Tuesday, July 10, 2012

826 National's 2012 Staff Conference wraps up an amazing year

Every summer 826 National organizes an 826-wide staff development conference to recap the past year's accomplishments and keep improving the work of 826. This year we convened in San Francisco to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the founding of 826 Valencia and the 826 movement. Our talented staff members from across the country gathered for four days of guest speakers (ranging from education professors to fundraising professionals to technology experts), panel discussions, and reunions with each other.

(Right: 826ers cheer before their field trip to The Exploratorium)

Notable speakers from this year's conference included:

• SARK, a national bestselling author, artist, and self-described "transformative agent of change."
• Kit Hinrichs and Delphine Hirasuna of Studio Hinrichs. Kit spearheaded the design of Sappi Fine Paper's The Standard #5, which celebrated 826 stores across the country and is available here.
• Melvin and Patricia Ziegler, founders of Banana Republic. Mel and Patricia spoke about their early retail stores, which, like the 826 storefronts, contained wildly original merchandise and store designs.

We would like to thank the rest of our speakers, donors, and supporters, including:

Our venues: The San Francisco LGBT Center, our hotel partner The Serrano Hotel, Jasper's Tap Room, DOSA, Amnesia Bar, The Exploratorium, and 826 Valencia.

The people who contributed time and talent: designer Anna Hurley, Pia Infante of Rockwood Leadership, Terry Wit and Feckless, the Salesforce Foundation and Salesforce.com, Dr. Carol Tang, Dr. Sean Reardon, Dr. Sarah Feldman, Dr. Rebecca Smith and the Science & Health Education Partnership at the University of California, San Francisco, The Coalition for Science After School, Kevin Odle and Teachers for Social Justice, Joshua Knox of Google, the MKSHFT/CLLCTV for filming support, Ellery Long of Wildfire Interactive, Aaron Eske of M+R Strategic Services, Vera Devera of Donordigital, Jenna Sampson of Twitter, Jenny Flores of Citi, Rae Richman of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Ken Weber of Zynga.org, Sarah Vallette of Heffernan Insurance Brokers, Leah Williams of WestEd, Michael Westheimer of Baker & McKenzie, Michael Shaffer, Steve Johnston, Jim Babcock and Burr, Pilger, Mayer, and Mindy Fried and Madeleine Taylor of Arbor Consulting.

The people who kept us fed: Acme Bread, Katz Bagels, Byard Duncan, Carrie Goldberg, and Jenny Klowden from Blue Bottle Coffee, Rodger's Coffee, El Porteño Empanadas, Hayes & Kebab, and ICHI Sushi.

Last, but never, ever least: Thanks to our endlessly dedicated staff for making this year's staff development conference the best one yet!