Open Source Bridge, a success

June 21, 2009 at 4:45 pm | Posted in Sofware Startup | 3 Comments
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The Open Source Bridge Conference made its debut last week at the Oregon Convention Center.  Over 450 attendees gathered to share ideas, learn from each other and strengthen open source communities.  The conference itself was an all volunteer effort that included dozens of organizers and volunteers that worked countless hours to make the event such a success.

Much has been written about the actual conference by better writers than myself so I will leave that level of detail to them.  I suggest you check out the article on ReadWriteWeb titled “Open Source Bridge is a Huge Success“.  Doug Coleman does a great job summarizing the conference and providing more resources to satisfy your information curiosity.

As for this blog post, I wanted to give you a little more flavor from the perspective of the people involved in the event.  On Friday I wandered the halls and spoke to several folks to get an attendee take on the event.  The response from the random group I spoke to was a resounding thumbs up for the conference.

One person in particular summed up the event for him rather eloquently.  He said  “It is refreshing to come to Portland and be around a group of smart people that want to share ideas and collaborate.”  He explained to me that where he came from the tech community was large and fiercely competitive to the point where people  didn’t share great ideas.  He said “Portland has been so refreshing, I’m jealous of this tech community.”  When speaking of conference highlights he said that the hallway time between sessions and table discussions with open source luminaries, community leaders and “the good people of Portland” made the conference memorable.

Another person I met was astounded that people weren’t in the halls during sessions.  He said that typically people spend a lot of time mulling around and not attending sessions.  He was amazed that at this conference the talks were so enticing and the content so compelling that the hallways were ghost towns and the sessions were full of participation.  The phrase he used was “What a breath of fresh air that so many people really just want to learn.”

What else can I say?  Not much, those two examples pretty much speaks volumes for the conference.

On the organizers side I’d like to congratulate the entire team for a job well done. Selena, Jake, Audrey, Rick, Reid, Igal and the dozens more – your dedication is admirable!   Although this was an all volunteer run conference, it came off as a professionally coordinated event.  O’Reilly has nothing on you guys!  Starting with a terrific web site, transparent proposal system, easy registration all the way to the hot coffee in the session areas and coordinated events like Beer & Blog and Strange Love Live the event was first class.

If you missed the conference this year, then start saving now so you can attend next year.  My prediction is that this conference will grow by leaps and bounds because it’s truly about the content, it’s about the attendee  and about the experience.

Sponsors – support them or pay up!

April 7, 2009 at 2:26 am | Posted in Sofware Startup | 1 Comment
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Everyone loves a free event.  We take up space and kibitz with our friends, colleagues & associates.  We eat the free food.  We drink the free coffee or adult beverages.  When it comes to the time of the day where the sponsors get their 10 minutes, we turn off. We quickly pull out our iPhones, laptops or anything else that can distract us from the “pitch”.  Then we toss the brochures in the nearest recycling bin and don’t give another moment of thought to the sponsor.

This is a dilemma especially now when things are getting really tight on the financial side. Events cost money, it’s plain and simple.  I overheard that BarcampPDX costs about $10,000 to put on.  Events like Ignite Portland cost a few thousand smackers and even the small events and group meetings have costs associated to them.   As I volunteer  on the sponsorship committee for a few organizations here in Portland I’m hearing a backlash from those that were once loose with the dollars.  The sponsors need return on their investment and they aren’t getting it from us.  Yes it would be nice if the whole world ran like public television, but it doesn’t.  Commercial sponsors want your attention.  With competition rising for every dollar spent, the free events must now compete with Google Adword Campaigns, direct mail campaigns and other ways that companies can find a return.

So what can the Portland technology community learn from this. It’s simple. When you attend a free event that was paid for by sponsors, please keep the good karma flowing.  Here are five suggestions that will keep the money rolling into our projects and keep our tech community thriving:

1.  Visit each of the sponsors web sites and read at least the front page to see what they offer

2. If the sponsor offers something interesting, try it out.  Take advantage of any special offers they gave to your group.

3. Provide feedback.  Many of the sponsors just want to hear from you about your experience, about what you liked and didn’t like.  It doesn’t cost you a penny, yet it provides very valuable feedback to the sponsor.  This may be more than enough for them to feel great about the money they spent on you.

4. If you like something, tell people about it.  Twitter it, blog it, tell it to your friend over beers.  Creating a buzz for sponsors is a great way to help out their cause.  It may be a little tiny 140 characters to you, but to a sponsor – seeing that someone listened and shared is a big boost.   If all the people at the event did this, then the power of the group would compound the return.

5. If you purchase something from a sponsor make sure you let them know that their generosity is what brought you in the door.  Simple, yet I know that I haven’t done it.  I have bought several items from MacForce which I learned about at Ignite Portland.  I have taken friends to the Green Dragon over and over again because they are so friendly to Beer & Blog.  For me the list goes on and just like you I need to let the owners/managers know why they got my business.

If we collectively keep in our shells and don’t enhance the environment for the sponsors, your free events may just dry up.  You’ll see tickets being sold to cover the costs of venues, rentals and minimal amenities.  You’ll see cover charges for drinking venues where we gather.  You’ll see increased costs and you might as well forget about free t-shirts, pizzas and kegs of beers.  Those will be things of the past….unless of course you bring it along yourself.  So what do you say my techie friends?  Get the sponsorship mojo flowing and make your next event a big win for every sponsor that gives you their hard earned money.

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