The first EnvisionDo conference took place on May 21-22, 2011.

EnvisionDo Conference brings together student leaders to generate ideas and form teams to launch sustainable initiatives. We firmly believe that the best change model is for people to pick the profession they are passionate it, and then integrate social value into their career. Therefore, we define initiatives broadly. It could be a tech startup, a conference, a non-profit organization, a documentary, or anything other medium you can think of.

EnvisionDo Conference is a unique experience that supports this model in three steps:

1. Generate ideas

   We provide participants an all round exposure to change agents in the society through our speakers and EnvisionDo Bazaar.

   • Keynote Speaker: Dr. Peter M. Slowe

     Dr. Peter M. Slowe is the Chair and Director of Projects Abroad, the global leader in short-term, overseas, volunteer work placements. Head-quartered in the UK and with recruitment offices across the globe, its projects span 27 countries and cover a wide range of disciplines including teaching, care, conservation & environment, medicine & healthcare, sports, community projects, business, law & human rights and journalism. Projects are designed specifically for the needs of the communities they serve, giving volunteers the very best experience of volunteering abroad.

     Projects Abroad was founded as a programme to help students to travel and work outside term-time. Projects Abroad has now sent over 28,000 volunteers around the world, working on over 500 projects. Dr. Slowe says:

     “What drives Projects Abroad is its combination of successful business with effective philanthropy. It has managed to create a profitable service that depends for its success on doing good works in developing countries. The better it performs for poor people, for sick children, for saving wildlife, and so on, the more satisfied its volunteers, who are its only source of income, become and the more profit it then makes for re-investment. It has created a unique virtuous circle.”

     Dr. Slowe received his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Geography from the University of Oxford and his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Bristol. Previously, he was a Senior Lecturer in Geography at the University of Chichester and the Chief Executive of the Co-operative Enterprise Centre.

   • Donald Laackman, President, Harold Washington College

     Don Laackman has just been appointed the next President of Harold Washington College, the downtown campus of the City Colleges of Chicago (CCC) seven colleges system.

     Before the appointment, Mr. Laackman was the principal at Civic Consulting Alliance (CCA), where he managed CCA's Workforce and Education program areas. He had led several workforce system change initiatives, including the creation of a new workforce board overseeing $360 million in workforce funding in Chicago, a strategy for improving Career and Technical Education for 25,000 Chicago Public School high school students, and the creation of several advisory councils comprised of business, civic and community leaders to advise CCC on its Reinvention initiative.

     Mr. Laackman previously served as a managing director at Accenture, a global technology, consulting and outsourcing firm. Over a twenty-three year career, he led strategic, change, and information technology (IT) solution initiatives while providing client management, professional development, business unit management, profit and loss delivery, contract negotiations, and sales.

     Mr. Laackman received his AB in Politics, Economics, Rhetoric and Law and a Master in Public Policy from the University of Chicago. He now serves on the Visiting Committee for the Dean of the College at the University of Chicago and the Visiting Committee for the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago.

   • EnvisionDo Bazaar

     EnvisionDo Bazaar aims to connect students with local startups, corporations, and non-profits that have created services or products that add social value to the community. Through our Bazaar, you can interact closely with founders of startups, representatives from corporations with strong CSR (corporate social responsibility), and leaders of non-profit organizations. This is also a great chance to get connected with ventures you want to work for or get involved with in the future.

2. Form teams

   One feature that distinguishes EnvisionDo the most is our focus in the friendships and bondings created through the conference. This enables close collaborations on ventures and initiatives during and after the conference. It is also a good means of networking for budding leaders of the entrepreneurship and social domain. Our goal is to bond leaders and doers from diverse background and talents for immediate creations of projects.

   The programs to facilitate this process are:

   • Civic Consulting Summit

     The Civic Consulting Summit serves to bolster the EnvisionDo experience by having participants bond and work together in a team-based setting. Participants will be assigned to teams on the basis of their applications. Each team will be tasked with finding a way mitigate the negative externalities of a business upon the community in an innovative and sustainable manner, all within the boundaries of an assigned case. Teams will focus on the innovation, sustainability, and effectiveness of their solution.

   • International Night

     After a day of distinguished speakers and thought-provoking workshops, conference participants will relax and bond with fellow EnvisionDoers through a fun and light-hearted multicultural dance workshop. During registration, participants will select their top 2 choices for the dance in which they are interested. Dance instructors will teach 1-2 minutes of choreography to their respective groups in 45 minutes. Each group then gets to showcase its multicultural flair to all groups during the conference dinner. This will be a fun and memorable evening for all participants!

   The dance workshops are:

   • Bhangra

     Bhangra is a form of dance and music that originated in the Punjab region and is based on music from Punjabi folk drums and folk singing. It is seen in the West as an expression of South Asian culture as a whole.

   • Bollywood

     The dancing in Bollywood films is primarily modeled on Indian dance: classical and historic dance styles and folk dances. In modern films, Indian dance elements often blend with Western dance styles (such as those seen in music videos or musicals).

   • Latin dance/Salsa

     Latin dance includes a wide range of dances originating in Latin America, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. Salsa, in particular, has origins in Cuba as a major original American meeting point of Spanish (European) and African cultures.

   • Modern Korean Pop

     Korean pop is a musical genre consisting of electronic, hip hop, pop, and R&B music originating in South Korea. “K-pop” has grown into a popular subculture among teenagers and young adults throughout Asia, and Korean groups and singers have adopted a unique form of dance in their music videos and shows.

   • Swing Dance

     Swing dance developed concurrently with the swing style of jazz music in the 1920s to ‘50s. Swing jazz features the syncopated timing associated with African American and West African music and dance, and the “Lindy Hop” is the most popular swing dance.

3. Launch initiatives

   There will be opportunities during the conference for participants to discuss and generate projects they could develop in collaboration with some other participants. This part of the conference will tie into the EnvisionDo incubator program, which is a year-long support network for founders of ventures and initiatives. All projects that are generated through our conference will be supported and monitored by the EnvisionDo Board. We also have a vast amount of mentors from a diverse background to guide and support project leaders.