Well, believe it or not but the iSummit is only 14 days away, which means that the staff in South Africa and Japan need to start tallying numbers and assigning hotel rooms to all those who intend on coming to the iSummit in Sapporo. This means that registration is closing on Monday 21 July, at 4pm GMT + 2, giving you one week to login to the system to book your seat at the event that is all about seeing, doing and learning about global digital culture.

In the last few months we've been blogging about the progress of the iSummit as it happens, but in case you have missed these updates, take a look at the following blog entries giving you highlights and details on all aspects of the event:

- We launched our programme schedule last week, and asked the iCommons staff, 'If there is one session of the iSummit that you would not miss for the world, what would it be?' So check out the choices of the people who live, eat and breathe the iSummit for ten months of the year, here.

- Taking you back to your childhood, the Live Drawing project is all about collaborating with only a blank piece of paper, a colourful crayon and your creativity! More here.

- We love our beer at the summit. This is an ongoing tradition going all the way back to the iSummit '06 in Rio de Janeiro (see the video to the right). Well, the good news is that we'll be continuing this tradition because FREE BEER is being brewed as we speak, especially for the iSummit by Canadian Brewery in Sapporo. So your next question must be: how does a 'Canadian' brewery based in Japan brew beer of Danish-origin, which is legendarily served to the Culture Minister in Brazil, make it to a global summit? Lauren Sethney explains all here. 

- The Japanese Culture sharing programme will allow you to experience the best of Japan during the iSummit tea breaks - from Origami workshops, to calligraphy lessons and a traditional tea ceremony experience. More highlights here.

- If you're attending the event or if you can't make it but would like to share news about what's happening in Sapporo from 29 July to 1 August, you should become a 'Friend of the iSummit 08'. It's so easy, a whole lot of our friends have pledged to spread the news already. Here's how you can join in.

There's a whole lot more to tell you about: we have more Speaker profiles coming up, an iSummit '08 A-Z and a Second Life update, so be sure to check on back to this Summit blog regularly!

Picture: Eerko on flickr.com, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0