Sex::Tech Conference Blog

Sex::Tech 2010 has concluded - hopefully you made it out alive with a wealth of new information and a few new friends (IRL or digital).  It was a resounding success with over 450 attendees, many of whom were youth!

We were enthralled to unveil the winner of the Say What?!? Sex Ed Contest, Janelle Lewis, and her winning video by the comedic masterminds at Funny Or Die at the plenary.  Did we mention Janelle was the winner out of 13,000 entrants?

Check out the video here or watch below!

Say What Contest Winner - watch more funny videos

If you weren’t able to attend Sex::Tech, please help yourself to the conference livestream via justgOOD.tv and be part of our 2,000 + viewers!If you missed out on any of the excellent discussions at Sex::Tech, you can catch up on Twitter.  Search the hash tag #sextech and join the conversations.

Pictures available at the Sex::Tech Flickr too!

If you *were* able to attend Sex::Tech, tell us what you thought!  Fill out an evaluation for day one and day two.

A special thanks to all our speakers.  Without them, Sex::Tech would not have been as successful and jam-packed with cutting edge content as it was.  We’d also like to thank our many sponsors for giving us the opportunity to showcase those working to change the landscape of sexual health!

Can you believe Sex::Tech is merely a week away?  Neither can we!  Sex::Tech has received some great attention from every corner of the web.

Check out Deb Levine’s Q&A with Amy Jussel of ShapingYouth.org, as they do a Sex::Tech 360!  Many interesting thoughts on what comprises a healthy relationship, youth as peer educators and parents as allies in sex education.

Spend some time with Ypulse and ISIS’ Youth Marketing Manger Margaret Lucas as they bust sexual health myths and discuss what’s new at Sex::Tech 2010, and what attendees can expect to walk away with.

AIDS.gov, who will be showcasing how to use Flickr to engage youth for social change and HIV prevention via World AIDS Day at Sex::Tech, gave us and a few of our guests like Beth Kanter and Tina Hoff a stellar shout-out.

So much excitement.  We can’t wait to see you there!

Still not sure which Sex::Tech session track is for you?  Well, here are some more session break downs!

Connecting the Dots: Fine Tuning Prevention Message Delivery [Innovation]
Should you use a web page, social networking app or text messaging for your new program? Three experts report back from the field about reaching youth about HPV, general sex information, and health and wellness.

Relationships and Risk Among Young Adults: Tech Assists [Success]
Extensive formative research can guide programs designed to encourage healthy relationships and prevent unintended pregnancies and STIs, including Chlamydia. Get the data from the source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Applied Social Media: Advocacy and Referrals [Tech]
This tech-intensive session will help you understand the landscape of social media, and how it can be used for both health communications and advocacy.

Around the World in 160 Characters (or Less) [Innovation]
Outside the US, mobile phones eclipse Internet use exponentially. These three programs are using mobile technology effectively for awareness, education and data collection around the world.

Check out Sex::Tech’s session tracks!  Don’t be scared; Each track has a session devoted to one of Sex::Tech’s themes.  Take a peak and decide whether you want to be part of “Innovation”, “Success”, “Tech” or “I’m a…”, but feel free to be a rebel and track hop!  We won’t tell anyone.

Youth First: The Early Adopters [Innovation]
Learn about three innovative tech projects to reach diverse groups of youth (young women, Alaska natives and homeless) that include youth “from the inside.”

Face the Screen: New Techniques for Online Sexual Health Research [Success]
Online research has been touted as a tool to engage hard-to-reach populations. Learn the tricks of the trade from quantitative and qualitative researchers.

Bridging the Digital Divide: Reaching Urban Youth [Innovation]
From Toronto to NYC to South Africa, sexual health innovators are using social media, digital video and mobile social networks to reach youth at risk. Roots at Risk, Cells in the Hood, and MYMsta are three such exemplary programs.

Future Foundations: New Data Collection Methodology [Success]
There has been much focus on using multimedia techniques for sexual health research. Hear what technologies American Indian and Alaskan native youth are using, and how two sets of researchers are using PDAs for accurate collection of sensitive data.

Leslie Bradshaw, the strategist who took on the Heritage Foundation, will school us with Andre Blackman of Pulse + Signal on social new media technologies and how those can be used to enhance community involvement in health campaigns.

Lloyd Dangle, TroubleTown.com’s cartoonist extraordinaire, will lend his artistic expertise to Sex::Tech for the 2nd time, drawing the all-group sessions in real time!  Lloyd is speaking at the Alternative Newspaper conference this weekend in Berkeley, so don’t miss him in action.

MorningQuickie.com showed Sex::Tech some love, too.  Add them to your GoogleReader or RSS feed as another go-to source of the what’s what and who’s who in sexual health information.

Got an old cell phone?  Bring it to Sex::Tech and donate it to HopePhones.org!  We’re aiming for 150 phones, so gather them up for health workers at clinics!

ISIS and our partners are proud to unveil the Say What?!? Sex Ed Contest!

We all know parents, and adults in general, give young people some crazy sexual health advice.  Some of it is sound… some of it… not so much.  That’s why we’re asking young people around the country to call (310) 736-6760 and tell us the funniest advice an adult ever gave them that made them go “Say What?!”.  The winner will be flown to LA and have a walk-on role in a Funny Or Die Sex Ed PSA based on their anecdote.

The Say What?!? Sex Ed Contest will run from January 18th to February 12th, and is open to anyone between the ages of 15 – 21.  The winning PSA will premiere at Sex::Tech’s first-day plenary! Say What?!? is a collaboration between:

o    MTV - who shapes youth culture
o    Funny Or Die – provides humorous commentary on youth culture
o    SayNow – gives youth the ability to communicate with each other and the celebrities that influence their lives
o    ISIS - uses media to reach youth with critical sexual health info

It goes without saying that giving young people the forum to tell educators, parents, policy shapers and anyone in between what kind of sexual health information they’d like and need to receive is key to providing accurate information and ensuring happy and healthy lives.

ISIS and our partners are committed to providing that platform in hopes that it can change the way sex education is delivered.

Know some 15 to 21 year olds who’ve gotten some sex ed that’s made them go Say What?!?  Check out the Funny Or Die promo PSA below, then have them call (310) 736-6760 and tell us!

Sex Advice from Adults from SayWhat Contest

Dust the Sex::Tech crumbs off your keyboard and get ready to take a huge bite out of the cookie!  We briefly mentioned Sex::Tech’s themes and now it’s time to delve into the various talks and workshops covered under them!

Innovation!

Erica Yamauchi from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill brings us Using TXT 4 info/advice on hiv & sex hlth: MYMsta, World’s First Mobile Phone-Based HIV Prevention Social Network!

Jose A. Bauermeister and his colleagues from the University of Michigan will showcase Wrap It Up Before You Tap It?: Communication and Negotiation in Sexual Health Practices Among Young Men Who Have Sex with Men!

Success!

Richard A. Crosby and Rachel Vickers from Children’s Hospital Boston and The University of Kentucky will demystify Reducing Misclassification Bias In Sex Research Through The Use of Personal Digital Assistants (PDA)!

Heather Corrinna from Scarleteen will break it down with Call It Like You See It: Comparing Cellular and Web-Based Services for Sex Education!

Tech Intensive!

CondomMan.com aka Kevin Mirarchi will rock our worlds with Optimizing Your Safe Sex Blog or Website to Get Attention and Traffic!

Julia Fedor from the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health will blow us away with A Balancing Act: Using Social Media for Health Advocacy and Lobbying!

Everyone’s An Expert!

You will get to ask any and all questions to a panel of hand-picked Disease Investigation Specialists aaaaaand yes, real live young people!

Don’t get caught with your hand in the Sex::Tech cookie jar.  Register now and don’t miss out!

We’ve been dropping crumbs about what to expect at Sex::Tech 2010, but now its time to eat the whole cookie!  Well, maybe just a nibble.  While we can’t let any of the big surprises slip we can say that this year will focus on four key themes in our sessions and panels:

1.    Innovation
2.    Success
3.    Tech Intensive
4.    Everyone’s An Expert

So what does this mean exactly?

Innovation will, of course, highlight innovations in the intersection of technology, sexual health and youth.  We won’t just bring you the latest and greatest in research and ways to reach youth with critical sex-ed information, but we’ll also delve into ways you can integrate it into your programs and interventions at home.

Success will give an overview of pilot projects from around the world that are currently changing the landscape of sex education, sexual health interventions, outreach and more.  Think of it this way – you are getting a front-row seat to a premium unveiling of new health campaigns and strategies that have been proven to be effective.  Really, the possibilities are endless, and we can’t wait to see how they inspire you!

Tech Intensive will be available for everyone, from the very very beginners to the web whizzes that we all love and depend on to fix everything.  Instruction on many of the things covered at Sex::Tech will be given, like how to effectively use Twitter, how to run an online contest, and more!
We realize that everyone is an expert in something. 

Everyone’s An Expert will give you the chance to ask an expert any question you want!  We will assemble a panel of experts from the world of widgets to, gasp, youth!  Not youth experts but actual youth!  So start prepping those questions.

Keep checking back for info on our media explosion first-day keynote and don’t forget to register!  Half of the Early Bird tickets are already gone

We all know that Scarleteen is “the premier online sexuality resource for young people worldwide since 1998. [They] have consistently provided free inclusive, comprehensive and positive sex education, information and support to millions for longer than anyone else online.”

What we didn’t know is that they do it all with “a budget lower than the median annual household income in the U.S” and without any federal, state or local funding.  Damn.

They are asking all of us who care deeply about teens having access to vital sexuality resources to donate $100 or more to help them reach their goal of $24,000.  If you can’t do $100, please give whatever you can and it will be greatly appreciated.

They’ve also got some lovely incentives for donors, big and small:

This week: Early to Bed just rolled out a deal where they are giving those who donate to us (or a few other great orgs) $10 of store credit for making donations of $10 or more, here.  They are running that offer through 12/31.

This weekend: We’ll be rolling out an offer where our highest donors for donations $75 and over will get some goodies from us, all awesome for holiday gift-giving.

The three highest will get:
• a pack of Sexversation cards (a fantastic tool for educators, as well as everyone else)
• a Just in Case condom compact
• two signed copies of my book
• and five bars of Moringa tree soap, made by the Lawra Methodist AIDS Clinic and Orphanage in Ghana, where a friend of mine is working via the Peace Corps. The clinic cares for and treats 70 people with HIV/AIDS, cares for 20 orphaned children, and makes this soap to help fund their services. I purchased a big heaping bunch of it to benefit them this summer.

The next five highest donors get the cards, one book and five bars of soap, and the three highest after that get a book and three bars of soap each.

Beginning Friday, December 11th, and ending Sunday, the 13th: Two individual donors will be matching donations made in that time period up to $2,500.  That means if we can raise $2,500 that weekend, we’ll have another $5,000 towards our goal, which would take care of more than half of our need when added to the existing funds we have already raised. We’ll announce that event to the public on the 9th.

Oh, did we mention that Scarleteen is a regular at Sex::Tech?  Last year they showed us all that sex ed could offer beyond mere risk management.  We can’t wait to see what shiny nuggets of wisdom they bring us this year.

For more information and ways you can help Scarleteen reach their fund raising goal, please visit their appeal page.

The power of a photo is greatly underestimated – especially when paired with the infinite power of the Internet!

“If a picture says a thousand words, how much would a picture of you wearing a red ribbon and holding a sign that says you’re “Facing AIDS for World AIDS Day” say? Could it help end stigma? Promote HIV testing? We think so - and we need your help.” – blog.aids.gov

AIDS.gov is using social media to mobilize all of us in cyberspace to show our support for World AIDS Day and break down some of the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS and to promote regular screening.  All you’ve got to do to show your love is:
1.    Snap a picture of you and/or some friends holding a Facing AIDS sign [you can download it here] and wearing your red ribbon!
2.    Upload your epic picture to AIDS.gov’s Flickr group and/or Facebook fan page album.
3.    Then change your social network profile picture to your Facing AIDS photo and your status to:

“[Your Name] is Facing AIDS for World AIDS Day. To find an HIV test site, text your ZIP to “KNOWIT” (566948), or visit www.HIVtest.org. Join me and post this to your status today.”

Then share.  Do it today.  Now.  Because today is World AIDS Day!

For more information and full World AIDS Day Facing AIDS steps, go here.  Don’t be afraid to add their blog to your roster too.