Sunday, August 23, 2009

LiveStrong Summit

For more than 11 years, Lance Armstrong has pursued cancer with the same determination that made him a seven time Tour de France winner.

And today, the effort reached new heights with the opening of the LiveStrong Global Cancer Summit in Dublin where Armstrong, staff from Lance Armstrong Foundation, and some 500 delegates from around the world gathered for this first time event to define -- and map a plan for -- a world without cancer.

During today's opening ceremonies the traffic from the tweeting delegates brought Twitter processing to a near standstill any number of times. Photos from registration, the city's narrow winding streets, and heart stopping chalk written messages must have sent all the orbiting communications satellites into spins. Just my twitter page alone was jumping so quickly with delegate posts that I had to sit still to avoid vertigo.

All of us want to be there, to pass on that feeling. The excitement. The community. The immediate friendships. This kind of advocacy has not been seen for decades. It's a kind of grass roots momentum that is one part Iowa optimism, combined with youthful invincibility and communicated -- immediately -- via incredible technology. It's 'can do' with ITALICS.

There will be many announcements from the LiveStrong Summit. We will all be more informed on the world's cancer dilemma. Then we can all pray, and work, and imagine, for the time when cancer will be nothing more than something that used to happen, years ago.



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It has been a great experience for those of us lucky enough to be here in Dublin for the Summit, but for those who weren't attending, Twitter updates helped to make everyone feel part of this historic occasion. Lance Armstrong & LAF are a great example of how to utilise social media for good and help us all feel part of this global effort to eradicate cancer.
http://beyondbreastcancer.wordpress.com/2009/08/25/a-tribute-to-loved-ones/

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