The most meaningful app​roach to storytelling is interaction with the people who are the stories: current, living, creators of new ideas and developers of the latest innovations. Through engagement with the “who behind the what,” the stories come alive and create an emotional impact.

Our annual ciLive! (Celebrate! Innovation Live) gives students and the community opportunities to interact with people (some famous, all inspired) who have dreamed, created, and accomplished. During this thought-provoking and interactive event, students listen, absorb, and engage without the stress of the regular class routine. Generous sponsors make the event free and open to the public.

Ever since DMACC West Campus was established in 2001, fostering student creativity and innovation has remained the goal of all programs and courses. ciLive! is the thriving, inspiring, embodiment of this goal.

ciLive! is a local-facing conference with world-class presenters, making it a unique combination of a university lecture series, Ted Talks, and SXSW.

If you’re interested in sponsoring this incredible event, email DMACC West Provost, Dr. Anthony Paustian, at adpaustian@dmacc.edu.

​History

A ciLive zombie hands out a promotional flyer for ciLive! 2016.

ciLive! was born out of a conversation during the construction of the permanent Celebrate! Innovation exhibition in the DMACC West building. The incredible, interactive exhibit, which is free and open to the public, highlights American innovation and innovators from the past 200 years, including the extraordinary evolution of personal computing technologies and telecom systems. DMACC West Provost, Anthony Paustian, believed an event that featured actual innovators speaking about their experiences would attract more people to the building and exhibit.

The first ciLive! was held March 1 through 5, 2010 and featured keynote speaker Captain Alan Bean, Apollo 12 & Skylab 3 astronaut and the fourth man to walk on the moon. Working with a limited budget those first few years, Paustian still managed to bring nationally known speakers, including Steve Wozniak in 2012, to headline the annual event. Today each ciLive! hosts multiple keynote speakers and four featured speakers, all presented free of charge to the public. ciLive​! has grown rapidly from its humble beginnings in 2010 to an event that attracts tens of thousands of people either attending in person or watching live though the HD broadcast on e360TV​.​​

Even as ciLive! grows in attendance and regional recognition, the deep consideration of quality and focus on facilitating interaction with the people within the story of innovation has remained constant since the founding of the event.