Gel 2010
Thursday-Friday, April 29-30, 2010
The TimesCenter
New York City
The Ebony Hillbillies at Gel 2010
Thursday-Friday, April 29-30, 2010
The TimesCenter
New York City
The Ebony Hillbillies at Gel 2010
Thanks to everyone who made Gel 2010 a big success. Now sign up for next year!
• Recap: photos and blog posts about Gel 2010
• Schedule of events
• Who attended (list of attendee organizations and titles)
• Thanks to...
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Composer, conductor, pianist, and music commentator
Author, All You Have to Do is Listen: Music from the Inside Out
Vocalist, composer, and teacher (see Vocal Community)
Member, Sweet Honey in the Rock
Author, Finite and Infinite Games, Breakfast at the Victory, and The Religious Case Against Belief
...and hosted by Gel founder Mark Hurst.
Day 1 will start in the TimesCenter theater with a welcome session and a morning event for all attendees. Then during the afternoon, Gel attendees attend one of several tours, workshops, and other experiences all over New York City. (Attendees ranked their choices for afternoon events before the event; assignments were made in order of ticket-purchase date. People who bought their Gel ticket earlier were more likely to get their first choice for Day 1 event.)
After the morning welcome session, all attendees will be invited to take part in any of these three sessions, running concurrently at the TimesCenter. (Attendees can choose which one to attend morning-of; no ranking necessary beforehand.)
Erin McKean, lexicographer & founder of the new online megadictionary Wordnik, will lead a workshop in public speaking. We'll go over a few simple concepts that will reduce your anxiety about public speaking, show you how to look and sound confident, help you organize your talks and connect with your audience, and improve the experience of public speaking for both you and your audience! Please note: everyone will be invited on stage during this workshop.
Improv Everywhere's Charlie Todd will lead you in a deceptively simple multiplayer game called Werewolf (sometimes also called "Mafia"). It's easy to pick up and fascinating to play. Do you have the skills to convince the group you're not a werewolf, even if you are?
Rick and Maria, founders of Zentangle, will take attendees through the easy-to-learn method of creating beautiful images from repetitive patterns. Rick and Maria believe that life is an art form and that Zentangle is an elegant metaphor for deliberate artistry in life. No artistic experience necessary.
Attendees will then move into one of the following afternoon events.
Cathy Salit, President and CEO of Performance of a Lifetime, will host an interactive, improvisational session where participants will learn some of the "tricks of the trade" of the improviser and performer - in service of creating a great experience for you, your team, and your customers. (No acting experience required.)
Ben Hoffman, Founder and CEO of CityHunt, will host an interactive adventure where participants will compete in teams to capture experiences related to Gel themes throughout a neighborhood in Manhattan. These experiences will be documented with digital cameras which will be provided and will conclude with an awards presentation at The Hired Guns. (No safari experience required.)
Learn to juggle from the masters of mirth, and lords of levity, the Flying Karamazov Brothers. In this session, you'll learn how to juggle three balls. If you can already do that, you can start working on clubs, four balls, or whatever else you may want to try!
Doug Quin will lead you on a listening experience in Central Park to explore the park's sonic spaces and acoustically distinct places, and discover the balance of natural and urban rhythms, sound textures and voices that are part of this unique environment and soundscape. Participants will be given a map of the park and invited to create sound maps, journals, or "scores" of their walk - translating the sound world into their own words and images.
Explore this storied, mysterious beach on the edge of Jamaica Bay in Brooklyn. A century ago it was home to the world's largest concentration of rendering plants, where boatloads of dead horses were turned into grease, fertilizer, soap, and glue. Now part of Gateway National Recreation Area, Dead Horse Bay is a haunting stretch of sand revealing forgotten perspectives on history as it slowly gives its landfilled treasures back to the sea. Note: attendees should wear pants and shoes suitable for walking through a woodland and on a damp beach. (Shorts not recommended, as there can be ticks in the beach grass.) No items may be removed or brought back from the beach.
Join brewmaster Garrett Oliver for a tour of the Brooklyn Brewery, followed by a tasting of his beer paired with great cheeses. Although beer is a mystery to most Americans - few of us have any idea what it is or how it's made - traditional beer has made a big comeback and it's here to stay. (See his Gel video.) This event will feature real beer, artisanal cheese, and a fun tour.
Artist Zina Saunders (see her website and Gel video) will take attendees on a tour of New York's underground music scene - literally - by visiting the best musicians performing in Manhattan subway stations. Get ready to ride the rails and hear the best underground music in the city!
Join Terry Coughlin, general manager of Maialino, the newest restaurant in Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group. You'll hear from Terry about the process of opening a new restaurant, meet a sous chef, and get a wine tasting & discussion from a sommelier.
Rachel Shechtman, founder and CEO of Cube Ventures, will take attendees to multiple retail environments, exploring how brands are building on product differentiation by creating dynamic and engaging experiences. You will listen, taste, touch and move through these unique environments; each stop on the tour will feature the store's founder as a speaker and tour attendees around the space... and there may be a surprise or two!
Embark on a food tasting journey through this historic Manhattan neighborhood. During this tour you will taste a variety of food specialties that has secured Greenwich Village's reputation as being one of the greatest culinary and cultural centers of the world. Discover the secrets to having the ultimate food and cultural experience off the beaten path! (You'll eat well here; go light on lunch beforehand.)
Find out how to tap the creative well within yourself! Artist & designer Noah Scalin, creator of Skull-A-Day (see his Gel video), will lead you in a hands-on exercise to experience the benefits he found in creating a yearlong daily art project. With material provided by Etsy Labs, you'll find out what happens when you push your creative limits. No special art-making experience necessary, just come with an open mind.
Here's a rare opportunity just for Gel attendees to climb into a manhole and see the historic Atlantic Avenue tunnel, the world's oldest subway, built back in 1844 by the Long Island Rail Road, as featured on the History Channel show Cities of the Underworld. The tunnel, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was discovered in 1980 by transportation expert Bob Diamond, who will be leading the narrated tour of the 1/2 mile long tunnel. No other single historic site is so abundant with colorful stories and history, including the missing pages of John Wilkes Booth's diary, river pirates, German saboteurs, Murder Inc. and bootleggers. Note: attendees should bring a flashlight and wear pants or shorts and sneakers or very comfortable shoes.
Join Greg Harper, co-founder of Gadgetoff, for a tour of the latest advances in a tour in hardware, software, and gadgets.
Take a bicycle ride with Caroline Samponaro, Director of Bicycle Advocacy at Transportation Alternatives, NYC's leading bicycle and pedestrian advocates. As the Department of Transportation adds bike improvements at an unprecedented rate, don't miss out on a live tour of NYC's increasingly bicycle and pedestrian friendly streets from the experts who are helping to make it happen. The nine-mile route will take us along a newly protected bike lane, new Lower Manhattan bike network, East River Bridges, a view of the Statue of Liberty from Battery Park, and along the Greenway. (Bikes and helmets will be provided to all attendees.)
Gel 2010 was made possible in part by our sponsor, TheLadders.
TheLadders is a community of senior-level professionals searching only $100K+ jobs.
See also the Gel 2010 thank-you page.
(Gel logo design by Sam Brown at explodingdog.com.)
