John Battelle's New Reverse-Conference Is Coming To New York... You Go To The Companies!

AdobeJohn Battelle.
John Battelle, the founder of Web 2.0 Summit, Federated Media, and many other companies and conferences, has launched a new kind of business conference: OpenCo.

Billed as a cross between a business conference and a music festival, OpenCo takes the typical conference model--in which companies present to auditorium full of attendees--and reverses it.

With OpenCo, the attendees troup around town and visit the companies.

OpenCo debuted in San Francisco last year, and now it's coming to New York.

So if you've dreamed of seeing the inside of Business Insider, along with the offices of 132 other New York-based companies, this is the conference for you.

Here's the release:

OpenCo New York Innovation Festival Announces Full List of Participating Host Companies and Introduces Advisory Council Members

133 Exciting Companies and 34 Industry Visionaries Pledge To Support Innovation in New York

New York, May 7, 2013 – Today OpenCo, a new kind of conference-as-festival where the most innovative companies open their doors to the general public, announced the full list of 133 participating host companies (HostCos) for OpenCo New York and introduced a newly appointed OpenCo New York Advisory Council. OpenCo New York comes on the heels of a very successful inaugural San Francisco event last fall and is part of Internet Week New York. Events are also scheduled for Detroit, London and San Francisco later this year.

A variety of neighborhoods will be represented at OpenCo New York including Flatiron, SOHO, Chelsea, Union Square and Brooklyn and HostCos are focused on the following industry categories: Ad Tech, Culinary Arts/Food, Data Analytics, Education, Fashion/Retail/Shopping, Health, Media, Mobile, Non-profit, Productivity/Tools, Professional Services and Venture Capital/Incubator.

How OpenCo Works:

• The event is free for anyone who wants to attend but space is very limited - sign up now by visiting ny.openco.us.
• OpenCo’s “schedule creator” opens today for those who purchased early access. These festivalgoers will have extra time to create their personalized schedule and the online tool works like a music festival scheduler.
• Later in the month, the schedule creator will open to general admission participants.
• OpenCo expects, just as occurred in San Francisco, that many companies will quickly “sell out” as available space for their in-house presentations is limited.
• Registrants who have already signed up but are worried about being able to create their ideal schedule, should consider upgrading here.
• On 5/23 OpenCoNY participants who have registered and created their personalized schedule will attend hourly, citywide “open studio” sessions led by participating HostCos.
• These participating HostCos will share their vision, outline their founding principles and values and discuss what it means to be part of NY’s collaborative ecosystem.

VIP Kick off Event with Special Guests

OpenCoNY will launch the evening of 5/22 with an invitation-only, VIP event at The Altman Building that will feature intimate discussions with Chad Dickerson, CEO at Etsy, Bob Pittman, CEO at Clear Channel Communications, Matt Seiler, Global CEO at IPG Mediabrands and Eric Hippeau, partner at Lerer Ventures. Attendees who purchased VIP access will gain access to this event in addition to other perks.

Those Who Make OpenCo Possible

OpenCo is made possible by a list of impressive organizations that have pledged their support as partners. The founding partner is American Express OPEN Forum with Yahoo! and IPG Media Labs as sustaining partners. The OpenCo event series is produced by the team at BattelleMedia.

Video

OpenCoSF Highlights 2012

There are 133 fantastic HostCos confirmed to participate in OpenCo New York including:

(RED), About.com, Adobe/Behance, AppNexus, appssavvy, Artspace, Artsy, Aviary, BazzarVoice, Betaworks, Birchbox, bitly, Blue Ridge Foundation New York, BlueKai, Bonobos, BrightFarms, Business Insider, BuzzFeed, Centre for Social Innovation, ChallengePost, Charity: Water, Chartbeat, Complex Media, Crowdtap, Curbed Network, Dashlane, Deep Focus, Delaney Barbecue, DonorsChoose.org, DoSomething.org, Dress Code, Droga5, Echoing Green, Echolocation, Edelman, Etsy, Evidon, eXelate, Fab.com, Farmigo, Federated Media Publishing, Forbes Media, Foursquare, Free The Children, Friends of the High Line, General Assembly, Gilt, Gojee, Google, Greatist, Hill Country Hospitality, Hot Bread Kitchen, Huge, IDEO, INDMUSIC, IPG Media Lab, isocket, JaegerSloan, Kensington & Sons, Kickstarter, Kiip, KMco, Lerer Ventures, Leske's Bakery, LiveIntent, LocalResponse, Locket, LUMA Partners, Luminary Labs, Major Food Group, MakerBot, Maker's Row, Mashable, Meals to Heal, MediaMath, Meetup, Mexicue, MOUSE, National Museum of Mathematics, Next Jump, NowThis News, NSG/SWAT, OneBeat, ooVoo, Outbrain, Pave, Percolate, Plyfe, PolicyMic, PublicStuff, PureWow, Qnary, Quantcast, Quirky, R/GA, RebelMouse, Regus, Rent the Runway, Sailthru, Salesforce.com, SeatGeek, Simulmedia, Skillshare, Snaps!, SocialFlow, Someecards, Stack Exchange, STORY, StyleCaster Media Group, Sumpto, Tablet, Tapad, TechStars, TED, The Guardian, The YARD, Thrillist Media Group, Trigger Media Group, Tutorspree, Undertone, Vaunte, Vaynermedia, Warby Parker, WeWork Labs, 'wichcraft, Work Market, Yahoo!, Yext, Yieldbot, Yodle, YouNow, Zeel and ZocDoc

The OpenCo Advisory Council consists of a wide variety of industry leaders and visionaries including:

About OpenCo

Founded by John Battelle and Brian Monahan, OpenCo is a mix between a business conference and artist's open studio with the vibe of a music festival. The events offer job seekers, investors, marketers and curious neighbors direct access to the leaders of the most innovative companies across the globe and in their natural habitat.

Visit openco.us for more information.