Africa: New dates for African Bloggers Conference announced · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

New dates for African Bloggers Conference, Kelele '09, have been announced. Kelele '09 was scheduled for August 13th-16th, 2009. The conference, which will bring together African bloggers for the first time, will now take place from 29th October – 1st November 2009 in Nairobi, Kenya.
What exactly is Kelele '09?:
Kelele is an annual African bloggers’ conference held in a different African city each year and run by an organising committee in that city. Kelele will be held for the first time October 29th – November 1st 2009 in Nairobi, Kenya.
Explanation for changing conference dates:
Greetings African Bloggers.
As the organizing committee of the KELELE Bloggers Conference, we would like to apologise for the postponement of the African Bloggers Conference—KELELE—which was due to take place from 13th to 16th August, 2009 in Nairobi, Kenya.
The African Bloggers Conference is an initiative of Kenyan bloggers and as the organizers we required significant financial support to underwrite the event. Although many sponsors had initially expressed interest in being a part of this great undertaking, due to the prevailing global economic climate they did not come through as we had anticipated.
We also encountered a setback while working out the logistics of partnerships with a sister event, namely the African Blog Awards. The African Blog Awards were to take place prior to the conference. The awards were designed to give Africans a chance to vote for the best blogs across the region with the winners from each country being awarded an all expenses paid trip to the conference.
We are now pleased to announce that the inaugural Kelele, Bloggers Conference will take place in Nairobi from 29th October– 1st November, 2009.
Mark your calendars, book your tickets and pack your bags because this is a conference you cannot afford to miss!
Subscribe to our newsletter here for more information on how to register for the conference.
Beat your Drum!
The theme of this year's conference is Beat Your Drum:
The theme of the conference is ‘Beat your drum’, a befitting theme that not only defines the influence that Africa has had in the world’s history mainly through its musical sounds but the sounds that have now entered the digital age into the blogosphere as the voice of its people.
With so many voices marginalised or simply ignored in the African society today mostly due to a lack of a free space, we believe that the internet in general and grassroots media tools such as blogs in particular represent the most powerful way in which Africans can take back their voice.
“We are gathering to make a powerful, positive, inspirational noise that will be heard across the continent and beyond; KELELE!” says Daudi Were the Kelele Project Coordinator and one of the KenyaUnlimited administrators.
African bloggers have defied all odds to tackle fundamental issues that are facing their communities as well as highlighting developments in technology, sport, music and art.
The conference is aimed at gathering Africa’s top grass root activists for a discourse and to create a synergy on the Internet. This will be the start of other similar conferences under the Kelele banner that will be held annually in different African Cities and will be run by an organizing committee in that city.
Kelele '09 needs your help:
Become a volunteer for Kelele '09:
Do you have graphic design skills that can help take Kelele’s branding and image to the next level? Please email us at main@kelele.org – we would love to work with you!
Are you proficient in either Kiswahili, French or Arabic? We need help with translating the key information on this website in order to reach as many African bloggers as possible! If you can help please email us at main@kelele.org – we would love to work with you!
Sponsor Kelele:
We invite organizations and companies to seize the opportunity to be associated with a positive movement rising across Africa by sponsoring the conference designed to bring a lot of that positive energy into one room. KELELE sponsorship demonstrates your organization’s support for Africa, the voices of Africans, citizen media and the benefits it can bring to people in the developing world. For corporations, KELELE sponsorship also offers the opportunity for brand positioning.
Sponsor a speaker or session
KELELE speakers will be traveling from across the globe. Help us cover all or part of the costs associated with a particular speaker or session. Sponsors’ names will be mentioned in all publicity material and KELELE announcements and be included in the session description. Sponsor logos will appear on the KELELE web site. Other entitlements may apply depending on the level of sponsorship.
Sponsor speakers or participants from a particular country
If your organization has an interest in a specific country, please consider helping us underwrite the cost of bringing people from that part of the continent to the Summit. Sponsors’ names will be mentioned in all publicity material and KELELE announcements and will be included in the session description (if participant is a speaker). Sponsor logos will appear on the KELELE web site. Other entitlements may apply depending on the level of sponsorship.
You can follow Kelele on Twitter and Facebook.
Here is the summary of proposed program and list of board of advisors and organizing committee.