As you may be aware I recently instigated OxfordJam, a fringe to the prestigious  Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship.  I’m occasionally feeling I may have bitten off more than I can chew but thankfully, as many of you know, I have a big mouth and a great penchant for culinary challenges…

Which is a no inappropriate segway into a brief explanation of how OxfordJam came to be.  Last year on the opening evening of Skoll I convened around 85 people for a ‘fringe dinner’ side event to meet, eat, inspire and be inspired.  It was lightly facilitated which gave maximum time for networking and learning from each other.  After the conference I was approached by numerous attendees who said the dinner was the best part of attending Skoll.  A few folk suggested upping the ante for 2010 – and this is what seems to be happening…

So – to quote from the website “Running in parallel to the Skoll World Forum, OxfordJam is a three-day event creating a space for the nurturing of social economy and social finance projects the world over.  It is a conference in relief, where the focus is on the space and serendipity ‘in-between’.  OxfordJam is your event, so come and shape it as you desire…”

And it really is shaping up as a co-created event.  Themes have been defined by folk stepping forward and shaping OxfordJam as they see fit.  There will be early morning breakfasts and all sorts of programming and un-programming right through to a late night cabaret.  OxfordJam will be running 7am – 2am Wednesday and Thursday and 7am until we decide to get drunk on the Friday.

To quote from co-conspirator and OxfordJam web-angel Amanda Jones’ blog “We’re like your favourite Auntie; we’ll let you loose in the toy box, you can stay up past bedtime, and we’re genuinely eager to see what you create!”

This coming week we’ll be seeing a lot more content going up on the OxfordJam programme.  We’ll also be defining a little more what exactly will be going on on the more free-form side of the three days.  You can navigate around the full programme here or have a look around by theme at the themes page here.  ALL SESSIONS ARE FREE but we are asking people to BOOK via the eventbrite links so we can manage interest and attendance, allocate the right rooms to the right sessions and generally get things running smoothly.  You’ll be able to donate a nominal amount to help us meet costs every time you book a session but it’s by no means mandatory.

OxfordJam.  Course Cut.  Spread evenly.