As reported on Techvibes earlier this week, the info-packed Pacific Northwest Wireless Summit (PNWS) is coming to Vancouver on January 18/19, 2009.
The Summit is built around four pillars: Ideas. Innovation. Insight. Investment.
In other words: the big picture, technology, business intelligence and financing. The goal is to allow discussion and exchange both on big picture thinking, necessary to define and shape an industry, as well as more tailored educational sessions that drill-down into specific topics. It is designed to be personal, interactive and relevant to you and your business.
If you're interested in participating as a speaker at the PNWS, you still have time to throw your name in the ring. The deadline for speaker proposal submissions is December 15th and you can express your interest online. If you are selected to present at PNWS you will be notified on or before December 25, 2008.
British Columbia is home to the wireless industry's leading players. BC's wireless cluster encompasses all areas of the wireless technology value... [more]
In reaction to the current market conditions, WINBC announced today that they will condense the previously announced two-and-a-half-day 2009 Pacific Northwest Wireless Summit (PNWS) into a one-and-a-half-day event - now January 18-19, 2008. The decision was made in order to provide the best possible value for WINBC members as well as participants from the local wireless community. The price of the Summit has been reduced by fifty percent and WINBC has recreated the event almost in its entirety.
The second Annual Wireless Summit is built around four pillars: Ideas. Innovation. Insight. Investment. It will feature leading edge companies, technology and business intelligence and will bring together leaders, innovators, analysts and investors from Canada, the US, Europe and Asia Pacific in the devices, networks, and applications mobile sectors.
The new PNWS agenda includes:
British Columbia is home to the wireless industry's leading players. BC's wireless cluster encompasses all areas of the wireless technology value... [more]
Portlanders can have 10 minutes to talk about what they are working on at Demolicious - new products, side projects, fun new aps, startups. Demolicious happens quarterly, so mark January 7 on your calendar. Put on by Portland Web Innovators, the group calls themselves "technology-agnostic" and welcomes everyone to show off their projects.
Feel free to stop by CubeSpace tonight for Portland Web Innovators' State of Portland Tech - a montly meeting that happens on the first Wednesday of every month.
Here is a list of some tech events coming up in Portland this week:
The Portland Ruby Brigade @ CubeSpace
State of Portland Tech - Web Innovators
DorkbotPDX 0x02: DorkbotPDX brings you Collin Oldham, Shelly Farnham and Steve Davee
Check the Events Calendar for a complete listing of upcoming tech events. Please feel free to add your events to the calendar!
Tuesday, November 18
SAO: The Future of Targeted Marketing: Micro-efforts with Macro-thinking
7:30am - 9:00am: Governor Hotel
Jefferson Grapevine (new business development meetup)
5:00pm - 7:00pm: RCC/SOU Higher Education Center
Portland Java User Group
6:30pm - 8:00pm: Oracle (Downtown Campus)
WhereCamp PDX Meetup
7:00pm - 9:00pm: White Eagle
November 19, 2008
OEN Webinar - Quality Market Research on a Shoestring, with Mike Riley
10:00am - 11:00am: Online
Winning International Customers Online
11:30am - 1:00pm: US Bank Tower, Ground Floor Conference Room
SAO Poker Night (Special Networking Event)
5:30pm - 8:30pm: Kell's Irish Restaurant & Pub
Negotiating Better Deals: Insights into the Psychology of Decision Making in Contracts
5:30pm – 7:30pm: Schwabe, Williamson, & Wyatt
PDX 501 Tech Club/Net Tuesday: Nonprofit Tech Extravaganza
5:30pm – 7:30pm: Lucky Labrador Beer Hall
XPDX - Agile Methodologies: A Matter of Survival
6:30pm – 9pm: CubeSpace
PLUG: Linux Advanced Topics Talk
7:00pm - 9:00pm: Jax Bar
Thursday, November 20, 2008
SAO: Life Inside an Iteration
6:00pm - 9:00pm: Governor Hotel
The Showdown in Stumptown: 2008 PAF Rosey Awards
5:30pm - 10:00pm: Antoinette Hatfield Hall
WordIgniteBarCampCampCampCampPalooza… PDX
6–8pm: CubeSpace
Friday, November 20, 2008
Portland Business Journal 4th Quarter Sustainability Luncheon
11a:00m – 1:00pm: The Nines Hotel
Monday, November 24, 2008
MIT Enterprise Forum: The Future of Wireless Communication
4:00 – 6:00pm: OTBC (The Round)
DorkbotPDX Meeting
7:00pm – 10:00pm: Lucky Labrador Beer Hall
PDX Critique
7:00pm – 9:00pm: CubeSpace
WestSide Polyglot Programmers
7:00pm – 9:00pm: OTBC (The Round)
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
OTBC Open House
3:00pm – 5:00pm: OTBC (The Round)
Once upon a time before the Web, there were user groups: clubs focused on a particular technology or platform. Through monthly meetings and other events, users could interact with like-minded others for learning and socializing. With the growth of the Web, the popularity of user groups waned as it became easier to build communities and share knowledge online. Today, user groups still exist but more commonly exist in the form of less formal meetup groups.
I've had experience with various groups over the years and have enjoyed them as an excellent way to learn and network. I organized an engaging Ruby on Rails meetup group in Edmonton for a short time before I moved. My motivation was to meet others using it, learn from them, and perhaps network for a job. From that experience, I learned how relatively easy to organize people together when there is a common topic of interest. Later when I moved to Vancouver, I helped organize the first Vancouver Facebook Developer Garage, which ballooned into a huge event with the popularity of the platform at the time. If there is a subject area you think is under-served in your area, I encourage you to start a group, and offer these tips for doing so:
Web Presence: At a minimum, set up a mailing list. Keep up conversation on the list between meetings. Google Groups works well, as does Meetup.com though they charge a fee. A website makes it easier for people to find your group, and a Facebook group makes it easier to invite folks to events. Don't go overboard, especially for small groups; too many communications mediums can dilute the conversation.
Location: Finding a suitable location can be tricky, given that a meetup usually has no budget. Coffee shops work well for small informal groups, but limit your ability to scale or have presentations. Offices after hours are great (tell your boss that supporting meetups is free advertising and brings community recognition.) Students may have access to school facilities after hours. Using someone's home is uncommon, but can work if the space is suitable. The presence of a projector is a key element to consider.
Content: General practice is to have someone give a presentation of 30-45 min. After a few meetups, willing presenters can be hard to find, so keep it flexible and low pressure. An evening could perhaps feature two short presentations instead. A case study of a project you're working on can make a good presentation; even if you don't think of your work as interesting, it can be compelling to hear _how_ you work. In lieu of presentations, start discussion: recent developments in the area of interest, problems you've encountered, novel solutions, personal experiences, or anything that will send the room off on a thread.
Meetups are made of people, so treasure and tap people as the greatest resource. In a world where we all spend too much time behind screens and keyboards, people yearn for contact and community with like-minded people. The medium to light duties of meetup organizing can pay off well in community stature, knowledge learned, employment solicitations, and good times.
Well, well, well. The long wait is over. That’s right folks. It’s that time again. Time to see the best and brightest sharing their burning ideas on stage at Ignite Portland 4.
As always, I want your Ignite experience to be as fun and rewarding as possible. So whether this is your 23rd Ignite event or your first, here are some tips and tricks for getting the most out of Ignite Portland 4.
First, the venue info:
Bagdad Theater
3702 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd.
Portland, OR 97214
7:00 - 9:00 PM
Ticketholders get in at 5:30 PM
General Admission at 6:15 PM
Admission is always FREE
Here are some “Do”s and “Don’t”s that will help you get the most out of your first, second, third, or fourth Ignite Portland experience:
Need more tips? Right this way, my friend. The Legion of Tech has a list as well.
Looking forward to seeing you there. And best of luck to tonight’s presenters:
We’ve been lucky enough to develop a tightly knit community with the “Web oriented” folks here in town—those startups that focus on Web technologies, Twitter types, bloggers—all of us brought together by a common interest in technology and the potential it holds for Portland.
As lucky as I feel to be a part of that community, there are times when that community starts asking questions that the participants are unable to answer. Questions about business or funding or more established technology companies.
But here’s the thing: there’s a wealth of information like that in other tech communities here in town. And there are organizations that have those groups of people talking.
So why not get everyone talking together?
That’s the idea behind Thrive PDX, an attempt to get more people talking and sharing ideas about how we can all work together to ensure Portland continues to shine throughout any economic condition.
Dawn Foster describes the idea behind Thrive PDX far better than I could:
For some reason, it seems to me like there is this wall between these two groups of people, and it doesn’t feel healthy to me. I’ve been working with the SAO for months (way before we even suspected that we were heading into times of economic uncertainty) to find ways to break down this wall and get these two groups of people together. With the economy taking a hit, we decided that now was the time to do something about it. We felt a real need to get these two groups of people together to find ways to help each other through tough times. Our ultimate goal is to have Portland emerge out of the downturn with a technology industry that is stronger than ever.
If you’re feeling the same way, I’d highly encourage you to join us on Tuesday, November 11, at Kells. Maybe bring someone along who’s never been to one of the tech events in town? Maybe you could tell some friends in more traditional tech pursuits? Or maybe you could just show up and talk to some people to whom you don’t usually talk?
To get an idea of who’s coming—and a visual example of the divide we’re attempting to bridge—take a look at the Upcoming RSVP and the SAO RSVP. It looks like we’re going to have a good cross-section of folks there. And it would be great to have you as part of that mix.
Northwest Entrepreneur Network's Entrepreneur University 2008 is coming up in Seattle on November 6. Running a full 12 hours from 7:30-7:30 at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center, it should give new and established entrepreneurs some better ideas on how to 
develop, manage and grow their business through some rough waters. While the cost is a bit steep ($225 for NWEN members, $325 for non-members and then an extra $25 if you don't pre-register), the anual event looks likt it will promise some interesting panels on funding, dealing with the competition, metrics, and customer-centrism. EU 2008 is split into two tracks, for entrepreneurs in either start-up mode or looking to accelerate growth.
Naturally there are networking sessions before, during and after the event, but NWEN is using Seattle startup Pathable's neat networking directory to connect entrepreneurs more easily. There is also an evening reception which includes a press review of business pitches (to John Cook of TechFlask, Briar Dudley from the Seattle Times and Erin Engleman of the Puget Sound Business Journal). Click here for more information, and here to register.
The Northwest Entrepreneur Network, a non-profit organization, is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs succeed. Our activities and programs are... [more]
Pathable is a community for your conference. People go to conferences to network, but meeting the right people is hard. Pathable's easy-to-use,... [more]
Mobile entrepreneurs and developers should think about heading to the Mobile 2.0 Conference in San Francisco on November 3. Mobile 2.0 is designed to bring together experts, leaders and entrepreneurs from all aspects of new mobile technology. It is a great opportunity for networking with startups and investors, connecting with carriers and manufactures, and developing relationships with mobile app developers and web technologists.
The event runs from 8:30am - 6:00pm at the Grand Hyatt in San Francisco. The conference focuses on new mobile apps and services, the future of the mobile web, and disruptive mobile innovation.
Speakers include Tatsuki Tomita, SVP of Opera Software; Omar Hamoui, CEO of AdMob; John Faith, GM & VP Mobile at MySpace; Henri Moissinac, Director of Facebook Mobile; Maurice Thompson, Director of Open Development at Verizon Wireless; Jay Sullivan, VP Mobile at Mozilla; Sumit Agarwal, Mobile Product Management Lead at Google, North America; and a heap more. Presenting start-ups include Zipipop, Nimbuzz, Rummble, Seesmic, Dial2Do, Wubud, and aki-aki.
