The third session of the World Urban Forum in June 2006 will bring as many as eight thousand people to Vancouver to debate ideas and issues about urban development in a global context of rapid change. National/local governments and international organizations; elected leaders and legislators; urban planners and architects; grassroots organizations and global NGOs; experts and academics; financiers and builders; development and green space specialists - all and more will be in Vancouver to help turn ideas into action.
The World Urban Forum is an event with limited attendance, but to be successful it must also be part of an inclusive process of dialogue and action in support of sustainable urban living. Therefore, as part of the preparations for Vancouver, the Government of Canada, in partnership with UN-HABITAT, sponsored a global online conference Dec 1-4, 2005 called the Habitat JAM.
The Habitat JAM was the first of its kind - an internet event of a scope and magnitude that had never been attempted outside of a corporate environment. It was a demonstration project that was intended to help facilitate a more effective and inclusive World Urban Forum 3, by enabling more participants to contribute their ideas and expertise to the June event. Its purpose was to bring the actionable ideas of tens of thousand of diverse representatives from all walks of life and vocations to the forum.
Gayle Moss was the Director of International Marketing for the Habitat JAM with overall responsibility for the event. Working closely with IBM as the JAM technology provider and with a team of 20 consultants, she developed and executed a marketing campaign which signed up registrants from over 190 countries and brought over 39,000 people to the event in just 3 months.
Ms. Moss also was responsible for creating and producing the Habitat Jam movie, funded by IBM. This included writing the script, conducting all interviews, collecting video and pictures from around the world and editing many hours of footage to produce this 20 minute documentary.
The Habitat JAM was an unprecedented success, producing over 600 actionable ideas for the World Urban Forum 3 and bringing together thousands of people who might never have a chance to meet or participate in a United Nations event of this kind.
"Under impossible deadlines and significant resource constraints, Gayle Moss and her team delivered a highly successful online event which not only exceeded the expectations of the World Urban Forum 3 Secretariat, but had a major impact on the future of our cities and the role civil society can play in solving some of the planet's most critical urban issues."
Charles Kelly, Commissioner General, World Urban Forum 3