The Social Good Summit kicked off yesterday with inspiring and eye-opening discussion, a bit of humor and a few new campaign launches.

 

Ted Turner and Mashable's  Executive editor Adam Ostrow opened the summit with a discussion on "Next Generation Leadership." Turner had the audience laughing with advice such as "Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise."

 

The promise of the next generation to effect change was a focus for much of the day's discussion. In the panel "Connectivity, Collaboration & Crisis: Youth and Humanitarian Action" with UN Under-Secretary-General Valerie Amos, the performer and philanthropist Monique Coleman stressed that young people don't have to wait until they've reached a certain level of success to do good. "If every young person pursued their greatest passion and then said, 'What part of this can be applied to social good?' You don't have to choose between being successful and being a philanthropist," she said.

 

Erin Schrode, one of three youth ambassador from One Young World and an example of a young person already taking action,  said she was "on a mission to end apathy." 

 

She added, "We have the tools, so those who are apathetic, no more excuses."

 

And Nancy Lublin, of Do Something, opened her humorous but informative presentation "HMU (hit me up!): Young People, Mobile and Social Change" with a Whitney Houston "Greatest Love of All" sing-along.

 

The day also saw the announcement of several new campaign launches. Charity:Water announced the launch of Dollars to Projects,  an online feature that will allow donors to see their donation dollars in action. 

 

Howard W. Buffet launched theLearnedByGivingFoundation.org, an education project that will help to empower young people to solve problems in their own communities.

 

And USAID Administrator Raj Shah announced the launch of FWD, a campaign that will use social media to bring awareness and dollars to the Horn of Africa, where famine, war, and drought are threatening lives.

 

The day also included many other though-provoking presentations.

 

David Armano of Edelman Digital presented "Digital Innovation in an Era Where Health is Social."

 

Amir Dar of Idealist.org asked people to find "a common goal, a common point of pain" in "How Many New Yorkers Does It Take to Change the World?"

 

Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the One Laptop per Child Foundation, presented "How to Achieve Universal Primary Education for All, in One Year: Solving the Problem of 70 Million Children Worldwide Not Even Reaching First Grade."

 

We First founder Simon MainWaring talked about "Building a Private Sector Pillar of Global Social Change."

 

Christy Turlington Burns, founder of Every Mother Counts and Heather Armstrong, of dooce.com, discussed their mission to end preventable deaths in pregnancy in the panel "The Future of Maternal Health and Technology and New Media."

 

Alec Ross, the Senior Advisor for Innovation for Hillary Clinton, wrapped up the day with a discussion on "How Networks are Changing Global Foreign Policy and Activistm."  He said a seismic change is occurring in the change of power from hierarchies to individuals and small institutions.  He also stated that with today's technology, a charismatic leader is no longer needed to start a movement. 

 

You can see yesterday's interviews here and can catch Day 2 of the summit on LiveStream here.