Kansas City and Lawrence to host twestival local events

In less than two weeks, Twestival Local, an event inspired by a group of London Twitterers’ Harvest Twestival in 2008, will be taking place in cities all over the world. On The Prairie, Lawrence will be hosting one on the 10th for the Lawrence Humane Society, and Kansas City on the 11th for the Wayside…

0902_Twestival

In less than two weeks, Twestival Local, an event inspired by a group of London Twitterers’ Harvest Twestival in 2008, will be taking place in cities all over the world. On The Prairie, Lawrence will be hosting one on the 10th for the Lawrence Humane Society, and Kansas City on the 11th for the Wayside Waifs.

The goal behind this event is simple: bring people together offline for a great cause. Think of it as a TweetUp with more planning and organization, an admission fee that’s donated to the designated local charity, and satisfaction that your Twitter-ignited social outing just helped better your community.

The U.S. is well-covered with “pink dots” (see map), which indicate the cities hosting the event, but the majority of them lie outside of our region. When I learned about it a few days ago, I was bummed to find that registration had closed August 25th. And although the organizers of the first event “planned the bulk of [it] in under two weeks and pulled in sponsorship from people on Twitter,” I’m not sure we’d have the time to throw one together that quickly. (We’d need your help! Please leave a comment below if you’re interested in being involved in the future.)

We’re marking our calendars for next year, and even before then, we have the opportunity to participate in Twestival Global. For this event, a charity with global reach is designated — earlier this year, 202 cities raised nearly $250,00 for charity: water.

You can find more information about the Twestival Local in Lawrence at lawrence.twestival.com and in Kansas City at kansascity.twestival.com.

From Twestival.com:

What is a Twestival?

A Twestival or Twitter-Festival is a global series of events organized by volunteers around the world under short timescales, which bring people offline for a great cause. Twestival is run 100% by volunteers and independently from any not-for-profit; although the organizing teams do work closely to outline an achievable and measurable fundraising target. Twestival also sets out to identify key skills of volunteers and match these with the needs of the cause; particularly communications strategy, tech integration and social media training. Twestival Local takes place in cities around the world : 10-13 September 2009.

Twestival Local vs Twestival Global

Twestival was born out of the idea that if cities were able to collaborate on an international scale, but work from a local level, it could have a spectacular impact. While Twestival Global put the spotlight around one cause on a single day, Twestival Local is getting back to its roots and encouraging cities around the world to host events in support a local cause on one day during the weekend of 10-13 September 2009.

100% of the proceeds from these events will go direct to the local not-for-profit selected. Everyone involved with Twestival is a volunteer. Cities are asked to set a fundraising goal for their event, but it is much more than reaching a financial target. Twestival Local is a fantastic opportunity to connect with people in your community. The aim is to give people a chance to feel they are contributing to a larger social initiative, but bring the cause a little closer to home.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

Get the latest news and events from Nebraska’s entrepreneurship and innovation community delivered straight to your inbox every Wednesday.