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What is GROK?
GROK is an event unlike any other. It's a gathering of creative people who want to connect with their peers and discuss the most pressing issues of our day.
It's a call for everyone who is tired of events where passive attendees sit for hours at a time and listen to speakers on stage. GROK is an event for active learning and sharing and where every voice truly matters.
Instead of listening to speakers, GROK is built around group discussions called 10/20s.
What are 10/20s?
10/20s are mediated discussions between about a dozen participants. Any participant in a 10/20 can propose a topic for discussion. You can talk about software, your work environment, your personal challenges – anything that's on your mind.
After 10 minutes of conversation, the session leader can choose to close the topic and ask for another. If the conversation is particularly interesting, the session leader can extend the clock for another 10 minutes, hence the name, "10/20s."
Session Leaders
At GROK, everyone is welcome, and we invite some of the best designers and thinkers in the industry to mediate the 10/20s and bring their experience and insight to every conversation.
Keynote Speakers
Aaron Draplin
Draplin Design
Raised in the Michigan Northwoods, schooled at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and currently hunkered down in the mighty Pacific Northwest, the Draplin Design Co. proudly rolls up its sleeves on a number of projects related to the Print, Identity, Web Development, Illustration and Gocco Muscle categories.
Carl Smith
nGen Works
Owner and founder of nGen Works, Carl's role is that of an advisor, to nGen and other companies, on how to create self-sustaining teams that perform at the highest levels.
Jenn Lukas
Ind. Web Designer
Jenn Lukas is a multi-talented front-end consultant and freelancer developer in Philadelphia and is the founder of Ladies in Tech. She writes for The Nerdary, is a columnist for .net magazine, and has contributed to The Pastry Box Project. She has spoken at a variety of conferences, including dConstruct, An Event Apart, and CSS Dev Conference.
Jenn's past experiences range from creating Navy training simulations to leading the front-end team at Happy Cog as Interactive Development Director. She was named one of Mashable's 15 Developer/Hacker Women to Follow on Twitter, and you can find her on Twitter posting development and cat-related news. When she's not crafting sites with the finest of web standards, Jenn teaches HTML and CSS for GirlDevelopIt.
Dr. Paul Roof
Holy City Beard & Moustache Society
Paul Roof is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Charleston Southern University and specializes in urban studies and popular culture.
In 2007, while teaching at the College of Charleston, Paul founded the Holy City Beard & Moustache Society. This American Beardsman's recent beard contest victories include 5th Place in the World Freestyle Beard 2011, 1st Place Freestyle Beard in the Miami Beard & Moustache Championships 2011, 3rd Place Full Beard Natural in the North Carolina Beard & Moustache Championships 2012, and 3rd Place Freestyle Beard in the East Coast Beard & Moustache Championships held in Philadelphia 2012, and 2nd Place Freestyle Beard in the National Beard & Moustache Championships held in New Orleans in 2013. His beard has been featured on Buzzfeed, GQ Magazine, UK Telegraph, Reader's Digest and Ripley's Believe It or Not!.
Special Performance
Moldover
Musician
If technology and music are your life, brace yourself- MOLDOVER is about to reformat your soul. Hailed by over 1,000,000 YouTube viewers as "The Godfather of Controllerism", Moldover is a new breed of music icon. Combining the charisma of a rock star, the mad genius of a basement inventor, and the radical inclusiveness of the DIY internet generation, Moldover is "literally throwing away the rule book and reinventing the wheel" (Remix Magazine). Witness his balls-to-the-wall LIVE SHOW at a club, experience one of his JAMBOX multiplayer instruments at a festival, or pick up and play the "LIGHT THEREMIN" packaging of his debut album and understand why the next paradigm for music is a one-man-brand called Moldover.
Schedule
Three jam-packed days of fun with designers, developers, thinkers, good conversation and beer! GROK takes place at the Huguenot Mill and at The Iron Yard's HQ both in Downtown Greenville.
Sponsors
A Presentation Of
