The plan is, once the final site is up and final edits are made, I'll post a bounty to find errors and we'll have the web team fix them.  Not until after they finish all the edits/fixes I already have them working on, of course... So by this weekend we'll be ready to go through it in detail looking for any small things that may have been missed.  B

Hey Forum,

It's that time! We've been working with an incredible award-winning web design firm company called The Creative Momentum to create a completely new website for BitShares.  It will be at bitshares.org and launch this Friday.  I wanted to give everyone a sneek peek of what we've been working on. Keep in mind, not all pages on the site are up yet and it's still being finished, but you'll get a sense of it when you see the test site. 

Creative suggested we aim for more of the human element to make this technology a little more connected, so we've gone with some images of people interacting with technology as a background. They've also tweaked our logo and look a bit, which I think makes the BitShares logo feel more friendly and approachable.  As you can see, the explainer video will be front and center, a critical tool that will give those completely new to concept a quick 90 second overview of what we're all about.  There are a lot of other elements in there worth looking at, but I'll let you all look through it and see for yourself.

This has been an enormous focus for me and the marketing team over the last couple months.  I'm very proud of how it's coming together.  Feel free to post your thoughts, ideas, opinions, whatever, regarding the site.  We'll be continually refining this site over time, but I hope that with it we'll be able to more clearly communicate our message, generate interest, and allow people to get educated about everything BitShares. Not only that, but we'll grow the reach and size of this forum tremendously once we have more visitors coming to our site.  B

Check it out:   http://bitshares.thecreativemomentum.com/

All details will be available when the new site goes live Mar 21 at beyondbitcoin.org   Dates are July 18-20 in Las Vegas.  B

I appreciate you all taking the initiative on this and running with it. I've been working day and night on the new websites and videos (coming in one week) as well as on the event this summer so less time than I'd like to do these kind of marketing efforts.  Keep your eyes out for a sneak peek soon on the website and I'll look at what you're doing further once the dust settles over here.  B

Don't worry on the BitShares question, I can fill that one in.  Any final edits, please make them by this afternoon.  Also, I want to be fair with the bounty so if you all can chime in on what you think is most fair (based on who contributed what) it would help me.  Thanks again, this looks awesome! B

Thank you everyone for taking the initiative on this one and going for it.  I have many different channels I'm trying to market through but this is one that needs help and you all can certainly step in and run with it.  There are always more marketing ideas than people and leadership to tackle, but I agree, this is one area that we can be doing more in.  Thx,  B

I've been talking to a lot of potential leaders to come speak in Vegas this July at Beyond Bitcoin.  The key theme of the event is any technology or idea that is a 'next generation' use of the Bitcoin technology, decentralized businesses, etc.  So it wont just be our team talking.  I'd like to get a solid group of speakers together but could use some help.

One thing I'm noticing with these events we go to is rarely are the speakers very good at, well, speaking!  So let me make a short list of criteria for what kind of person we should invite to this event:

1) First, I'd like to find people who are engaging, passionate and actually hold a crowd's attention.  There aren't many of these in our industry.  A great example would be Stefan Molyneux.  I just saw him give a talk in Texas and the crowd loved him.  You wont fall asleep listening to him, he has his own show online so he's comfortable shooting from the hip, and anything but boring.  He's on my short list.  Let's find people who can speak.

2) Secondly, we're looking for experts.  Someone who can deliver on a topic with authority.  Andreas Antonopoulos is a great example.  He always packs a room and commands respect when he speaks.  He friggin KNOWS his stuff.  He's not just a great at number 1, he also fits number 2.

3) Third, let's think outside the box.  I'd like to hear from people who may have never before been to a Bitcoin event.  Mabye they're an expert in a related industry or they've been talking about these technologies for a while but just not yet at events.  An example of someone like this would be Max Keiser. He has a large following, he loves our concepts, and he'd pull a crowd all by himself.

Those are really my only criteria.  They can't be boring, they have to have solid content, and let's think of some new options from the normal list we see all the time (with a few exceptions). Also, at this point, we're looking for people who won't charge a fee.  This may limit us, but as of now we have to go with unpaid speakers, as most events are doing, in order to cover expenses.  In following years perhaps we'll be able to afford to pay big fees for celebrity speakers.  The interest level is high enough right now that the least of my concerns is getting enough speakers, rather just narrowing it down to the very best.  There won't be a boatload of speakers at our event, likely under 20, and only one speaking track, so we need to make it count.

With all that said, who would YOU love to see speak? Who do you currently listen to (notice I didn't say read).  Who have you seen in person or on video/audio who's a frickin rock star and needs to be at this event?

Go...