[read the beginning]

The second panel was on Scrip and Paper Systems, moderated by Chris Lindstrom and featuring presentations from Susan Witt from the EF Schumacher Society (www.smallisbeautiful.org, www.berkshares.org) and Stephen DeMeulenaere formerly with Strohalm (www.complementarycurrency.org, www.strohalm.nl) and now with Concentric Network Economy Consulting (www.network-economies.com).  Susan presented her work with Chris on the Berkshares project which has taken off quickly and earned international media attention.  Stephen spoke about his work in Southeast Asia with Credit Unions and small enterprise networks using complementary currencies systems that use notes as the primary medium of exchange.

The next panel was on Loyalty and Reward Systems, moderated by Greg Steltenpohl from Odwalla and Interra, and featuring David Johnston from Carbon Credits, Jon Ramer from Interra and Ikuma Saga from Earth Day Money in Tokyo, Japan and Palma  from Eco2, the Carbon Credit project in California.

For the afternoon session, the panel was on Electronic Exchange Systems, moderated by Thomas Greco (www.reinventingmoney.com) and featuring Robert Gallant from GETS, Tim Jenkins from South Africa, Heloisa Primavera from the Colibri Project and Miguel Hirota from Japan.

Following the afternoon panel, Break Out Sessions were formed around the key topics and interests of the participants.  XO Barter, (www.barter-software.com) represented by Daniel Evans and two of his colleagues was given the opportunity to present their software and contributions to the commercial trade exchange industry.  Tim Jenkin also presented his popular CES software (www.ces.org.za).

In addition to our pre-conference Seminar on Complementary Currency Systems, other Pre-Conference Seminars included “Economic Development in the 21st Century: How local and state governments can help spark sustainable business innovation”, “New Business Models for Manufacturers & Branded Consumer Products, “Buy Local First Campaigns”.

After the Seminar ended, all BALLE participants gathered for local wine and oyster tasting before the dinner which featured Tom Bates, the Mayor of Berkeley and Van Jones of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights as the outstanding keynote speaker.

For the main conference on Friday, we were free to attend the Breakout Sessions of our choosing.  For the morning I attended the session “Promoting Democracy through Local Living Economies”, featuring Vicki Robin, David Korten, Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap and Gar Alerowitz, who talked about their work to change the direction the US were heading.

The other members of the Facilitation Committee attended different sessions geared towards exploring the different aspects of the field.  For the afternoon session, I attended the talk on “New Vehicles for Local Investing”, mainly to learn more about the Rudolph Steiner Foundation (RSF) that has been actively supporting complementary currency initiatives in North America.  However the presentation on local stock exchanges as a method for capitalizing new environmental and social enterprise was very interesting, as well as on how BALLE members were finding their sources of capital.

Late in the afternoon, there was a special session on the “B Corporation”, an emerging corporate model that institutionalizes stakeholder interests while helping the owners and managers of the company make the shift from private to public company, future transfers of power and ensuring that companies don't “sell-out” later in the future after the visionary leaders have moved on.

On Saturday, the last day of the conference, we had a meeting of the Social Money Workshop in the morning, and arrived at the conference for the Small Group Discussion on Complementary Currency which was facilitated by John Rogers and attended by 25 people, most of whom were from the Pre-Conference, plus several others who wanted to learn more about how to implement a system that would suit their community and goals, which was the outline of the workshop that John and the Facilitation Committee developed together.
After the small group discussions, we were all treated to another wonderful dinner and keynote speech by Simran Sethi of the Sundance Television Channel and its work to present social business and people working to make positive change.

Overall, participation in the BALLE conference was a great opportunity to meet and build relations, exchange ideas, present successes and discuss the differing viewpoints that make the complementary currency movement so interesting.  As with the participation of the Social Money Workshop in the World Social Forum, our participation in the Conference on Monetary Regionalization in Europe and at the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies in North America are excellent venues to present our efforts to our colleagues working towards a social, economic and environmental solidarity economy.

Stephen DeMeulenaere
http://www.appropriate-economics.org/stephen/index.html