The Web 2.0 Summit is in the middle of its last day here in San Francisco.   It’s a great crowd, tons of cool people like Om Malik, Kevin Rose, Michael Arrington, Al Gore, and Lance Armstrong.

But what is it?  What service did it provide to the tech community and the world at large?

Quite a bit actually.

Whenever the economic climate gets rough, the tech community gets looked at from the outside as disposable.  Something unecessary.   The 90’s bubble gets brought up.  But guess what, innovation in technology is here to stay, and a lot of talented people who have dedicated their lives, careers, and businesses to developing for the web and desktop are here in San Francisco.

Not only are they here, but they’re showing and speaking about how none of this is going away.   People like Lance Armstrong have embraced social media and the web as a way to spread the message and provide services and support to people.   His site LiveStrong.com is a perfect example of that.

Another perfect, and equally exciting example is the newly launched Change.gov.

Technology innovation, web startups and applications are here to stay.    Some of the smartest people in the world have agreed that communication, information sharing, and entertainments future lies in the hands of the interwebs.

And the interwebs are in good hands.    A lot of those hands are here in San Francisco this week, but not all of them.    Silicon Valley is worldwide.   It’s a frame of mind and acceptance of a changing atmosphere and acceptance of the now and not just talk about the future.

Please continue to do your part by being a technology evangelist in your own community, be it church, school, work, or with your family.

Just because you’re not in San Francisco today or ever, doesn’t mean you’re not a huge part of a greater whole.

(photo by jd lasica)

It’s time y’all.

Start educating nongeeks on stuff like Strands, Twitter, Pandora, Blogging, Teh Facebookz (thanks Schlomo), and more.

Invite them to Strands. If they sign up, it counts towards your Strands Tally. On November 1st, whomever has the most successful friends sign up for Strands between Oct 1-Nov 1 can win a Macbook Air for them, and their nongeek friend. Or an iPod Touch for them and their nongeek friend, or a Flip cam…you get the idea.

So how do you educate nongeeks on tech? Share your ideas and stories here.

Me? I tell nongeeks that Strands brings together your digital life so you can share your tastes with friends and other likeminded folks. Easy enough huh?

But talking won’t get it done. Break out the iPhone or the laptop and SHOW people how to use stuff. Listen to their interests and needs and match them up with cool services that they’ll find useful.

Do it and win!

Operation mainSTREAM is now officially in full effect yo.

(Contest Rules and info here)