Our first Physical Gathering in San Francisco & next Virtual Gathering of The Great Progression Network

The next virtual gathering for paid members will be May 15th & our first physical gathering for founding members will be May 29th in San Francisco - plus an update for all subscribers

We’re just two months into this new Substack series and we’re growing fast. We are well over 10,000 followers and have been among the fastest growing ones in all of Substack.

The Great Progression: 2025 to 2050 is 26th in the “Rising in Technology” category, and 61st in “New Substack Bestsellers” across all categories, as I write this. The positions on those leaderboards keep shifting day-to-day, and we have been much higher in both categories over the past month.

Thanks to all of you for subscribing in the first place, and restacking the essays and interviews that have been coming out each week. All that activity like rating the stories and commenting and spreading the word is what allows us to grow and get these big ideas out.

We’re now heading into more of the gatherings side of this series that is reserved for those paid subscribers who are members or founding members. These folks are the ones pitching in so I have the resources to keep focused on more writing. So they get a special thanks for that contribution.

But I also consider those paid members as the inner circle of this Great Progression network who are helping to expand and refine our understanding of what might be possible in the next 25 years. No one is as smart as everyone.

We will hold our second virtual meeting for all paid subscribers next Thursday, May 15th, over Zoom for 90 minutes. Like the first one, this will be an interactive conversation among all of us. We do it on Zoom because everyone can be seen and participate in the conversation, rather than holding the video meeting on Substack, which is a one-way video broadcast.

We will then hold our first physical meeting for the founding members on Thursday evening, May 29th, in the Shack15 Club in the Ferry Building in San Francisco. This gathering will also include an invite-only group of many innovators from the tech and innovation economy of the region who I have gotten to know over the years too.

If any of the free subscribers reading this want to be part of either of those gatherings, and all the future ones, then consider upgrading to the paid tier this week.

On Monday morning an email will go out to only all the paid subscribers with the private link to register for the virtual gathering to be held that Thursday. You will then have the Zoom link for the meeting.

And on Monday morning an email will go out only to the founding members with the private link to register for the physical event on May 29th. You will also be getting a special code to use in registration that will give you VIP status for that event, which will include others from outside Substack.

Below you will find some more information on both events but the main purpose of this email is to give all current subscribers a chance to upgrade before the coming gatherings of the network.

Our first physical gathering for founding members on Thursday, May 29th, at 5:30 pm in San Francisco

We will be holding an exclusive physical gathering of about 200 innovators each quarter that any founding member can attend at the Shack15 club in the Ferry Building at ground zero for all things AI in San Francisco. The first one goes from 5:30 pm to 10 pm on Thursday, May 29th.

I understand that all founding members are not located in the San Francisco Bay Area and so might find it difficult to attend. I am thinking we might find other ways to tap into your insights through a separate virtual gathering. For now, this quarterly physical event is the key differentiator for a founder.

We're gathering not just our founding members but other entrepreneurs, technologists, creatives, and thinkers shaping the 21st century for an important live conversation that I will host, curate and moderate to fill out our understanding of what’s possible in the next 25 years.

I will give an opening presentation to frame up the conversation and then interview each of three prominent thought leaders who can help us fill out the narrative of how The Great Progression: 2025 to 2050 could play out. We have two of them firmed up:

​Steven Johnson, the Editorial Director of Google Labs, one of the cornerstones of Google’s AI Division, and the bestselling author of more than a dozen books on innovation.

​Adam Cheyer, the pioneer in AI human interfaces, co-founder of Siri, and current VP of AI Experience at Airbnb, as well as a founding member of Change.org, the world’s largest petition platform.

After a two-hour program roughing out the new way forward, the second half of these gatherings will be more like a party to cross-connect and have some fun too.

This physical event series is done in partnership with Freethink Media and their teams will be covering the program in video, with side interviews as well. They are truly partners and have been doing much to help grow The Great Progression: 2025 to 2050.

Freethink has been syndicating my essays and interviews beyond Substack into the open web via their two key publications Freethink and Big Think, as well as their extensive newsletters and social media.

Both Freethink and Big Think are raising their profile in Substack, and channeling people internally to this project too.

Our second virtual gathering on Thursday, May 15th, at 4 pm PST

Our first virtual gathering was really terrific and we all learned a lot that day. We had a good showing of people from around America attend. Pretty much all regions of the country had someone represented.

We talked about when to best hold these conversations and the 4 pm Pacific time seemed to be the best for now. As of now almost all the paid subscribers are in the United States and so the after-work period seemed best. If we grow the European audience then we might have to adjust the time, or maybe do two versions.

I’ve now published eight pieces, one per week for the last couple months. We covered a wide range of topics and so there will be plenty to talk about. And part of the session we will be looking ahead to what’s coming next.

I drive the conversation and moderate but this session is really about getting perspectives and insights and suggestions from all of you.

The Chat for Members and Comments for Subscribers

We have opened the Chat for paid members as well but as of now the conversation has not been very involved. So we will talk in the virtual gathering about how best to use it.

Don’t be shy about wading in. The Chat is not that different from commenting on the pieces, which have sparked come interesting discussions.

I pay close attention to all comments, and everything in the Chat. I often wade in with my own comments and clarifications and answers too. So consider engaging in both.

Thanks again for making this Substack series such a success. I’m looking forward to talking with many of you in the weeks ahead.