My apologies to the folks outside Minnesota, but I have been directly and indirectly working on some events around the Twin Cities that I thought locals might find of interest. For everyone – Rick in Minneapolis expanded on last week’s Byte on Google Alerts by pointing out that you could monitor your own name to see who’s talking about you!

Here are the events:

Podcasts, Wikis, RSS, and Blogs with Garrick Van Buren – Tuesday July 12 5:00-6:30 – St. Paul, Minnesota

Garrick Van Buren Principal Behavior Strategist at Working Pathways Inc, a social software consulting and customer research firm will be talking about pocasts, wikis, and blogs. There is no cost. To learn more contact atreacy@treacyinfo.com.

International Symposium on Local E-Democracy- July 26-27 – Minneapolis, Minnesota

This is the world’s first international conference focused specifically on local e-democracy. The first day we’ll explore leading e-democracy trends around the world. The second day is a field trip to the “wired” chambers of the Minnesota State Legislature and Northfield, one of Minnesota’s forerunners in online civic engagement.

Minnesota Rural Summit – July 28-29 – Collegeville, Minnesota

The Great Reconnect – Bridging Rural & Urban Resources for Community & Economic Success. This is conference will showcase efforts that link community and economic resources between rural and urban Minnesota for the greater good of all. To learn more visit the conference web site.