Demo Day 2018: The Power of a Collective

A community organizer gazed into Texas’ demographic future. A crisis-text-line founder explained how machine learning is helping to save lives. And a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter recounted the events behind one of the biggest stories of the year.

Emerson Collective’s second annual Demo Day brought together leading minds working at the intersection of social justice, education, health, environment, media, and the arts. Held on December 7, Demo Day ’18 presenters delivered talks, updates, and conversations as diverse and wide-ranging as the organizations they represent.

In addition to those presentations, Demo Day ’18 included several poignant performances, including an excerpt from the work of award-winning playwright and actor Anna Deavere Smith; a dance performance by members of ODC.

A varied group of visionaries connected the belief that our collective humanity pushes us all forward. “Leap and the net will appear,” said Emerson Collective Founder and President Laurene Powell Jobs, summing up the spirit of the event. “The net appears because we weave it together for ourselves and for each other.”