London Hosts showed impressing hospitality!

During the days of the LONDON CALLING 2007, hundreds of CouchSurfers from allover found themselves surprised by the unbelievable hospitality of the London Hosts.

The Organizers of this Global Gathering have not only built the biggest CouchSurfing event ever, but also made sure that it was successfull for each and everyone.

It is up to the CouchSurfing Community now to pay Respect to one and all of the Organisation Team who put tons of efforts into this.

We want to simple thank all of you who made this priceless amazing event possible.

MIKKY MOUTH

Berlin Beach Camp May 24th-28th

CouchSurfers are getting ready to attend the Berlin Beach Camp 2007 which goes from Thursday May 24th 2007 until Monday May 28th. It has been organised by Michael Habermann (http://www.couchsurfing.com/miicoo) via his website (http://www.happy-traveller.de).

The Berlin Beach Camp is not officially affiliated with any hospitality exchange network. However, it does tend to draw a majority of participants from Hospitality Club and a large minority from CouchSurfing, along with members from smaller hospitality exchange organisations. Thus, it is an ideal occasion to ignore "hospitality exchange branding" and just have lots of fun with like-minded people.

The program will consist of 4 days of fun activities including city walking tours, sports games, movie screenings and dancing. There'll even be a Free Hugs Campaign, organised by Couchsurfer Aaron Schultz (http://www.couchsurfing.com/profile.html?id=1EIN30U).

The campsite is called “Strandbad Grünau” (Sportpromenade 9, 12527 Berlin), a beautiful scenic area of Berlin’s southeast. The location has been rented exclusively for this occasion and boasts of a white sandy beach and a crystal clear lake, right in front of the camp. Accommodation is by way of camping or laying sleeping bags in the dormitory. Each participant is expected to pay 5 euros per night or 15 euros for all 4 nights.

As of writing, over 800 people have signed up for this gathering.

LINKS:
Berlin Beach Camp (MEET) http://www.couchsurfing.com/meetings.html?mid=987
Berlin Beach Camp (Group) http://www.couchsurfing.com/group.html?gid=1141
Free Hugs (Group) http://www.couchsurfing.com/group.html?gid=4109

Azarethroy

Evolution Solutions: ‘World that Transcends Money’

‘Human Capital’ Organizes in GiveGet Nation’s ‘Help Yourself by Helping Others’ E-Pool

Evolution Solutions, a New Haven, Connecticut-based, non-profit social enterprise, announced today the launch of the 1.0 version of its free person-to-person human resources sharing application, GiveGet Nation (www.givegetnation.net). First there was the Internet, connecting people everywhere. Then came Amazon, cutting out the middle man. Next, eBay gave a free window to millions of entrepreneurs. In 1998, people started Googling the world's information--and the Internet would never be the same.

And now, its founders say, GiveGet Nation will do all these things, all at once--without money--by circulating the limitless human product, labor, intelligence and spiritual capital of the world through pooling. “The human capital of the planet is beyond measure and is therefore priceless. It’s time we shared the bounty to heal the planet and help one another. That’s why GiveGet Nation was founded,” say founders Timothy Wilken, MD, and William Shanley. “By efficiently putting to work and circulating what’s already abundant via our e-pool, GiveGet Nation helps to improve the quality of life for people, set the world free from scarcity and save the Earth through synergy.” “Imagine living in a land where you don’t need money to get what you want in life and you’re free to share what you can afford. That world’s not here yet, but at GiveGet Nation, we’re working to manifest it,” said media producer William Shanley from his New Haven office. “We want to help you, your family and neighbors near and far experience a new world that’s beyond money. And we think we’ve got the right formula to make that happen. Our secret? We’re over money because the values people share are worth more than money.”

“Ours is a virtual new world that runs on both quantitative and qualitative dimensions of life, just like Mother Nature,” said Timothy Wilken, a physician and synergy scientist from his home in Carmel Heights, California. “Giving and receiving are really two sides of the same coin – the on-going, universal process of free exchange called ‘life.’ Our new culture of free exchange is based on values and principles that can’t be quantified, mortgaged, privatized or traded in the fragmented economy of Wall Street. Tragically, there’s not been a whole economy in ‘civilization’ since the invention of money. Now we’re going to change that. Think of us as the Humane Economy. We’re making a world that transcends money.” In GiveGet Nation, people can Give, Get and Share: Goods, Actions, Knowing and Spirit in an infinite number of categories and combinations. Share a babysitter or lawnmower. Volunteer to help rebuild New Orleans. Provide expertise. Find help for anything. Express and self-create. Adopt a family. Mentor a young entrepreneur. Give goods whose value is beyond money, like those special items you’ve been storing, don’t want to sell, and would prefer to gift to someone who values them the way you do. “Learn to live more freely. The only limit is your own imagination,” say Messrs. Wilken and Shanley.

GiveGet Nation is free. There are no middle men, fees or commissions of any kind. All transactions are unmediated and use whuffie, a post-scarcity, reputation-based currency voted when a transaction is complete. Whuffie was invented by science fiction writer Cory Doctorow. The greater a person’s whuffie, the greater their reputation for integrity in GiveGet Nation.

About the Science

Dr. Wilken went on to explain the science of GiveGet Nation. “GiveGet Nation is a gifting tensegrity, we call Giftegrity. A tensegrity is the exhibited strength that results when push and pull have a win-win relationship with each other. Tension is continuous and compression discontinuous, such that continuous pull is balanced by equivalently discontinuous pushing forces. We apply that principle to giving and receiving. Buckminster Fuller explained that these fundamental phenomena are ‘not opposites, but complements that could always be found together.’ GiveGet Nation’s economy runs on the power of the win-win relationship between desires to give and get. That’s why we call it Giftegrity.”“No matter how rich or poor, everyone has gifts and wishes and genius to share,” Mr. Shanley said. “GiveGet Nation provides the level playing field so everyone can play the infinite game of life. Think of us as the gifts and wishes e-pool where miracles happen when people’s values match.”

Values are Unlimited and Free

"Values are the basis of all moral, political and economic behavior." -- Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motor Cycle Maintenance

Human values like love, freedom, joy, creativity, growth, abundance and values fulfillment are examples of the primary sources of meaning upon which all goods, services and money are based. Human values are what people are really after in life; they are beyond measure and reside in an unlimited, qualitative domain that bridges both subject and object.“The wonderful thing about human values, the more you share them, the stronger and more attractive they become,” Dr. Wilken explained. “It’s like the relationship between a performer and an audience. A feeling bond is created that empowers the experience and performance for each.”

Conscious Evolution

“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems.” --Mahatma Gandhi

“Join the freedom movement,” Mr. Shanley urged. “Experience our new world of sharing. Help evolve GiveGet Nation. Let’s create ‘a world that works for everyone.’ That’s our Golden Rule.”“In GiveGet Nation gifts and wishes meet love and gratitude, so be fearless and register. Post gifts, wishes and shares. It doesn't matter which. All are fuel for our synergic, human values dynamo,” said Timothy Wilken. “Read author Marilyn Ferguson’s inspiring stories. Watch our movies. Unleash your spirit. Change the world. It won’t cost you anything you say can’t afford.”“Enhance the universal dance,” said William Shanley. “Help yourself. Dream a new future. Become your ideal self while helping others at the same time. So come on, Earth Seeds, let's Save Mother Earth and bring love, joy and abundance to all! Spirit’s calling out to us: ‘Give all you have to love and you will be all things.’ Visit GiveGet Nation. You might just learn to live free.”

About Evolution Solutions, Inc. Evolution Solutions, Inc. is a registered non-profit corporation based in New Haven, Connecticut whose sole purpose is to educate, inform and provide the means for people to consciously evolve “a world that works for everyone.” For more information about Evolution Solutions, Inc., its founders and associates, please visit the website www.givegetnation.net or contact William Shanley. Contact: William Shanley, President, 1+203+497+9334 or w.shanley@sbcglobal.net.

Shanley

CS Documentary premieres in Montreal

During the last year, CouchSurfer Pierre-Yves Beaulieu directed a 22 min. documentary film about CouchSurfing. This film was produced as a university terminal project. It was shot in Montreal during October 2006 and it is approximately 2/3 in English and 1/3 in French. It features CouchSurfers Aaron , Anuj , Duke, Rico and Trey. Without being a marketing tool for CouchSurfing, the film aims to promote the CouchSurfing spirit and the positive values it involves.

The premiere is set for May 31st in Montreal (see www.couchsurfing.com/meetings.html?mid=2208 for more detailed infos) and the film will eventually be sent to a wide bunch of festivals all over the world. If you have questions or wish to suggest cool festivals in your area, you may send an email at couchsurfingfilm@gmail.com

Groulx

Announcing The CouchSurfing Leadership Team

Our CS community has recently passed its 200,000 members mark. Congratulations to everyone one of you for helping CS make a difference in the lives of people all over the world! More couches in more places and more people exploring the world, yet feeling at home wherever they go, making friendships that bridge cultures and continents. As CouchSurfing continues to grow, so does the way the organization operates. We have had several successful collectives now, and have learned a lot over the last four years. In the beginning, the Founders and a few Admins (trusted volunteers brought on board by Casey) maintained all the day-to-day business needed to run the project. This worked fine while CS was smaller, but the time has come for a more formalized organization structure with clear, transparent leadership and accountability, just like any other successful non-profit company.

Our purpose first and foremost is to serve the mission of CouchSurfing. In creating this structure, we are committing to excellent service to the community, effective and regular communication, a transparent decision-making process, quality operations management, and accountability to our mission and membership. To achieve this goal, we have established a Leadership Team comprised of Founders, Admins and a few dedicated, long-term volunteers. The core values of the team are:

Focus. Our top priority is to achieve the mission of CouchSurfing and serve the volunteers and members. Focus on the mission means that CS resources (workforce, finances, etc.) are dedicated to projects that directly serve to achieve the mission. The mission serves as the main criterion for determining which undertakings to support.

Service. Leadership is dedication to the mission, the members and the project, and is inclusive in nature. We strive to bring people together. We are representatives from the community and are open to voices from within the community. Leaders work closely with Ambassadors and volunteers to ensure that the needs of the members and the project are being met.

Structure. CS is a non-profit company that must operate with effective leadership whose purpose is to achieve the mission. The leaders serve as navigators determining the course of the company and making the strategic decisions about the future of CS, taking into consideration input from Ambassadors and the community as a whole. We have defined a clear policy for the Leadership Team, which includes the requirements for membership, a consensus decision-making process, policy for removal from the team, emergency provisions, public records and accountability. For more information on this policy, please see: www.couchsurfing.com/wiki/Leadership_Team

Quality. We have defined the attributes and qualifications for leaders that will best serve the CouchSurfing organization. We are creating a peer-review system to insure leaders and volunteers meet high standards, are accountable for their actions, and are constantly challenged to grow and improve. For more information on this please see: www.couchsurfing.com/wiki/Leadership_Qualities

Communication. We strive for transparency in the organization. Decision making processes and the operation of the Leadership Team is open record, including: - Leadership Team members and area of focus - New appointments to the Leadership Team, including selection process - Regular communication about operations process, including quarterly leadership progress reports - Financial Records - Policies and guideline

The Leadership Team members and area of focus are:
Casey Fenton: President and Visionary Leader, Founder
Dan Hoffer: Operations Leader, Founder
Aldo Golja: Policy Development, Member Safety
Chris Burley: Tech Team Coordinator
Duke: Community Building, Translations
Heather O'Brien: Public Relations, Content Writing (Newsletter, Internal/External Communications), TV/Documentary/Media Projects
Jesse Fenton: Finances, Documentation, Verifications
Jim Stone: Volunteer Coordination, Verifications
Promitheus: Ambassador Coordination
Rachel diCerbo: Member Disputes and Safety, Chat Room Coordination
MrRico: Media Coordinator
Mattthew Brauer: Homepage News, Member Projects, Internal Communications

Many members of the Leadership Team (we wish everyone could make it!) will gather in North America at the end of May to refine the structure and policies. Those who can't be in attendance will still participate remotely. One goal of this conference is to solidify CS's leadership model and implement a solid, stable organizational structure. This structure will be more like a traditional non-profit company than the looser "ad-hocracy" model used in the past. However, the new structure will create a way for any volunteer to eventually take on as much responsibility as he or she desires and to participate in the decision-making corresponding to that level of responsibility.

New volunteers may join by gaining ambassadorship and proving their ability to handle the responsibilities and tasks of ambassadorship. Ambassadors may then take on a specific volunteer role with more responsibility by joining a working team, such as tech development or communications. As these volunteers responsibility and trust grows, they will become the pool from which new leadership team members are selected. We need more committed, hardworking, mission-dedicated people on the Leadership Team! Like a traditional management team, the existing leadership will make decisions to "promote" trusted volunteers, using the process outlined in the Leadership Team Policy. CouchSurfing grows and changes at a rapid pace. This leadership structure is sturdy, yet flexible, and can best adapt to our growing and evolving community. We have a large responsibility to guard the safety and privacy of our members as well as the stability of the organization. This structure ensures that a team of long-term volunteers are responsible and accountable for meeting the needs of the CouchSurfing's mission: facilitating a way to experience intercultural understanding via hosting and surfing couches.

Leadership can only be effective by listening to the needs of the community. With so many active participants, it is impossible come up with a system that is optimal for all members -- you just can't please everyone! That said, we are open to feedback and improvements before presenting the new organizational structure to the community at large within the next two months. This is an exciting time for CS! CouchSurfing is stronger everyday thanks to the hard work and dedication of the Ambassadors and volunteers. We are constantly impressed by and grateful for the contributions to the CouchSurfing Project and it's mission of making a difference not only in the way we travel but in how we relate to the world.

Fenton

Couchsurf photo exhibition in Montenegro

An photo exhibition dedicated to couchsurfing idea and travels is going to take place in Herceg-Novi, Montenegro on 27th of may. Jason Brown (CS - JASONCONGA) will expose photos from his couchsurf travels and will be available to all visitors with his stories from different countries and couchsurfing experiences! Details about this happening can be found at the Meet chapter...http://www.couchsurfing.com/meetings.html?mid=2274

Bulatovic

The OpenCouchSurfing Campaign

Today saw the launch of OpenCouchSurfing Campaign: www.opencouchsurfing.org

Our mission is to: Participate in creating a Better and More Open CouchSurfing Organisation, one Freedom at a time. We believe in the spirit of CouchSurfing, of creating a better world through understanding. We believe this purpose is best served by a truly Open Organisation, one that is representative of the CouchSurfing community as a whole. We believe information should flow freely through an Open Organisation. We have realized that this Freedom will not come from within the Couchsurfing core itself. We believe in being able to help Couchsurfing by opening the organisation from the outside.

Take action now, sign the petition: www.opencouchsurfing.org/petition

Macdonald

CS member currently attempting to climb Mount Everest

David Klein, of Budapest is making his third attempt at climbing Mt. Everest. This time, he's attempting to summit without the use of supplementary Oxygen. You can check his progress, or drop him some encouraging words at his website, www.expeditions.hu Wish him good weather, he's never been much for luck - Adam Shor.

Shor