really excited for my fellow conferencers to meet the Fellows -- I've already made about a dozen connections between our fellows and the ROIers working on related projects.

As a New Yorker transplanted to Jerusalem, I find the exposure to the international breadth of Jewish identity the most invaluable aspect of this program. I truly relish the chance to build meaningful relationships with Jews from places like Latin America, Amsterdam, India - and indeed partnerships with their projects.

To get a sense of the diverse nature of the crowd, check out this video, and some others from our opening night presentation. Each ROIer was given a remote that allowed them to click in their answers (America's Funniest Home Video-style), so we got some real time data on the group's demographics. Check it:

I've created a whole playlist of ROI videos on our youtube page.