UPLOAD is for young people considering their options – life, love, work, the whole catastrophe.
I wrote back in January about my experiences at the UPLOAD Young Entrepreneurs Camp at the Glasshouse Mountains Eco-Lodge. It was a fantastic week in many, many ways and I would like to extend my knowledge of this priceless event to you. And I’m quoting most of this blog entry because I could never explain UPLOAD even half as well as Edgeware have:
With UPLOAD, Edgeware offers stimulating, accessible, enjoyable explorations of enterprise development and entrepreneurial skills, delivered through a series of interactive, hands-on workshops with expert trainers and young, real-world entrepreneurs. UPLOAD is all about helping young people equip themselves to navigate turbulent times and to create meaningful, sustainable and responsible employment and life pathways.
Now, Edgeware have just released their 2009 young entrepreneurs program, which I am very excited about. I’m very happy they have also added in the teachers and youth workers workshop too!
The UPLOAD Young Entrepreneurs Camp (for Over-18’s)
An intensive residential week at the beautiful Glasshouse Mountains Eco-Lodge. Delivered in partnership with the Sunshine Coast Institute of TAFE, with a focus on building and growing fledgeling enterprises.
The UPLOAD Young Entrepreneurs Camp (for Under-18’s)
An intensive non-residential week in central Brisbane, taking place during school holidays, with a strong focus on personal development, teamwork and leadership.
UPLOAD Professional Development Workshops (For Teachers and Youth Workers)
Offered in half-day, full-day and three-day versions, focused on developing and practicing leadership and facilitation skills in the Edgeware model of youth enterprise development.
Futher information on these upcoming events and some charming photography from the January UPLOAD are available here.
BONUS Twitter list blog! As shared by the Edgeware team on Twitter: Top 100 Social Entrepreneurs, Businesses, and Ideas on Twitter
Over the weekend I attended my second Edgeware event. It was definitely a winner and I must firstly thank Sarah Moran for sponsoring my ticket to the conference.
Unfortunately though, I was off to a bad start due to a clash with Friday evening traffic heading to Suncorp Stadium for the Broncos vs Cowboys rugby league game. Despite leaving home half an hour early I was forty-five minutes late when I stepped off the bus from the city! Cutting a long story short, I became so fearful of the time I was spending not yet at the venue among drunken football fans in the street I chose to take the safe route home again, thus missing out on the initial networking session and Map Magazine’s Carl Lindgren.
The next morning I was welcomed warmly by the darling Nat Duncan, Edgeware director Michael Doneman and various Brisbane Twitter friends. I filled out a brief profile on myself and stuck it to the physical network of string and people on the wall of Substation 4 and immediately felt connected; even before meeting the majority of conference attendees! Later I was to learn this was part of reknowned Brisbane photographer Mark Lobo’s Six Degrees project. Can’t wait to see the outcomes!
Saturday’s speakers were:
Sunday composed of:
The weekend was very well-planned, very appropriate for the broad range of attendees and made excellent use of Edgeware’s kick-arse motto of Make money, have fun, change the world. I was inspired, validated and motivated (even to the point that I wanted to leave abruptly in order to act upon plans!). It was a very comfortable environment, which is sometimes difficult to achieve at conferences. Not that Edgeware has ever had such a problem at all!
To finish up, I acknowledge the lovely Ludmilla Doneman and her volunteers for the fantastic catering, and I’d like to share a collection of my favourite quotes from the weekend. Such gems!
- “Are you in it for the idea or are you in it for business?” – Samantha Jockel
- “Be honest with what you don’t know. Start with what you do know.” – Leesa Watego
- “Only when you love good coffee can you make good coffee.” – London advertising slogan, via Paul Natorp’s presentation
- “Don’t ask for help; ask for advice.” – Amanda Jackes
- “Know who you are so that you know what you need.” – Samantha Jockel
- “If you don’t fit your imagined entrepreneur then you must re-imagine what you want your lived entrepreneur to be.” – Leesa Watego
- “Sometimes it’s easier to seek forgiveness later on than it is to seek permission.” – Amanda Jackes
- “Whatever criticism you receive, turn it into a greater asset.” – Paul Natorp
Today I write my Edgware Upload camp wrap-up.
The past weekend I’ll admit has been one of sleep catch-up and moping around the flat because I felt the magic was gone. Silly me! I’d just spent the past week feeling that “today is the first day of the rest of your life” and was so hyped up that when Saturday came around I was distraught I’d missed it in favour of eighteen hours sleep!
If anything the business planning of this week took a backseat to the personal development side, which just shows how entwined these two aspects of an entrepreneur’s* life are.
(more…)
Right now I am at the Glasshouse Mountains Eco-lodge stretched out on a cosy attic bed reading Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need by Daniel H. Pink and reflecting over the past day at Edgeware’s Upload Young Entrepreneurs Camp.
Upload 2009 is the maiden voyage of the camp for gutsy, high school to mid-twenty-aged, business-minded souls seeking the path before them. I am one of those people looking to surpass wasting my life away working unnecessarily for a business I have no attachment to in a job I feel nothing for.
(more…)
Recent Posts