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TechLife Columbus

Page history last edited by Ben Blanquera 10 years, 7 months ago

 

We are a growing group in Columbus, Ohio passionate about technology.  Our mission is to foster education a greater culture and passion for Social Media, Internet, Web and other cutting edge technology, ultimately leading to increased innovation.  Columbus Tech Life encourages our tribe to connect, learn and grow by

 

This site is a wiki.  Which means YOU can edit it.  If you have something to share hit that edit tab up top and go for it.  We welcome all interested in participating to hang out here online, join us for meetups and participate as little or as much as you'd like.  That is because TechLife Columbus IS the community.  We will only succeed if YOU decide to get involved.  If YOU decide to take initiative.

 

 


 

Read a little bit about how we got here and some of the folks involved.

 

The faces of Columbus Tech Life (do you know anyone here?- feel free to add links to more info about yourself to your pic)

 

Ben BlanqueraVincent De Francisco | Technology Talent ScoutTom Williams, InnoGageJason BlantonScott Kasun | ForeFront

car transportation Car Transport

Dave Hofer (Abellatech, Inc) Christopher GrantMark FreemanKevin PfefferleDan EcksteinJacob StoopsAaron Dunnington  

Comments (10)

Tom Williams said

at 12:42 am on Oct 16, 2008

What a tremendous way to kick things off. Idea of using the wiki was brilliant!

Brian Link said

at 2:17 am on Oct 16, 2008

Thanks Tom. This is great for raw data and community involvement... but it's really just the beginning. I'm excited about really connecting people and driving growth in our Columbus technology community. There's a lot of amazing small networking communities in our town and I hope this effort helps bring more awareness to them.

Nick Seguin said

at 1:55 pm on Oct 16, 2008

What are we missing here in Columbus to fulfill our #1 ranking [read potential] as the top up-and-coming technology city/community? What happens in Silicon Valley, in Boston, in Austin and any other "tech" community that isn't happening here? What are the cultural aspects that we need to develop/increase? What are the professional/industry traits and patterns that must exist?

One thing I believe we can and must do is integrate curiosity/innovation and collaboration into our "offline lives". While I've not personally experienced the communities referenced above, what I gather occurs are spontaneous and yet consistent after-hours gatherings, coffee shop meetings, exploration, research, discussions. Lunch hours are used to work on personal projects, drinks have focuses beyond just alcohol and unwinding, and time and intellect are combined and offered without the thought of capital. We must strive to be a community of ideas and knowledge... that foundation has to exist before capital industry comes calling. Also, it creates a pocket of thought-leadership that talent wants to be a part of (combating the age-old problem of brain-drain) and will actively strive to participate in.

Ben and others have begun to try to facilitate this with such events as Brazenhead gatherings and the like. I encourage you to pack your coffee, lunch and drink schedules with others in the community. Discussions don't have to be about work or current projects. Talk about trends, talk about things you want to know about, sit down with people outside of your daily/professional radar. The key to success here is an integrated, networked and curious community with leverages itself and continues to attract talent. Without the people, nothing can happen.

Nick

Angela Siefer said

at 9:22 am on Oct 20, 2008

I absolutely agree with Nick. How do we initiate this culture we want to create? I suggest more events - structured ones like 2.Ohio and unstructured ones like those at Brazenhead. I suggest we also promote any event taking place in the Cbus region that may be of interest to the tech community. We fully encourage networking, at our events and others' events.

Jeff Hill said

at 10:54 pm on Oct 21, 2008

I gotta agree with the above comments. The WIKI is a great idea and the idea of structured and unstructured events is the best way to network and share ideas. In all of my travels around the country, I have seen similar organizations and their members becoming very successful.

Ben Blanquera said

at 5:35 am on Oct 22, 2008

Jeff - thanks for the feedback - where else have you seen similar organizations that we can look at as models?

Jeff Hill said

at 7:10 am on Oct 22, 2008

Ben, try Biznik and Zoodango. Zoo is more of a mixture of meetup and blog/wiki with professional overtones. James Sun has done a very good job on it. Biznik is a blog type site based in Seattle that has both impromptu and organized meetings. I went to one or two of the Biznik ones when I was on project in San Mateo and they were well done.

Unfortunately, with my travel schedule, it's tough to get to organized functions other than APA and PMI, so I'm looking forward to see what you come up with.

Tom Williams said

at 8:20 pm on Nov 1, 2008

@Jeff Hill - two three comments up you mentioned you had seen similar organizations and member using this technique with success. We have connected with a great group in Chicago and are talking with them. If you know of any other groups, preferably in NY, SF or Austin/Dallas, it would be great to make the connection.

Jeff Hill said

at 7:45 pm on Nov 2, 2008

Tom -

As I said earlier, the main ones I have been to are biznik meetups (www.biznik.com). Biznik is all over the place with a large presence in San Francisco. We can talk more about it the 13th if you're planning on being there.

Jeff

Paul Anthony said

at 12:17 pm on Nov 18, 2008

Something to consider:
TechColumbus is seeking ideas for guest speaker panels on cutting edge topics for our business members. We host many after-work networking events, IT TechTalk breakfasts, and leadership luncheons each year. While we do not have individual memberships, we have a large growing network of Technology and Tech provider businesses that attend these events. While these are more formal and educational meet-ups, we can greatly assist in promoting topics of interest to a larger business community. Currently, our event announcements are distributed to more than 4,500 business professionals.

Note, we are looking for panelists from a variety of backgrounds on the topics and not a "sales pitch" from one company. Perhaps this can be considered when planning future events. Please e-mail me a panthony@techcolumbus.org with ideas. Thanks for your consideration - Paulie :)

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