Despite all of our fast-paced technological advances, many people always say that face-to-face meetings are one of the most effective ways to network and share ideas. Hence, the need for conferences and convenings. Last year, CompuMentor held a huge two-day conference at Cisco's facilities down in the South Bay, where they brought together all sorts of practitioners of community technology who were interested in Web 2.0. Think of it as the non-profit version of O'Reilly Media's annual conferences. As with most conferences, folks asked, "What's next?" This year, CompuMentor took this to the next level by announcing a contest where almost anyone could pitch an idea. Anyone interested in community technology would get chance to vote and the top vote-getters would get to compete for a cash prize to help seed their project. In addition, all finalists get a chance to attend this year's new-and-improved NetSquared conference, where folks from a wide array of backgrounds (industry, foundation, nonprofits, etc) will provide useful information and feedback about their projects. Check out all the nominated projects and feel free to add feedback to the finalists!