Echoing Green conferences are remarkable for their intense concentration of intellectual, social, and emotional energy. I leave each conference energized and inspired (and unable to speak because I’ve been talking so much).

After each conference, I hear a number of Fellows say something along the lines of "All of these panels, talks, and brainstorming sessions are great, but sometimes I wish they would just get all of us in one place for a weekend, not schedule anything, and just see what happens." Of course, the Echoing Green staff always puts together a fantastic conference, but I can’t help but wonder the same thing. My own experience at this and other conferences provides an example of how putting Echoing Green Fellows together in a room can lead to some very exciting results.

Two years in a row, these conferences have lead—or are leading to—very exciting collaborations between my organization, the New Media Advocacy Project, and other Echoing Green Fellows.

Last year, in the final minutes of the conference, Sukhman Dhami, 2006 Fellow and one of the co-founders of the Indian human rights organization Ensaaf, cornered me in the main meeting room and said (approximately): "You’re Adam Stofsky, right? I love what you do and want to talk about getting you to India to help us with our work." The following spring, my team headed to Punjab for two weeks to train Ensaaf's local staff on how to shoot video and to produce a series of short movies to integrate into Ensaaf’s advocacy in India and abroad. You can find the first piece right here:

This year, we are already looking at several possible collaborative projects: working with Resurrection after Exoneration to help them advocate for greater accountability for prosecutorial misconduct; with EG Justice to pressure Congress to support human rights in Equatorial Guinea, and to support their litigation against corrupt Equatorial Guinean officials; and with Advocates for Informed Choice, to support advocacy efforts by children with intersex conditions. What a diverse and exciting set of projects!

If I’ve learned anything in my short time as a social entrepreneur, it’s that you cannot do anything alone. It is wise of Echoing Green to cultivate its community of Fellows: there is enormous hidden value in the many latent collaborations among fellows.

We are all looking forward to more in 2012!

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