The unconference for people changing the world in big ways
Minds, not badges. Talks, not tickets. 2008–2018 — the complete archive.
In 2008, a group of friends got a crazy idea: crash TED. They wanted the conversations without the price tag — so in two weeks they booked a small venue down the street in Monterey, invited speakers, landed on NPR and in the LA Times, and threw a free, open, participant-run counter-conference. In an Excellent Adventure sort of way, they called it BIL.
For the next decade BIL happened wherever someone decided it should — an old Masonic Temple in Long Beach, the Queen Mary, a converted movie house in Vancouver, college campuses in Delhi and Salem, rooftops in Tunis, a bar in Davos during the World Economic Forum. Everyone stood on equal footing: the attendees were the speakers, the speakers were the attendees, and anyone with fifteen minutes and an idea got a stage. TED eventually answered the grassroots energy with TEDx; BIL just kept being BIL.
This site is the archive of all of it — every event, speaker, and talk that survived, restored from the original bilconference.com and preserved as it was written.
BIL around the world
62 events ~1250 speakers ~1300 talks 319 videos
Estimated from the events whose line-ups were documented — 731 speakers and 709 talks are archived here so far.
Events, 2008–2018
2018
BIL:Delhi 2018
Delhi
BIL:Vancouver 2018
BIL 2018: Los Angeles
Friday (set-up), Saturday, Sunday
BIL:Soukra
Soukra, Tunisia
2017
BIL:Davos 2017
Online
BIL:Philippines 2017
Cebu, Philippines
BIL: Vancouver 2017
Vancouver, BC, Canada
BIL San Francisco 2017
San Francisco
BIL:Salem 2017
Grand Estancia
BIL:Anime
Tunisia
BIL Chennai 2017 : The Smart City Conference
Hotel Accord Metropolitan
2016
BIL:Vancouver 2016
Vancouver, BC, Canada
BIL:Los Angeles 2016
Los Angeles
BIL:Oakland
Oakland, California
BIL:Uganda
Kampala, Uganda
BIL:Guanajuato
Guanajuato, Mexico
BIL:Fairhope
Fairhope, Alabama
2015
BIL:Bardo
Tunisia
BIL:Youth
Tunisia
BIL:Los Angeles 2015
Los Angeles, California
BIL 2015
Vancouver, Canada
BIL:Marsa
Tunisia
BIL:LPKairouan
Kairouan
BIL: FLASH LA 2015
Los Angeles
BIL Mahdia
Mahdia, Tunisia
BIL:CapBon
Tunisia
BIL:APBS
Tunis, Tunisia
BIL:Boumhel
Boumhel, Tunisia
BIL:La Medina
Tunis, Tunisia
BIL Soliman
Soliman, Tunisia
BIL:Women Tunisia 2015
Tunis, Tunisia
2014
BIL:SF 2014
San Francisco, California
BIL:ISIMM
Monastir, Tunisia
BIL:FST2
Tunis, Tunisia
BIL 2014
Vancouver, Canada
BIL:LPBT
Science City, Tunis, Tunisia
BIL:OpenGov
Tunis, Tunisia
BIL:Paris
Paris, France
BIL:CASL
Algeria
BIL:Women
Ben Arous, Tunisia
BIL:Ezzouhour
Ezzouhour, Tunisia
BIL:TN 2014
Tunis, Tunisia
BIL:LPGafsa
Gafsa, Tunisia
BIL:Kamcha
Tunis, Tunisia
BIL:LTR
Rades, Tunisia
2013
BIL 2013
Long Beach, California
BIL:FST
Tunis, Tunisia
BIL:FMT
Tunis, Tunisia
BIL:Kef
El Kef, Tunisia
BIL:ENIT
Tunis, Tunisia
BIL:Fo
Tunis, Tunisia
2012
BIL 2012
Long Beach, California
BIL:TN 2012
Tunis, Tunisia
BIL:Sayada
Sayada, Tunisia
BIL:ACT
Tunis, Tunisia
2011
2010
2009
2008
The next BIL is yours to throw
BIL was never an organization — it's a format, and the format is free. A venue, a whiteboard, and people with ideas worth sharing: that's how 62 of them happened on five continents. The organizers' handbook is preserved and waiting.
Host a BIL