What network platforms are out there, and which one should my network be adopting?

Platforms! What we all look towards for solutions – but not without frustrations! With so many out there, how do we ensure information transfer, support each other in collaboration and avoid duplication of work?

Join real live demos from different network platform builders, engage with your favorite speakers and platforms in breakouts, and participate in a discussion around interoperability. The platforms we'll highlight include:

• Acter, with Emil Vincentz
• Rhizome, with Ari Sahargun
• Hylo, with Tibet Sprague
• Socialroots, with Ana Jamborcic
• Superhive, with Margaux Pelen
• Catalist, with Vincent Arena

Join us for an exciting event to explore:

• The importance of intention setting when choosing tools

• Different platforms for networks

• Aspects to consider when choosing tools for different contexts

You will gain and generate practical insights into how to:

• Use several platforms to support your network

• Support interoperability to augment projects instead of duplicating them

About the Speakers & Facilitators

Ana Jamborcic, Socialroots' own product strategist, has spent the last 7+ years studying how networked coalitions form and scale. Starting with the Bernie Sanders campaign, she worked as a product manager on the digital volunteer organizing platform Connect.BernieSanders.com and several other Get Out the Vote tools, like the Bernie Friend Finder that reached millions of people on Facebook, increasing the primary vote turnout by an estimated 60k votes. Ana has over 10 years of experience in software product strategy/management.

Ari Sahargun grew up in the tallgrass prairies of Illinois, where the lanky sandhill cranes pause on their way to and from Mexico. Retracing one of their family’s roots, they recently moved south to Mexico City to do what they do as a mixed heritage person: build bridges. One facet of their work is building bridges between extractive capitalism/colonialism and a society that repairs and regenerates from these traumas. They’ve run praxis groups on decolonization and helped investors move hundreds of thousands of dollars to Black- and indigenous-led projects in the US and internationally. The other part of their work is building bridges that support movement networks on the path toward a more just society.

Emil Vincentz is a co-founder of Acter, a non-profit developing a secure and decentralized organizing tool that enables civil society organizations to effectively and securely organise. Acter's mission is to provide a trusted digital space for organisations and networks to coordinate collective action drive engagement and create systemic change with a focus on supporting civil society in the global south.

Tibet Sprague is a communitarian since birth, a technologist for good, and a passionate evangelist of the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible. An entrepreneur since college, he founded and/or led the software teams for five startups.. After watching the corporate industrial complex destroy everything they had built, he co-founded the Terran Collective to figure out how humans can cooperate fully at every level with each other and the earth.

Margaux Pelen is currently leading all community, business, and operations topic as the cofounder of SuperHive.is. Previously, she was currently serving as the Chief Operating Officer of CodeControl.io, a Berlin-based startup crafting the future of work. Since 2014, Margaux has been an independent consultant with an entrepreneurial and edtech expertise. She founded the Learning Studio, a European collective of freelancers-educators, who work to design, test, and implement new education offers and services for the 4th Industrial Revolution.

Vincent Arena is an engineer, systems designer, and social entrepreneur. He is the founder of Catalist, a connection platform that provides community knowledge management, mapping, and matchmaking services to networks building a more regenerative and equitable future.

Hosted at the Tech Corner

A busy zone of the festival grounds catches your eye. You feel the energetic buzz of presentations of new technologies – and hear the oo's and ahh's coming from the crowd. Here, technology converges to fuel collaborative networks, featuring immersive displays of network platforms, collaborative tools, decision-making technology, and web 3.0 applications. Engage with augmented reality, intelligent algorithms, and dynamic web applications to empower individuals and foster transformative connections, propelling us towards a future where collaborative networks thrive and catalyze positive change.

What is the Networks Festival?

Embark on a month-long journey filled with connection, curiosity, and play bringing together thousands of changemakers, funders, conveners, companies, and governments to explore the power of networks to transform our world.

As you step into the festival grounds, you'll be greeted by a buzzing atmosphere of excitement and innovation. Everywhere you look, there are people eagerly discussing the latest breakthroughs in network theory, sharing stories of how networks have changed their lives and communities, and dreaming up new ways to harness the power of connections.

Leveraging the power of lived experience, we will strengthen our collective practice, directly increase funding opportunities for networks, and foster new collaborations to scale innovations and amplify transformational impact on the lives of billions around the world.

Whether you're a seasoned networker, curious changemaker, or philanthropist interest in "doing things differently" – there's something for everyone at the Networks Festival. Join us!