Sex::Tech

Save Friday, April 1st and Saturday, April 2nd, 2011 for Sex::Tech 2011 in San Francisco, California!

ABOUT SEX::TECH

The 4th annual Sex::Tech conference is the premiere event for health and technology professionals to get together with youth, parents and community leaders to advance the sexual health of young people. Hosted by ISIS, the U.S. leader in using technology and new media for sexual health, the conference is expecting over 400 national and international attendees, and more than 2,000 viewers following the proceedings via live video stream.

Registration will be open in mid-September. Follow the SexTech twitter feed for full details.

We will be at a new hotel this year, the Stanford Court on Nob Hill. The Stanford Court is a newly re-modeled, historic hotel at the top of the Cable Car line. Can you say, “Rice-a-Roni?”

The new website for the conference will be premiering later this fall, so keep your eyes peeled for Josh’s gorgeous creation. (in Drupal!)

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

Sex::Tech is a fabulous opportunity for networking, presenting new findings and exploring innovative ideas with key stakeholders. Go to www.sxtech.org to review this year’s call and see if your projects align with Sex::Tech 2011’s goals and session tracks. Should you have any questions, email SxTechconference@isis-inc.org and we’ll get back to you soonest. Abstracts are due via the online submission tool by November 15th.

SPECIAL PRE-CONFERENCE

This year, ISIS is adding a new half-day pre-conference to the mix. An optional addition, the pre-conference will be held Thursday afternoon and focus on sharing methods for effective cutting edge academic research using technology for HIV/STI prevention and sexual health. Stay tuned for more details as the program develops.

PROGRAM COMMITTEE NOMINATIONS

We’re looking for a few good folks! ISIS needs some new members for our 2011 program committee. We’re looking for people with an interest and expertise in the subject areas of sexual health, youth and technology, to commit a total of 10-15 hours to read and review submitted abstracts. If you or someone you know might be interested, contact Cara Silva, ISIS Program Manager at cara@isis-inc.org .

SPONSORS

We’re lucky to have the National Institute of Mental Health as a sponsor again for 2011. If you’re interested in sponsorship opportunities to showcase your organization, product, or services in front of thousands of eyes, contact Deb at deb@isis-inc.org .

JOB OPENINGS

ISIS has two new positions open: Director of Marketing and Communications (p/t) and Development Director. Visit our website for full descriptions and information on how to apply.

ABOUT ISIS

ISIS was founded in 2001 to add a twist to sex education. ISIS uses next-generation technologies and new media to help at-risk youth and young adults gain knowledge and skills through online collaboration between peers and experts. ISIS empowers youth to master the skills to prevent HIV, STIs, unplanned pregnancies and intimate partner violence so all youth can become sexually healthy, mature adults.

Follow us for the latest Sex::Tech 2011 updates as they emerge:

Twitter:  www.twitter.com/sextech
Facebook:  www.facebook.com/isisinc
Sex::Tech Conference: www.sxtech.org

Best,

Deb and the ISIS Team

Lloyd Dangle, the illustrator behind the packaging for Airborne and the San Francisco Bay Guardian weekly comic strip Troubletown, rocked Sex::Tech with caricatures and artistic interpretations of our speakers and their sessions.

We suggest you watch the video of the sessions here, then compare our speakers’ likenesses to the doodles here.  And and and, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and that Sex::Tech presentations are available to download!

Sex::Tech 2009 was beyond superfragilisticexpiali- awesome!  Really, it was and we have the video and photos to prove it.  Head over to ISIS’ YouTube Channel and Flickr to get a taste of Buckworld One’s edgy, high energy performance.

 You can also see what Dean Eckles from Nokia Research Innovate Design Experience Animate (IDEA) Team and Kevin Bertram of Distributive Networks said during the 2nd day keynote!

The presentations of our Sex::Tech attendees are also available for download here.  We hope you enjoy all these tasty media morsels and REALLY hope you’ll come out for the next Sex::Tech!  Don’t forget to add us on Twitter!

More of what makes Sex::Tech the place to be March 22nd – 23rd!

• Everyone has heard of MySpace, but have you ever thought about using it as an outreach tool?  “Using MySpace to Promote HIV and STD Prevention: Program Design and Recruitment” by Lindsey Breslin of University of Colorado will show you how!

• It’s hard enough trying to get youth to do anything, so “Finding Youth in Their Space: Using Social Networking Sites to Connect Youth to Sexual Health Services” by Nancy Berglas, Lauren Ralph, and Sarah Schwartz from the University of California, San Francisco, can save your organization a lot of headaches!

• ISIS routinely uses contests to engage youth and reach them with critical sexual health info.  Hang out with our own Allegra Madsen and her presentation, “Reaching Youth with Online Contests.”

• “Teen Sex: What’s Changed, What Hasn’t & How Believing the Hype Harms Youth Sexual Health” by Ellen Friedrichs, from Brooklyn College, will break it down.  Need we say more?

There’s still time to register!

By now you’re registered for Sex::Tech, got your hotel accommodations in order and are probably pondering the line up.

“Access Sex: Engaging and Serving Youth with Disabilities” with Cory Silverberg of Come As You Are Co-operative, Bethany Stevens of Morehouse School of Medicine, Jennifer Cole Co-Founder of GimpGirl, and Liz Henry of Blogher, is not to be missed.

The session will feature a brief introduction to the social model of disability and how this model empowers both youth and service providers over a medical model.  The learning component will include a personal narrative of growing up with a disability and the experience of being a youth with a disability searching for sexual information online.

Cory Silverberg is the resident sex-pert over at About.com’s Guide to Sexuality page.

Bethany Stevens’ research focuses on the sexual issues of women with disabilities, the effects of media representation on sexual agency and transability.

Jennifer Cole is the co-director and founder of GimpGirl Community and will share her experiences running and participating in a web-based support group that deals with issues of sexuality.

Liz Henry is a web producer for Blogher, a unique online community for women bloggers that seeks to create exposure, education and economic empowerment opportunities.

Let the countdown begin!

Hi! I’m Natalie Treacy and I’m ISIS’s student intern, working to help put together the number one sex ed/youth/technology conference today!

And guess what? Sex::Tech 09 is just around the corner! I’m really excited about Sex::Tech 09 because last year, (Sex::Tech 08) I had a fabulous time being entertained with the topics of today that a lot of people have trouble even approaching, including: How to get “healthy practices”/ sex ed out to the youth through technology, how I could help out in my community, seeing what other organizations are doing for THEIR communities and how they can grow, what youth TODAY think about Sex Ed in their schools and what they want to change, and a great deal of other things.

Since I had the opportunity to be on the program committee and was a part of the program building process, I’ve gotten to select a couple sessions that I’m most interested in. They include 1) Rana Barar’s presentation called Your Voice, Your Rights: Promoting sex ed activism online, because it’s about figuring out what teens want or their sex education and how to improve sex education in schools. 2) PASSHEN Peer Educator presentation called What’s more youth-friendly than the youth themselves?: Sexual Health Peer Education In Action, because it’s a presentation by youth and will include an “innovative approach to sexual health education through open discussions, interactive games, skill building activities and class participation.”

Plus, you get to meet with all the presenters and gain resources!

So get ready to explore, discover, and for your brain to explode with some of the most key information for today.

Remember when our President Barack Obama was in the midst of campaigning and announced his VP via text message?  Well, the mastermind behind that mobile marketing campaign, Kevin Bertram CEO of Distributive Networks, will break it down as our 2^nd day plenary keynote!  He’ll cover the many ways you can utilize SMS and other mobile technologies to engage peeps around your every desire.  Well maybe not your every desire but definitely around health and activism.

David Eckles from Nokia Researches Innovate Design Experience Animate (IDEA) Team will also roll through as our 2^nd day keynote, with lots of insights around transforming technology communications to improve cross media experiences.

You may have also heard of this thing called the “Unconference.”  Yes, you heard right – Unconference.  This will be an unstructured time for you to network and link up with others who want to talk about the same things you do!  Anyone can present their ideas, cruise for feedback and form those oh so crucial partnerships while having Sex::Tech fun.

This is only a taste of the good stuff to come.  Hold on to your butts and keep checking back for updates!

We’ve kept you waiting long enough!  Time for a taste of what’s in store for Sex::Tech 09: take a peek at a few of our Presenters Topics:

* Librarians are so chic!  They’re also supporting teens by providing free access to comprehensive sexual health info via their presentation “Fostering Digital Information Literacy: How Libraries Support Teen Sexual Health”.

* Spend some time learning about how you can integrate Mobile Bluetooth “Proximity Marketing” into your next sexual health social marketing campaign presented by Toronto’s Public Health Dept.

* “Social Media101: Everything You Need to Know To Get The Most Out Of Sex::Tech But Didn’t Want To Admit You Didn’t Know” pretty much says it all….can’t wait to see how that presentation is going to blow our minds.

* We all want to know how to obtain and/or maintain romantic connections through technology in “Interweaving Intimacy and Electronic Technology”.  Make sure you grab your seats early for this one.

Keep coming back to the Sex::Tech blog for more abstract updates over the next few weeks.  Make sure you follow the Twitter for more daily conference updates too!

We are now into February and just days away from presenting the Conference Schedule.
We have a thrilling group of presenters and sessions planned out so stay very tuned!

For now we can tell you that we will be having a fabulous keynote to kick off the Conference that is not to be missed, featuring the merging of sexual health with theatre, and a unique technological twist.   Yes, live interaction with the audience will take place so be prepared for a never-before-seen performance by the youth from Buckworld One.

Buckworld is an electrifying Hip Hop Theatre performance that fuses Krump dancing with spoken word and other interactive elements in telling the story of their existence in and connection to the universe as well as each other.

“‘It’s safe to say that some of the [current STD/HIV] prevention efforts are not working. New, innovative methods will be required to get through to this generation of young people, for whom text messaging and the Internet are integral parts of daily life,’ says Dr. Yolanda Wimberly, assistant professor of clinical pediatrics at the Morehouse School of Medicine and the medical director for the Center for Excellence in Sexual Health.”Oh, Yolanda, ISIS <3 U. According to the new “Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance 2007″ report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, STD transmission rates are on the rise – particularly among women and minorities, between 15 to 24 years old. 

FINALLY!  The mainstream media, doctors, health educators and even the government have discovered what we at ISIS have known for about seven years now:  Technology, particularly internet-based and text messaging, is an incredibly effective way of making sexual health information easy and nearly free to access for everyone.

Our peer STD partner notification website, inSpot has been replicated in 10 states, 11 cities and is quickly growing.  SexINFO, our sexual health text messaging program has been replicated in Washington D.C. as part of the RealTalk Campaign and is definitely the service to watch.  Both of these services break down the barriers that prevent open, honest communication around sexual health and fill the information void.

Surely this article has piqued your interest in technology-based STD prevention methods, so you’ll definitely want to check out the Sex::Tech Conference Focus On Youth, where innovators in technology, past, present and future and sexual health bad asses converge to show us all the goods they’ve been cooking up to facilitate dialogue and prevent disease transmission.  The Sex::Tech Conference is the only place that you’ll be able to see many of these emerging sexual health innovations and talk to their makers.  There might (definitely!) be some ideas or partnerships for you to take back to your organization and implement in the future!