There are lots of conferences in the liberty world, but none are dedicated to advancing agorism. Until now! Agora I/O is a new un-conference where you’ll find the greatest people, ideas and tools for advancing the stateless society. You don’t want to miss this, and you don’t have to! Agora I/O is exclusively online, so you can participate from anywhere an internet signal reaches. Plus it’s free!
Unique Value
Agora I/O connects you live with the most exciting and innovative doers in anarchism and agorism twice each year in an online setting with audio, video and text communication tools. Participation is maxed out because there’s no charge to join in the conversation. No traveling, no hotel rooms, no conference fees, no hassle. Just space to learn the latest tactics for advancing complete liberty. That means critical mass for conversations that advance the agora.
Vision
Agora I/O advances the conversation on the stateless society not only by creating a free market in relevant knowledge but also by being an experiment in anarchy itself. The Agora I/O vision is for an anarchic event where order arises spontaneously. We issue the call to action. We field at least one full slate of speakers. But others can do the same. Anyone can speak and participants can choose which speakers they will engage with. The Agora I/O team will identify topics we want presentations for, recruit speakers and highlight our favorite speakers, but that won’t mean others can’t present as well. Call it coopetition!
Survey
Now that you know what Agora I/O is, I need your help. I have three quick questions and if you’ll answer them, it would really help me out. Take this short survey. If you want to discuss them in the comments, too, here they are:
- What topics would you like to learn about at Agora I/O?
- Who would you like to see present at Agora I/O?
- When is the best weekend for the first Agora I/O?
What’s an Unconference
Why is Agora I/O an unconference? Good question! (1) There are no fees! (2) You choose the topics. (3) Presentations are selected by participants and not by organizers (it’s open to everyone). (4) Anyone can present and compete for participants. And more!
Technology
Any live streaming technology should be feasible for Agora I/O but I like Ustream.TV. It’s easy to work with, free and scales to a huge number of participants. With Ustream.TV, you can speak into your webcam while thousands watch you live and chat about what you’re saying. It’s impressive. It can record your presentation and sync it to YouTube so others will enjoy it later. There is no cost to broadcast with Ustream.TV.
Funding
We need funding for the website, volunteers, marketing and, most importantly to pay presenters. This is an agoristic enterprise after all! We’ll sell sponsorships, t-shirts and take donations. How can you profit from Agora I/O?
Feedback
Please let me know your reaction to Agora I/O in the comments below. The Agora I/O concept is still in development, so your comments can have a huge impact. Oh and don’t forget to take the short survey here. Thanks!
8 replies on “Topics Needed for the Agora I/O Unconference”
Man this is sounding even better since the first discussions about it. My answers:
1. Application, application, application. I am up to my gills in theory (and I love it all, really I do) but there is a dearth of on-the-ground experience. I want to hear from people who are running underground businesses – their methods, their tactics, their long term strategies. Profiles of their client base and technologies they use to keep themselves safe from coercion. I also want to hear from people who are forming agorist spaces (analogous to hackerspaces, google it), if such things exist (and indeed a hackerspace is already pretty close to the target). I know it’s early in the game for this still, but that makes it all the more important to hear from the pioneers. I know they’re out there, we’ve all talked to them and some of us have met them, let’s hear what they have learned and start replicating and evolving it!
2. People capable of presenting above info. Off the top of my head the Last Biscuit folks would be awesome. Other people who could probably share a lot of useful info: moonshiners, pot dealers, people running (sane, safe, and ethical) high class sex services. Bonus if those last few are dedicated agorists, but if they’re just libertarian or anarchist inclined they still have tons of knowledge we could all benefit from, even if to run somewhat more mundane gray market business. :)
3. Any time with a month or two warning plus the time necessary to fill a speaker roster is sufficient for me.
Thanks Justen, I agree. There needs to be more focus on the practical.
I absolutely concur regarding focusing on application more than theory. However, I do think with the growth occurring, there needs to be a bit of education on agorism more than just “sell things illegally and you’re an agorist”, which is not true. But as Justen was mentioning, there is barely any information on what do actually do, and thats very discouraging for those looking to get involved. Individuals need to be acting and its difficult with there not being examples to look to or people to network with. Its the key reason I teamed up with LoT and the key reason I support a directory/rating agency. It just also needs to be tempered with security due to the nature of actions. Finding that balance is difficult.
I’ve done something with all those things Justen listed (Last Biscuit as well as moonshine and pot retail) except the last (high class sex services).
Please don’t let this die or, the same, be relegated to the black hole of failbook. It’s a great idea for exactly the reason given by Ethan (counter-economics isn’t just a swap meet).
Sign me up on the list of people willing to do a ton of work to make it happen.
Thanks and don’t worry. If for some reason I should falter, I’m sure someone else would pick it up and run with it.
In re application: in my experience, what separates groups that get something done vs. those that don’t is strategic planning.
Far too many groups in the freedom movement don’t realize that we shouldn’t try to invent the wheel. Just because our goal (total human freedom) has never been seen (widely) on earth doesn’t mean that the process to get there hasn’t either, in fact it has.
There are non-profit, voluntarily run orgs doing great things all around us and the process to get one up and running and kicking ass is well documented.
I’d like to suggest strategic planning as a topic for Agora I/O.
Great idea, Chip, thanks. Do you want to talk about it? Know anyone else who would be good?