A couple of months ago a random FedEx arrived at meebo’s office. It said something like “Congratulations, you’ve been nominated to attend a special event in Washington DC where you’ll meet people who are passionate about changing the world.” It went on to describe that it would include an all expense paid trip to Washington DC and that I’d meet insanely incredible people. My initial reaction: yeah right, this can’t be real!
Well, I found a picture of an acquaintance who had attended last year and her exact words were “it’s even better than it looks.” So off I went!
Upon arriving, we suspected something was up when we were told that our first stop would be the United States Supreme Court. We walked outside and there were even bomb sniffing dogs giving our buses a once-over before we got in! Upon arriving at the court, we listened to Chief Justice Roberts, along with Justices Kennedy and Bader Ginsburg speak. We even got to lob a few questions their way. After that, everyone attending the conference got acquainted with each other over dinner…and what a group of people this was.
I was completely outclassed. It turned out that the majority of folks who were nominated to attend the conference were very high achieving graduate students from around the world (I’m a business school drop out!). There was the neuroscientist from Singapore, the computer scientist from Israel, and the woman from Egypt who was passionate about alleviating world poverty. They had won awards like Rhodes Scholarships, Truman Scholarships, Reynolds Scholarships and the like. I felt a bit like a fish out of water… how did I end up here?
The Academy of Achievement (the name of the organization that puts on the conferece) was started by Catherine and Wayne Reynolds and is funded by the Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation. Their goal is to bring together high-achieving students from around the world with some of the world’s greatest leaders. We heard from Ian Frazer, the person who discovered the vaccine for HPV. Andre Agassi and Peyton Manning on what it takes to succeed in professional sports. Bill Clinton on his thoughts about reducing energy consumption. Michael Milken on how to enable mortgages in Egypt, and more.
I managed to find one of the conference organizers and got the answer to that pesky question of how I ended up there: Catherine Reynolds had read the article that talked about meebo a few months ago in Bloomberg Magazine. Talk about lucky placement!
In the end, the conference was fantastic. Students who are passionate about making the world a better place, from working on basics such as getting clean water to the billions without easy access to conserving energy to slow global warming, came together from 40 countries around the world. We got to learn from both each other and the incredible set of folks who spoke. It was a unique experience and I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to attend such an event.
Seth
[ comments ] [ past blogs ]
June 27th, 2007 at 12:42 am
v
June 27th, 2007 at 2:04 am
Yes, It sounds trully interesting for me and my competencies, I am looking forward to get more info and details. Warm hello from Barcelona!!!
Susana Maria.
June 27th, 2007 at 2:11 am
haa waxaan jeclahay in aan……………?
June 27th, 2007 at 2:17 am
haye sxbyaa waan idiin salaamay
June 27th, 2007 at 2:18 am
Thats truely amazing. Congradulations on the placement, there will certainly be a lot of people jelous of such an opportunity!
How many people where roughly invited? Makes you think how small the world is if somebody that high in the hierarchical structure of politics could read an article and make that decision. Though, having only just read the article myself, you guys really diserve it.
Congradulations once again!
-Mat
June 27th, 2007 at 2:29 am
Congratulations on joining part of the Third Reich in D.C. With a jew name like Seth you’d think you’d stay far away from events like that!
June 27th, 2007 at 3:33 am
yupy
June 27th, 2007 at 3:34 am
I’m callin’ U When all my keys And all my bizz Runs all so smooth I’m thankin’ U See the halves in my life My patience, my wife With all that I know Oh, take no more than I deserve Still need to learn more Oh, no, no I don’t need nobody & I don’t fear nobody I don’t call nobody but U My One & Only I love you, I miss you, I forget you Even though you never let me down and always are by my side For all the times I’ve failed and hurt you deeply Better later than never to give you a 1000 apologies I’m shouting silently, callin’ you, I’m listening to you, I’m tryin’ You nourish me When the air that I breathe is violent and turbulent I’m forgettin’ you, I’m callin’ you, I’m feelïn’ you I’m callin` you at mightnight
June 27th, 2007 at 4:15 am
Congratulations.
Josh
June 27th, 2007 at 5:03 am
ACE
June 27th, 2007 at 5:49 am
congrads…..sounds like u had a great time too!
June 27th, 2007 at 6:17 am
welcome to DC!
June 27th, 2007 at 6:20 am
That’s a really great story. Most times because of the volume of spam we all receiver on a daily basis, we are quick to discard anything that remotely resembles it. Congrats on having a good eye to notice the difference. I hope that I can be so lucky one of these days.
-Irwin -_- Trinidad & Tobago
June 27th, 2007 at 6:26 am
Congratulations seth. Hope i can join one of these conferences in the future. =)
June 27th, 2007 at 6:47 am
that sounds fun but i woldnt go i am not iterested in that stuff but it seem like u lots of fun so congrats
June 27th, 2007 at 7:07 am
Hi
I have found a bug.
When i logged in the meebo and after logged out, it asks to Reconnect.
If i clicks on the Reconnect, it starts my session again by logging but i am not able to see my available buddy list.
Thanks,
Laxman D. Lature
June 27th, 2007 at 7:18 am
Wonderful to read about the academy and truly a a great achievement for you as the founder to go there. Are you still in touch with some of those truly bright and interesting people you met at the Academy?
It is an inspiration to the 21 year old’s out there such as myself that you can achieve so much and still be quite young (some of the folks on the website are younger than 25!)
Good work and my very best wishes to meebo!
Shr
June 27th, 2007 at 7:43 am
June 27th, 2007 at 8:32 am
way cool seth! congrats!
June 27th, 2007 at 9:47 am
thats nice to hear.
just to report a bug – the yahoo friends list is not shown,none of the online or offline ones. pl try to fix it as soon as possible
June 27th, 2007 at 9:51 am
That sounds like it was an amazing trip! Congratulations on the nomination! Did you take any photos?
June 27th, 2007 at 10:08 am
ok you are the best.bravo
June 27th, 2007 at 10:09 am
ok.you are the best.bravo
June 27th, 2007 at 10:37 am
hi all
June 27th, 2007 at 11:00 am
i would be very grateful to join this prestigious conference this time around since am on vacation.
tahnk you.
June 27th, 2007 at 11:04 am
Did it help?
June 27th, 2007 at 11:30 am
That’s really awesome, I’m completely jealous. You deserve it, Meebo is an incredible project, it’s really inspired me in a web dev project that I’m working on.
June 27th, 2007 at 11:34 am
Good for u…only if they would do these types on conferences often and in more city to broaden the public knowledge.
June 27th, 2007 at 11:48 am
Let’s see, where to start? I’m not trying to rain on your parade but …
What does Bill Clinton know about solving global warming? He had his day in the sun (pun intended) and failed to raise federal MPG standards to 45 MPG which would not only reduce green house emissions but also nearly eliminate US imports of OPEC’s ill-gotten goods, giving the Pentagon fewer reasons to wage war on the Mideast. Granted he failed less miserably than President Cheney has, but look who he’s working for. We the People should have known better.
Who are the real patriots in the US? Those who want to solve big problems or the rich who want to continue creating them (GM, Ford, Exxon-Mobil)?
I run websites too, so, like Meebo (which BTW I love), I am also contributing to the huge amount of energy being wasted in data centers across the globe, not to mention the immense amount of heat and waste spewed into the atmosphere by CPUs, disk drives, and massive A/C units.
Although we consider ourselves to be technically superior to the third world, we are in fact making the desert conditions in certain regions of Africa more acute, dire, and desperate, resulting in starvation, thirst, disease, violence, and death. The difference between us and the third world is that we have more money to buffer ourselves when the catastrophe comes (Katrina was not a good example of this – look instead at FEMA responses in Florida the same year).
John Edwards, who was in California for the Taking Back America conference recently, has some ideas. He wants to put Africans to work so they can cultivate the “biocrops” that will ultimately be burned in our gas tanks and, presumably, power generators.
But where will African water come from?
Africans can barely grow enough food to feed their own people. What happens when it becomes more profitable for a tiny land-owning minority in Africa to grow food for our cars instead of African stomachs?
Did the conference offer any real solutions or were you patting yourselves on your collective back before massive wildfires and hurricanes take their toll? Did any of our genius leaders mention the precipitous loss of bee colonies?
I’m not a pessimist. One thing we can do is hold hands in prayer circles and focus on lasting change – in our heads. Altering Sting’s words a bit: There is no technological solution to a troubled evolution. Western civilization is willing to give technology one more shot when in fact it’s the cause of our woes. Sadly, the majority fears a future without gadgets.
The prayer goes like this: “We embrace the joy and pain of life. We live and love in the moment.”
If we are unable to curb our collective addiction to hiding behind PS2, TiVo, 1080p, blu ray, SUVs, and blogs, perhaps we can pray into existence cold fusion. To heck with the poor, in the US, Africa, and everywhere for that matter.
Americans are far too good natured to continue thumbing their noses to the world and, indeed, to their own failing middle class and poor.
We shall overcome. Somehow.
June 27th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Who sponsors these events? Are they funded by our tax dollars? Was anything really accomplished during your visit? Call me a skeptic, but I’ve always been a bit baffled by events such as these. Is this supposed to be a chance to network with other not-so-like-minded people, or just a pep rally for over achievers? Did they at least hit you up for a contribution to their organization? I guess I’m missing the point altogther. Anyhow, congrats on your accomplishments. Here’s to Meebo building a better tomorrow…
June 27th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Hello,
We would like to do an interview with you about your blog for
http://www.BlogInterviewer.com . We’d like to give you the opportunity to
give us some insight on the “person behind the blog.”
It would just take a few minutes of your time. The interview form can
be submitted online at http://bloginterviewer.com/submit-an-interview
Best regards,
Mike Thomas
BlogInterviewer.com
June 27th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
that’s great,man. I hope to be as lucky as you. wow. I thought alot of graduates were the ones creating these sites, but hey, where there’s a will there’s a way, eh?
Take care
June 27th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Wow,that’s pretty weird and amazing at the same time. I mean, for a letter to just pop up like that and offer you a wonderful experience… it’s cool. It’s like those ads a person could get sometimes in the newspaper or the post office except those ads are usually a scam. But hey, you never know, you could’ve been missing something that comes once in a life time…
June 27th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
whoaa
thats awesome.
like secret tops cool stuff!
June 27th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
cool opportunity . . . sounds like success has it perks!
June 27th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
What an amazing honor. It is so wonderful to know that meebo had representation there and that you are among those with a heart for both business, technology and compassion, using resources to make this planet better. As a lifelong conservative that is on an amazing journey discovering that this world is bigger than just the USA (like I never knew that) it is just awesome that you got nominated for this. Wish I could have listened to this stuff. Congratulations on your achievement.
- Bill Miller
Charlotte, NC
June 27th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
it’s really a one heck of experience for you huh! sounds intimidating being around with them. but that’s a good exposure.
June 27th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
Wow, Congratulations, what an honor.
Seth, I just wanted to say… you see yourself as a business school ‘dropout’… but what about some of the worlds most successfully people. Not everyone has a college education.
Bill Gates was a ’school dropout’ to name one.
And look at what you have already achieved… look froward to the future!
June 27th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
As a former employee and administrative personnel of “The Summit” I want to warn you Seth of what you have gotten into. It is a neat event, and fun to go to, just be wary of the organizers.
You have my email address if you wish to learn more. I am not telling you what to do, just some insight from the other side of the coin. I am not disgruntled, or militant, but informed, and like meebo a lot. I would hate for it to go down the tubes with out first being informed.
June 27th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
Congrats. Really… nothing like rubbing noses with the elite. Nothing like hearing about how the upper crust use thier influence to bring people together. And did I miss something but how is meebo changing the world? Egyptian women who wants to get rid of world poverty – thats change. Guy who dropped out of school to join start up that is the same as half a dozen other applications (only get this, its web based… gasp!) and is hell bent on bringing back chatrooms. Shudder. I guess I just don’t see the connections.
Congrats on joining the top 1 percent of not just the United States but the entire world as well. Hope you like changing the world from the top down. Its been working really well for everyone else that is on the top trying to do the same thing…
June 27th, 2007 at 5:54 pm
While Cathysaurus Rex is expressing a view that is a bit skewed, CBR and WRR are not nazi, or affilated with such goals. They are in business to make money. I now don’t agree with the way they are doing it, and they are slick marketers. Do drop me a line if you have the time.
June 27th, 2007 at 6:10 pm
neuroscientist from Singapore??? Wow! I am from Singapore and dun even know we got this professional! keke….
June 27th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
hi ,guys
I found a website is china (www.meebo.com.cn),which has the same idea as your website,even the logo!
I think you need a actioin on this thing.
June 27th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
看得吃力！
June 27th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
Good job. I must say that I am very impressed with meebo. I began using it initially to go on AIM from my lab computer (WashU in StL) but now it has become my strict replacement over standard AIM. Congratulations, and hopefully we’ll see much more from you in the future.
June 27th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
Woah. Talk about great opportunities! That’s so cool to be with all those great people. Hope you got some pictures! Congratulations! Not bad for a business school dropout ehehe.
June 27th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
Congratulations!!1……….it´s really nice and interestind for everybody…………
June 28th, 2007 at 12:03 am
chao mung ban da den voi hoanghoaky . Minh la do minh hoang , dang lam ve kinh doanh tai ha noi . neu cac ban co cung so thich hay quan diem ve kinh doanh , hay chia se voi minh nhe . moi chi tiet xin lien he :
email : hoanghoaky@yahoo.com
TEl : 84916063425
Rat han hanh duoc chao don cac ban .
June 28th, 2007 at 12:24 am
wow! surely it was an amazing experience for you. I’ve read lot of stories like this. i haven’t get any experience of such but have some friends who did. they have story like you, meeting many people around the world who have many ideas about making the world better. i hope such conference is really can make the world better…
June 28th, 2007 at 12:33 am
excellent blog after a while …
i wish i were in ur shoes.
people all over the world need to see a blog like this more often.
this is definitely motivating enough to ignite the fuel inside.
i wish to see some more of these blogs. i guess the world needs a great number of seth’s.
June 28th, 2007 at 12:44 am
Nice article.. though, I received a similar letter a couple of years ago and figured it to be a hoax, never went, never looked into it. Still, after reading your article I find it somewhat difficult to believe that such an event is actually organised.
Love the amount of irrelevant replies you receive on your blog, though.
June 28th, 2007 at 12:53 am
Thats Koo and Funny, I know how you were feeling, I’ve been there,
Well Cong on getting a trip there.
June 28th, 2007 at 5:49 am
Meebo is awsome be for i was on express but now im on meebo its awsome o ya i said already lol who ever made meebo is awsome!!!!!!!!
June 28th, 2007 at 5:50 am
Meebo is awsome be for i was on express but now im on meebo its awsome
lol who ever made meebo is awsome!!!!!!!!
June 28th, 2007 at 5:51 am
Meebo is awsome be for i was on express but now im on meebo its awsome
June 28th, 2007 at 5:57 am
cool beans man!
June 28th, 2007 at 6:30 am
Sounds really neat!
June 28th, 2007 at 6:39 am
Seth,
You are very humble and very special.I admire you for your achievement and you are doing such a great job.Give yourself a pat in the shoulder for me.
Iam from Philippines and often thinking about going back to school to be somebody and it’s tough in this World but God is my refuge that he knows what my future will be.
Way to go Seth …Good luck to all that you do….
June 28th, 2007 at 7:23 am
That’s so cool ! you guys are the best! I try and spread the word of meebo as often as I can ..people just don’t get it.. their loss! congrats!
June 28th, 2007 at 7:34 am
Quite awesome!
I read the article to which you referred to.. Thank you quite kindly for all the sacrifices you’ve made in keeping Meebo alive and well.
I am quite proud of you, you moderately large group of dedicated entrepreneurs-you!
June 28th, 2007 at 8:18 am
Thats pretty damn awesome — Clinton Rocks!!!!!
Congratulations!!!
June 28th, 2007 at 9:27 am
What an awesome opportunity! I’m sure you deserved it. Geniuses come in all shapes, sizes, nationalities and educational backgrounds… don’t undervalue your achievements!
June 28th, 2007 at 9:29 am
Congratulations, that really does sound like a cool conference.
June 28th, 2007 at 10:21 am
Nice
June 28th, 2007 at 10:27 am
Well, let me congratulate you for that achievement that you did deserve ! Everyone is different so true , but how many people have succeeded and didnt get a higher education? You might not have graduated from business school, but you have been sucessful in other ways. “Sucess” isnt the same to everyone. SO let me congradulate you for working hard to get there , it wasnt luck , it was you.
-Karia
June 28th, 2007 at 11:33 am
Wow, congrats. keep up the great work.
June 28th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
Seth don’t forget what Meebo truly does. Meebo is a extremely cool tech startup that uses great technology and seems like it employs only awesome people. The huge thing that Meebo allows anyone in the world to do is COMMUNICATE. That’s why you were there. Congratulations!
June 28th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
wow sounds like a good time
June 28th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
awesome.. those types of things are so cool.. you learn a lot and meet a lot of interesting people. kudos
June 28th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
nice!
I wished I was there, too!
June 28th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
Cool!
June 28th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
Now what to do with this information? Post it here? Share?
June 29th, 2007 at 3:13 am
helo sandy
June 29th, 2007 at 3:15 am
ce mai faceti mai oameni voi??/
June 29th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
U da man Seth way 2 go thanx a bunch i luv u!!!
>-
June 29th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Seth add me hallabackatme11
June 29th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
jk jk jk Seth mi sn iz pinkbay92 im me otay!!!!
July 15th, 2007 at 1:29 am
i really enjoy the meebo.com it is pretty good and fulfil my all requirements relted to this site i also enjoy a one more site for shopping please visit it.
http://www.shoppingsegment.com
July 23rd, 2007 at 2:15 am
its a great way to learn about the the forest adventures
July 24th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
Olá ! Hi !
im am brasiliam !
eu sou brasileira !
eny one wanna tc ?
alguem quer tc ?
July 24th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
hii !
meebo is one shet men !
July 24th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
alguem eh brasileiro por aqui ?!
eu quero tcc !