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'Buffalo Unconference' powered by AT&T turns attendees into presenters

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Wed, Mar 30th 2016 10:50 am

Self-organizing conference returns to provide for an opportunity for the collision of ideas and collaboration; hundreds of Western New Yorker to spend April 16 teaching each other new innovative skills

Returning for its second year by popular demand, Buffalo Unconference powered by AT&T is an interactive event built to bring together a diverse group of people, so they may share their knowledge on topics they are passionate about through presentations, demos and open discussions. Buffalo Unconference is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 16, at the VCAMP Health Accelerator, 403 Main St., Suite 200, downtown Buffalo.

The conference is free to the public, but all attendees must register at http://buffalounconference.com. Attendees are encouraged to participate by presenting on topics such as technology, entrepreneurship, programming, art, music, volunteerism, writing or virtually any creative subject. Anyone with something to contribute or the desire to learn is welcome to join.

As was the case last year, the event is expected to sellout and all participants must register via the event's website.

When registering online for the event, attendees can propose a talk they'll present during the event. The Unconference organizers will curate the talks and categorize them into tracks. On the day of the Unconference, six different tracks of speakers will run concurrently. Attendees choose which talks they'd like to attend.

VCAMP Health Accelerator was selected as the new home for Buffalo Unconference, because the demand last year to attend called for a larger venue and the organizers wanted to ensure more participants could take part this year. The space also provides state-of-the-art presentation technology to provide for a more conducive learning experience and allows for members of the innovation community to experience another tech incubator that has grown out of the region's tech and entrepreneurial resurgence.

This year's Buffalo Unconference will host a wide range of topics from the technical to the artistic. A sampling of subjects attendees have registered to present include: "Taking Creative Risks" by four-time Emmy winner for news producing Pat Obermeier; "Encrypted Amazon Cloud Storage," "Hidden Keys to High Performance for your Business," "Emotional Design," "Making a Video Game in 48 hours" and "How to start a $295k Successful Crowdfunding Campaign" by ThimbleIO.

"AT&T is proud to power Buffalo Unconference, because it provides a unique forum for local innovative thinkers to share their creative, entrepreneurial and technological ideas with the community in a collaborative environment," said Marissa Shorenstein, New York president, AT&T. "Our continued support for this event grows out of our commitment to foster local innovation by providing opportunities for entrepreneurs, technologists, makers and developers to create new technologies and act on ideas that could positively impact their communities and strengthen Western New York's innovation economy."

"Innovation happens when you bring people together from different backgrounds, with different experiences, and encourage conversations about the concepts they care about." event organizer Clark Dever said. "Buffalo Unconference is designed to support entrepreneurship by creating a critical density of people, causing the collision of ideas."

Organized by a team of technologists and entrepreneurs, Buffalo Unconference is supported by companies that want to foster technology innovation and entrepreneurship in the region. The event's title supporter is AT&T. It is co-sponsored by Infotech Niagara, VCAMP, 19 IDEAS, Startup Grind Buffalo, Startup Weekend Buffalo, Select One Search, Launch NY, ThimbleIO, Algonquin and Heads Up Display Inc.

The event includes a free lunch with snacks catered by Fat Bob's Smokehouse and complimentary coffee by Spot Coffee.

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