LIFT is a series of events to inspire and connect the community of doers and thinkers exploring the social impact of new technologies. Each LIFT conference is a three days experience made of talks, workshops, interactive art and discussions to understand and anticipate the most important social changes, and meet the people behind them.

Concept

LIFT leads a new generation of conferences exploring the social implications of technologies in our society in a unique and tested format maximizing creativity and networking. It is a three-day experience built upon:

• • workshops and open stage talks, proposed and selected by LIFT participants
• • keynote speeches and panels with world renowned experts (past speakers include Bruce Sterling, Cory Doctorow, Jeffrey Huang, Robert Scoble, Adam Greenfield, Regine Débatty and Jaewoong Lee)
• • artistic activities offered to facilitate networking and innovative thinking, allowing attendees to play and create to keep their mind fresh and meet others.

In a recent post-conference survey carried by an independent company, 93% of attendees had a good or excellent overall appreciation of LIFT07 with “networking” or “learning” mentioned as the greatest benefits of participation. The majority of attendees agreed that LIFT07 provided them with interesting information and influenced their opinions on the usage of emerging technologies. 96% of attendees met new people at LIFT07.

History

LIFT08
LIFT08 was again a record edition, gathering 700 attendees from 30 countries to discuss online environments, user experience, sustainable development, gaming or foresight. The event was covered by TechCrunch, ATS, Fast Company, Wired, BBC News, NZZ, Radio Suisse Romande, Europe1, Netzwoche, Campaign and by tenth of bloggers and podcasters. 40 videos have been recorded and made available online, and the community rated Kevin Warwick (Cyborg research), Genevieve Bell (Secrets, lies & digital deceptions), Robin Hunicke (game trends), Paul Barnett (Game design) and Eric Favre (the story of Nespresso) as the five best presenters. See their talks now!

LIFT07
The 2007 edition of LIFT in Geneva attracted more than 550 participants (Global 1000 companies, entrepreneurs, investors, students, researchers, artists, NGOs) from 30 countries. A program of 36 keynote speeches, 16 workshops and 4 panels covered diverse topics like web 2.0, mobile technologies, robots, economic and social trends. LIFT was supported by organizations like Swisscom, Whisher, HP, Zurich, the Gebert Ruf Stiftung or the EPFL and was covered extensively by Swiss media as well as international media like the BBC, the Associated Press, Wired, the Guardian, and Europe 1.

More info on liftconference.com/2007.

LIFT06
The first edition of LIFT happened in 2006 and welcomed 350 delegates from 20 countries. The conference featured speakers like Cory Doctorow, Bruce Sterling, Robert Scoble, Hugh Macleod or Euan Semple. In a post conference survey, LIFT06 was assessed as a success by most attendees, with 93% planning to attend the next edition.

More info on liftconference.com/2006.

The event is organized by an international team located in Switzerland, with the help of various persons in the US and in Asia.

Team

Producers

Laurent Bolli, designer
Laurent Haug, founder & director
Nicolas Nova, editorial manager
Sylvie Reinhard, project manager
Steven Ritchey, producer
Nicholas Wolff, web site
Channy Yun, Asia editorial advisor

Advisory board

Julian Bleecker, University of Southern California
Pierre Chappaz, Wikio
William Cockayne, Stanford
Xavier Comtesse, Avenir Suisse
Bruno Giussani, Writer/blogger/entrepreneur
Adam Greenfield
François Grey, CERN
Jeffrey Huang, EPFL
Daniel Kaplan, FING
Beth Krasna, independent board member
Jaewoong Lee, Founder of Daum
Joanne Lee, writer and entrepreneur
Bernard Rappaz, TSR
Bruce Sterling, Writer and futurist
Jasmina Tesanovic, Publisher and Filmmaker
Guido Van Nispen, Veronica

Hall of fame:

These people were involved in LIFT and left to pursue glorious careers and projects all around the world!
John Staehli
Raluca Dan, press relations
Cristiana Bolli-Freitas, art director
Marc-Olivier Peyer, community animator
Jean-Daniel Sciboz, partnerships
Nicolas Dengler
Roberto Ortelli
Victoria Visser
Ellen Wallace

Talks

Most of the talks given at LIFT are available for free at videos.liftconference.com.

Speakers policy

We have a certain number of principles guiding the invitations of speakers. Here are the most important ones:

• • Our policy is to never invite the same speaker two years in a row. Sometimes, the speakers who came up first in the post-conference survey are invited the next year but then in a different capacity (on a panel, to run a workshop)
• • LIFT speakers are not paid to speak. They travel to the conference to share their passion about what they are doing, and meet amazing people.
• • Speakers are asked not to do any commercial pitch, and focus on ideas sharing.
• • Our editorial team is completely independent of the sponsoring team. Buying stage time is not possible at LIFT.
• • We ask speakers to be present during the three days of the conference. We try to avoid inviting speakers who will only come for the duration of their speech as LIFT is first and foremost about creating networking between all the participants.
• • In the interest of all the participants, we are pretty strict with the time allotted to presentations and will as smoothly as possible *g* cut a presentation that goes beyond the time limit.
• • Speakers agree that their talk will be recorded put on LIFT videos for free download and viewing.
• • We try to pay plane tickets and hotels to speakers who need it and do not work for large organizations who can cover the costs.
• • Despite the fact it is not always an easy task (think about obtaining a Swiss visa for an African speaker) we put a lot of efforts in trying to have a program that reflects the world's diversity.

Post-conference survey

Every year, an independent company (Benchpoint) runs a satisfaction survey on the participants of the conference, published in total transparency on the conference website. Here are the past surveys:

• 2008 survey: ""89% of attendees had a good or excellent overall appreciation of
  LIFT08 with "networking", "learning" and "exchanging" mentioned as the greatest benefits of participation. The majority of attendees agreed that LIFT08 provided them with interesting information and influenced their opinions on the usage of emerging technologies. 96% of attendees met new people at LIFT08 with most people meeting between 1 - 10 persons. Key quality factors of LIFT08 were rated by attendees with "networking" and "administration" rated higher than "programme quality" and "venue". The most popular presentation selected by attendees was "Cyborg" by Kevin Warwick."
  Full report in PDF (340kb)
• 2007 survey: "83% of attendees had a good or excellent overall appreciation of LIFT07 with “networking” or “learning” mentioned as the greatest benefits of participation. The majority of attendees agreed that LIFT07 provided them with interesting information and influenced their opinions on the usage of emerging technologies. 96% of attendees met new people at LIFT07 with most people meeting between 1-5 persons."
  Full report in PDF (340kb)
• 2006 survey: "LIFT06 was assessed as a big success by most attendees ñ 93% plan to attend LIFT07. According to the attendees, LIFT06 was successful in providing information and influencing their attitudes about emerging technology. One third of attendees saw the main benefit of attending LIFT06 as networking and are looking towards more facilitated networking at LIFT07. The quality of the presentations varied considerably for many attendees and a different selection process may be appropriate for LIFT07. In terms of the conference format, attendees suggested more interactive sessions and workshops around the conference. LIFT06 was successful in connecting people and provoking ongoing discussions amongst attendees and beyond the conference. "
  Full report in PDF (720kb)