Recently I had the supreme pleasure to speak at Webvisions 2008 in Portland Oregon. Kelsey Ruger and I led a Workshop entitled Crucial Conversations in Social Media (slides will be up on Slideshare soon). Kelsey and I also did a Social Media panel with D.L. Byron and Jim Turner.

If you’ve never been to Webvisions - all I can say is that it’s one of the best conferences of the year. So be sure and sign up for Webvisions 2009.

This weekend - one of my dearest friends, Erica Douglass (pictured above) - is putting on her first conference - WealthCamp. There’s still time to sign up - and here are some more details from “the other Erica”.

What is WealthCamp? I simultaneously noticed three things a few months ago:

1) Most financial “advice” seminars are really full of shills trying to get you to buy overpriced financial advice and/or even more expensive financial seminars.
2) We, as a society, do not have NEARLY enough conversations about money, investing, saving, and getting out of debt. This is one big reason why 90% of those in their 30’s are in debt and 76% of those in their 20s are in debt (source: USA Today article - http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/retirement/2008-05-19-generation-x-retirement_N.htm) - with an average credit card debt of over $4000 per person!
3) Financial advice is often confusing because everyone seems to be trying to make a buck by pushing their “great system” or “wealth creation” method. Good, solid, simple financial advice is hard to come by.

The world is crying out for low-cost, accessible financial advice. How do I invest? Where do I put my money? Should I buy stocks, bonds, real estate, gold…?

I decided to pull together all of the financial experts I could find — and then make this a truly community-driven event by enabling YOU to share your stories and even create your own “mini-conference” or conversation in the afternoon. This is your chance to mingle with financial “gurus” and ask them all those questions you’ve been wanting to know for a while now. And it’s also a unique opportunity to share your financial stories and meet with other like-minded individuals who want to be financially free.

Do you want the ability to quit your job any time you want? Do you want to be able to travel around the world and do all of those things that you have a passion for and just don’t seem to have the time to do? Financial freedom gives you those opportunities, and financial education enables financial freedom — which is why I’m such a big believer in financial education.

Come join us for a historic event…where we put the community back in an area that affects every single one of us on a daily basis. This is your chance to be part of a powerful movement that redefines how we think and talk about money.

I expect to take WealthCamp international. This first event is the litmus test — the opportunity for you to tell us what you really want when it comes to financial education and future WealthCamps. Please join us.

You can use coupon code “ericaogrady” to bring your signup fee down to $50, which is a bargain considering you’ll get to interact with some of the top gurus on personal finance. We will also be handing out free “goodie bags” at the door and will be raffling off prizes.

I hope to see you at WealthCamp this Saturday, May 31!

Visit http://www.wealthcamp.info for more information and to sign up online.

Hope you guys will join me tomorrow for WealthCamp!

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