Highlights from the Social Good Summit

Last week when I posted my thoughts the Social Good Summit, I mentioned that I didn't think it fostered as much "global conversation" as I would have hoped. Be that as it may, I did enjoy Mashable's Social Good Summit immensely as the speakers and presentations throughout the three day event were thought-provoking and engaging. I also must stress how important and relevant I thought the Social Good Summit was in terms of bringing more awareness to all the social good taking place around the world and how individuals like you and I can easily get involved through the use of technology and other social platforms.

In case you weren't able to attend in New York City, or watch all the live-streams, here are some of the best moments to come out of the Social Good Summit.

Dr. Hans Rosling makes numbers, charts, and child mortality rates fascinating

Top presentations I didn't think I'd be interested in:

1. Dr. Hans Rosling, Professor and Chairman of Gapminder Foundation: Trends in Child Mortality and New Data (video starts at 3:30)
2. Jessica Mason, YouTube: What Causes Can Learn from Cat Videos
3. Todd Park, Chief Technology Officer of the United States: Unleashing the Power of Open Innovation in Government
4. Rebecca Moore, Engineering Manager of Google Earth Outreach: How Google Earth is Changing the World
5. Nick Kristof, New York Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize Winner, and Asi Burak, Co-President of Games for Change: Social Gaming for Good

Childhood hero, Jane Goodall, almost made me cry - she's so incredible!

Emotional moments when I had to fight back my tears:

1. Primatologist and childhood hero, Jane Goodall steps out onto stage and then proceeds to make chimpanzee calls
2. Introduction to World Humanitarian Day, 2012 - particularly when a photo of my humanitarian hero, the late Sergio Vieira de Mello, was shown
3. Video, including footage of humanitarian work being done around the world, of Beyonce's "I Was Here" performance at the UN General Assembly
4. Women of Haiti video singing about equality in Haiti
5. Designed to Move video: Five Extra Years
6. The ONE campaign's video taken in Honduras
7. Excerpt of Refugees United's video on the work they do to reconnected families separated during their escape from war-torn countries

Muhammad Yunus talks about social entrepreneurism

Best quotes:

1. Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of Grameen Bank: "I'm not afraid of change! I'm excited by it!"
2. Forest Whitaker, Actor and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador: "Don't be afraid to care...Love grows. Love is a commodity that can expand once you start to use it."
3. Janet Napolitano, Secretary of US Department of Homeland Security: "Practice good cyber hygiene,"  when asked what advice she would give internet users
4. Todd Park, Chief Technology Officer of the United States: “You take the data that’s already there and jujitsu it, put it in machine-readable form, let entrepreneurs take it and turn it into awesomeness," on the uselessness of data that isn't applied for public benefit
5. Rob Reich, Co-Director of Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society: "The British are coming, the British are coming! Please RT!" on how history would be different if social media had been present in those times
6. Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State: "We are living at a moment when anyone can be a diplomat. All you have to do is hit SEND" during her opening address to the audience at the Social Good Summit

What are some of your favorite moments from the Social Good Summit?

If you are interested in viewing other presentations at the Social Good Summit, you can visit the Mashable livestream for the archives.

© Connie Hum 2012