OPEN Forum 2012

Where do Pakistani-Americans go to if they want to reduce the degrees of separation between them and the brightest minds working in the field of technology?  To the OPEN Forum, of course!   An all-day program of lectures and workshops the annual OPEN Forum provides an excellent opportunity to learn about the latest technologies and the time-proven techniques you can use to achieve your goals, and to find people that are in the fields you are pursuing or want to pursue.  OPEN Forum 2012, under the leadership of its new president Moazzam Chaudry, was held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View on June 2.

This year too, OPEN had three plenary sessions: a morning ‘fireside chat’ featuring Sharon Vosmek, CEO of Astia, a non-profit organization, moderated by Ammar Hanafi, general partner at Alloy Ventures; an afternoon keynote by Salman Khan of the Khan Academy; and an evening ‘fireside chat’ featuring Al Lieb, Cofounder & CEO of Clearside dot com and Aaron Levie, Cofounder &CEO of Box dot com, moderated by Aaref Hilaly, partner at Sequoia Capital.

This photo shows the audience at the session with Salman Khan.  Around 400 people gathered to listen to English-understanding-world’s favorite teacher over the Internet.