First of all, Happy New Year to all of you. May 2011 be the best and the biggest so far. Like all of you, I am looking forward to 2011 with my eyes wide open. For many of you, I am sure 365 days are not sufficient to complete everything you have on your plate. So my prayers to GOD is that may you have that “extra capacity” and may you get some “good help” to fulfill all your dreams.

Now, coming to the topic of the first blog post of this year: CEREBRATE!

I was inspired by the CEREBRATE movement started by my friend Kiruba Shankar. Kavitha (my wife) and organized the first CEREBRATE in Silicon Valley (see participants) last year in July. It was an event that clearly demonstrated that we need more such events especially in Silicon Valley. CEREBRATE is an event that’s hard to describe. How can you describe an event that has no “real” agenda to start with except bringing together a few bright minds for 2-3 days and watching what happens? Well, rather than trying to describe it, it is best to experience it.

Here are some links related to the last CEREBRATE

1. CEREBRATE Announcement blog post for 2010 (dated Jul 11, 2010)

2. Post-CEREBRATE blog post by Karen Kang

3. Post-CEREBRATE blog post by Darius Miranda

4. A few photos on Flickr (from Maya Bisineer of ThinkMaya)

5. More photos from Flickr with tag #CEREBRATESV

The time has come for the next one. This is going to take place at the same location as last time – Mount Madonna in the Bay Area. The dates are Jan 21 to Jan 23, 2011.

The past CEREBRATE attendees have already nominated a few and they are being confirmed now. Of course, we are very well aware that more people ( that we don’t know ) should be invited and will contribute and benefit from the event. It may be you or someone that you respect. Please nominate them here:

Nominate for CEREBRATE Silicon Valley 2011 January Edition

We are looking for nominations from all fields – someone who has made meaningful contributions in the fields of arts, crafts, non-profits, business, technology, literature – actually any field for that matter.

The participants will all benefit and most definitely will leave the event with even more capacity to make a bigger difference.

The Fine Print: Nothing much except that we will restrict the attendance to around 15 or so. This means that we have about seven spots left to fill. There will a cost to attend but from the past experience, but the amount won’t be something that will stop anyone from attending the event as some of the sponsors cover a part of the costs associated with running the event.