Every year in April, Boulder seems to double in size as thousands of people come to town for the Conference on World Affairs (CWA). The annual conference brings around 100 participants (experts in all sorts of subjects like rocket science and sex therapy) from around the world to CU Boulder’s campus for a week of discussion, debate and celebration in 200 sessions on “everything conceivable.” It’s like TED combined with SXSW, but it’s free and open to the public. (Full disclosure: I was on the planning committee for the conference from 2009-2014.)
The 68th annual CWA kicks off next week, and while it’s had a few rocky moments the past year, the schedule is certainly promising. We dug through all the sessions to select the ones we think Colorado’s tech and startup community will find most interesting. Wednesday and Thursday look like solid days to cash in some of that unlimited PTO or professional development days, but the rest of the week also has some good sessions if you want to just pop over to campus for a few hours. Here are our top picks.
Monday, April 4th
- How to Raise Money for Your Brilliant Idea (UMC East Ballroom, 9 a.m.)
- Technology is a Fetish (UMC West Ballroom, 9 a.m.)
- Girl Geeks Unite!, (UMC West Ballroom, 3 p.m.)
- Business & Government Can Work Together (Duane Physics G1B20, 3 p.m.)
- An Evening with Steve Wozniak Livestream, (UMC Center Ballroom, 7 p.m.)
Tuesday, April 5th
- Corporations have Mentors, Startups have Heroes (Wolf Law Wittemyer Courtroom, 9:30 a.m.)
- Employment in the 21st Century (UMC East Ballroom, 3:30 p.m.)
Wednesday, April 6th
- Crowdsourcing (ATLAS Black Box, 9 a.m.)
- Building an Innovation Economy in Your Town (Eaton Humanities 150, 10:30 a.m.)
- STEM Education: Why Should We Care? (UMC West Ballroom, 1 p.m.)
- Leadership is Harder Than I Thought (Old Main Chapel, 1 p.m.)
- Millennials in the Workplace (ATLAS Black Box, 1 p.m.)
- Technological Solutions to World Hunger (UMC East Ballroom, 3 p.m.)
- Technological Singularity: When the Machines Take Over (UMC 235, 6 p.m.)
Thursday, April 7th
- I’m Uber-whelmed by the Gig Economy (UMC East Ballroom, 9:30 a.m.)
- Creating Cultural Change in Business (UMC 235, 9:30 a.m.)
- Help! I’m Drowning in Information (Old Main Chapel, 11 a.m.)
- The Age of Big Data (Old Main Chapel, 12:30 p.m.)
- Business Can Have a Conscience and Still Thrive (UMC East Ballroom, 12:30 p.m.)
- Gender Discrimination in Science & Engineering (UMC West Ballroom, 3:30 p.m.)
- Launching Tomorrow’s Products Today (Muenzinger E0046, 3:30 p.m.)
Friday, April 8th
- The Sharing Economy (UMC East Ballroom, 1 p.m.)
- Work-Life Balance and Other Fairytales (UMC East Ballroom, 3 p.m.)
With thousands of attendees, CWA is Boulder’s largest non-sporting event. You can check out the full schedule and see all the participants on CWA’s website, or check out their mobile-friendly CrowdCompass page. You can also follow and join the conversation on Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #CWA2016.
Photo via Conference on World Affairs
Have a tip or know of a company that deserves coverage? Email us.
