February will make you deliver

Oooooh, the irony of it all: February is the shortest month of the year, but has one of the longest lists of top-tier events of any month! Beginning with these….

Foremost forums upcoming

• MIT Sloan Women in Management Conference (February 10; Cambridge, MA). Event aims to showcase the opportunities available to women in business and to discuss the challenges that women executives face in their careers. Program addresses such topics as what is keeping women from the board room; female entrepreneurship; and the power of intelligent women. The theme for 2012: “Innovating Through Adversity.”

• Doing Good and Doing Well Conference (February 24 – 25; Barcelona). Event is self-described as “Europe’s leading student-run event on responsible business.” Overriding emphasis is on “major opportunities and challenges faced by responsible businesses and organizations,” with the aim to help develop new strategies and business models, as well as facilitate partnerships between industry professionals and graduate students in attendance. 2012 theme: “Achieving Sustainability in Business and Society.”

• Harvard Social Enterprise Conference (February 25 – 26; Boston and Cambridge). Co-produced by Harvard Business School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, event is self-described as “a forum for exploring the synergies between for-profit, non-profit, and public sector approaches to addressing critical social issues.” Program examines philanthropic initiatives taken to solve global problems and strategies for implementing and maintaining corporate sustainability and corporate social responsibility in business operations. The 2012 theme is “Innovation, Inclusion, and Impact.” Read more.

• TED Conference (February 27 – March 2; Long Beach). Conference was founded in 1984 as a forum for discussion of trends and developments around the three pillars of Technology, Entertainment, and Design, and their convergence as it impacts social, political, cultural, and economic life. Described by the New York Times as a “weird stew of people and points of view,” organizers characterize the forum as a place where attendees “gain an understanding of how your own work fits into the larger web of knowledge.” The 2012 theme: “Full Spectrum.” Read more.

• Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy Board of Boards CEO Conference (February 27; New York). Event is self-described as having been designed “to uncover emerging issues in corporate philanthropy from the CEO perspective and to allow executives to share best practices.” Program addresses “the CEO’s leadership in communicating with stakeholder groups while pursuing strategies that create value for a company and simultaneously address pressing societal challenges.” The theme for 2012 is “Next Generation Community Engagement: A Transformative Business Opportunity.”

• Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy Energy Innovation Summit (February 27 – 29; National Harbor, MD). Summit focuses on showcasing the next generation of clean energy technologies to the nation’s leading individuals and organizations active in the clean energy field. Event aims to connect technologists and investors, and introduce breakthrough technologies. Read more: www.energyinnovationsummit.com

Noteworthy conferences beginning agenda planning this month

• Clinton Global Initiative will begin agenda development for its Annual Meeting, scheduled for September 23 – 25, 2012 in New York. Meeting is self-described as a “non-partisan catalyst for action, bringing together a community of global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges.” Bringing together current and former heads of state, top CEOs, and leaders of non-profit organizations, major philanthropists, and Nobel Prize Laureates, each event focuses on specific Action Areas.

• CSR Asia will begin developing the agenda for its Summit being held September 18 – 19, 2012 in Beijing. Event focuses on the challenges and strategies related to the implementation and integration of CSR into Asian business operations, with examination of best practices case studies and the current state of CSR in Asia. Program addresses such topics as socially responsible investing; business-NGO partnerships; carbon footprinting and solutions; climate change and business responses; and sustainability within the supply chain. 2012 theme: “Local Innovation for Global Challenges.” Read more.

• Working Mother Media will begin solidifying the agenda for its Multicultural Women’s National Conference, which is scheduled for July 16 – 18, 2012 in New York. Conference focuses on “some of the most important issues in the workplace for multicultural women.” Conference themes center around advancing women of varying cultural backgrounds in the workplace and include how to compete and collaborate at the senior executive level; developing mentoring and sponsoring relationships; and being an influencer with or without authority. Read more.