Upcoming happy hour: Making it better.
So the next door64 happy hour is coming in March. For the last one in January, you may recall I had these stars for your name tags. The idea was that the color of the stars denoted your general area(s) of expertise:
* Recruiter & staffing
* Semiconductors / hardware
* Software
* IT & web development
* Other
The reason was to help people of similar backgrounds to meet/network (including bringing together job seekers and recruiters). Feedback from the last event stated the color coding idea was good. Sounds like some people fell into "Other".
1. Is there a better grouping, or even a better method to help you find who you're interested in meeting?
2. What is your definition of a successful night of networking? What types of professionals are you interested in meeting at networking events? Do you prefer to meet those who share your interests?
3. Some fun "Keep Austin Weird" ideas were mention in that feedback thread, including skill set treasure hunts, business card drawings to intro yourself to the crowd, etc. More ideas? If given the opportunity, would you want to introduce yourself to the crowd (giving you 15 seconds of fame and post-intro networking fortune)?
4. At most networking events I have attended, I never knew exactly who would be there, or what companies or interests were represented. If you knew beforehand who would be attending, where they worked, their interests, etc...do you think that would help during the event itself?
Feel free to answer any, or all, or make up your own question and answer it. I want these face-to-face networking events to be casual and enjoyable, and yet successful in expanding your local professional network within high-tech.
Thanks!
Matt I just wanted to say you do a great job at this, thank you.
Thanks very much. I'm very happy people are finding it helpful.
The name tag thing is a good idea. I think the first two areas are legit, but Software and IT & Web development are more or less one and the same (IMHO).
You might want to include an area for the business side of things, such as Sales/Marketing and maybe even Executive Management. This would make your list look like:
* Recruiter & staffing
* Semiconductors / hardware
* Software Development/IT
* Technical Sales/Marketing
* Executive Management
* Other
Maybe there won't be as many "Other" folks there this time.
Rick - thanks for the suggestions!
I'd love to have less "others", but still make the color coding meaningful. Your categorization looks smart to me. Maybe others can chime in whether they'd fall into "other" in that list.
I purposefully separated Software & IT because (also IMHO) they're two different disciplines. I can consult software dev, but I wouldn't dare step into IT consulting.
So let me ping back with a more general question: What do YOU consider a successful networking event? What past network events have disappointed you, and why?
OK, from that standpoint it does make sense to seperate IT from Software Dev; I think it was lumping Web development in with IT that threw me. For instance, for the last 7 years the software products I've worked on (as QA manager) were web based, therefore, all the developers would consider themselves web development.
But then you have companies that develop things other than web based software (hardware, network appliances, etc.) where part of the IT team is to keep the companies website up and maintained.
You're probably right, some others need to jump in here with suggestions.
As to what makes a successfull networking event; don't know, never been to one. Really! Closest I've come to one would be attending a users group meeting of some sort, or a gathering of "ex" employees from one of the companies I've worked at in the past.
This will be a first for me!
Yes, you're right: drawing these broad strokes to categorize (even within tech) isn't easy. That's exactly why I unloaded the burden by asking everyone else! :) If I can get a handle on who various types of people want to meet, we can make some easy system to facilitate it. I'm happy if attendees come away from the event feeling it was very effective & worthwhile. And fun, of course.
So you are precisely the person I'm targeting for these events! I assert us tech folks don't network enough [if at all], and networking has become vital to one's long-term success (and some might say survival) in the tech industry.
I'll look forward to meeting you there!
Well, I'm a Sr. System Admin for the central IT Services department at UT. Am I .edu, or am I IT?
Where would I fit in any kind of such categorization?
--
Brad Knowles brad@shub-internet.org
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/bradknowles
I'd say you're IT. The idea behind the stickers was to signify what you do, not necessarily where you work. I.e., people that work in IT at Intel would be "IT", not "semiconductors/hw". "Edu" was meant for those who research in academia (professors, students).
Again, the idea is to each person meet who they want to meet. Who do YOU want to meet at networking events? Maybe a better question to ask: Whose business cards do you NOT throw away after meeting them?
Matt
--
Firstly, Matt congratulations on a fine job in providing this opportunity to all of us here in Austin.
I'd like to see a category on entrepreneurs or companies that foster entreprenuerial minds. This would also fall very well with MARCH being declared Entrepreneurship Month and the RISE 2008 Conference that is currently going on.Its a amazing the number of entrepreneurs Austin is home to from the number of people enrolled in the classes in RISE.
It allows us to identify with them and also AUSTIN VENTURES funded startups that are doing very well such as CONVIO and PLUCK and network with people within these great companies on the forefront of emerging technologies.
I saw several postings from fellow members on startups that started in Austin and their success, and identifying these companies at your networking events can help us get connected.
As a new member and this will be a first for me (and have heard great feedback from others), I greatly look forward to your event.
Thank-you for all you do
Respectfully,
Sharmila
The idea to have an "entrepreneur" categorization is a good one. Thanks for the suggestion.
Matt
--
I think networking in today's technology careers are very important to survival. Me personally it just keeps me going. I have been hosting some type of event be it gaming events, technology groups, etc off and on for several years until I moved back here to Austin. I do it to meet fellow tech heads as much as anything.
In events that I have hosted in the past the main key was not only the larger events, but sometimes having smaller themed events for the different types of "sub-groups" between the larger events. To do that you have to have to work with someone in each sub-group to help co-ordinate.
However I think the idea of different badges based on the "group" you fall into can achieve the same result.
Other than that I think the best you can do up front is to get the word out to all areas as much as you can. The more recruiters you get the more techs you get.
"Birds of a Feather" subgroup meetings were pretty common in the old days of groups. Basically a way to invite the subgroups to meet together if nothing more dominant catches their interest.
I will keep thinking on that. Since the community right now is well over 1000 members, perhaps more focussed networking events are do-able. Thanks.
I agree with your assessment re: the necessity of networking. To a degree, with each person you network with, you get a nano-course in what they do during the day. It provides perspective, and can easily lead to epiphanies that apply to your own job, as well as "hey I want to do that too" moments. It never hurts to know what your industry peers are up to.
The idea of smaller events crossed my mind before; I resonate with that. It can be even more beneficial because it's a more narrowly focussed crowd. I have contemplated collaborating with UT-Austin to invite grad students to speak about their research to a technical crowd interested in their work. Obviously it provides a benefit to the tech community because they get a flavor of the current cutting edge research....and the student benefits by making key industry contacts after showing what they know. If I get grad students in a focussed area, then only those who are interested will attend (a sub-group by default).
Yes, the word goes out to the recruiting community as well as the tech community. Recruiters are great for spreading the word. At the moment, I'm seeing door64 grow tremendously thanks to both tech folks and recruiters catching the vision of the community, and spreading the word within their own networks. The happy hour attendees RSVP'd as yes is almost 300.
Still look for more good ideas for the networking event in a few weeks.
I like the idea of the intro's, but at 300 people attending, I don't know if it is feasible..
Mikons!
http://www.mikons.com
http://www.mikons.com/connect/?do_search=1&do_search.x=0&do_search.y=0&d...
Has everyone already been there, done that, or are these too expensive?
Cheap and various stickers can be had at an art supply store, toy store, or teacher supply store.
Ask folks to bring some?
And then there's always plain old colored markers, or crayons.
~ Ms. G
Yet Another Austin Weirdo
Yep - I know about them. They are very cool...but I don't have a budget for them. This is why I used plain jane dots or stars.
Nothing against Jane.
1. Is there a better grouping, or even a better method to help you find who you're interested in meeting?
-- Game Development would be another good subgroup, since there are ~60 game companies and over 1000 people in the Austin Game Industry (covering computer and home console videogames, arcade games, mobile phone games, social networking games, and tabletop games)
2. What is your definition of a successful night of networking? What types of professionals are you interested in meeting at networking events? Do you prefer to meet those who share your interests?
-- Something not too loud, and somewhere with a place to sit down with people and show demos. I'm interested in meeting investors, publishers, and content creators mostly at the moment. And yes, shared interests are important.
3. Some fun "Keep Austin Weird" ideas were mention in that feedback thread, including skill set treasure hunts, business card drawings to intro yourself to the crowd, etc. More ideas? If given the opportunity, would you want to introduce yourself to the crowd (giving you 15 seconds of fame and post-intro networking fortune)?
-- Sounds kind of like GDC's "Destroy All Developers" game, you can find some info on it online probably; 15 seconds of fame would be good too.
4. At most networking events I have attended, I never knew exactly who would be there, or what companies or interests were represented. If you knew beforehand who would be attending, where they worked, their interests, etc...do you think that would help during the event itself?
-- Yes indeed. Something like an attendee list (with why they were attending and their company name) would be pretty useful, especially if there was a bit more subgrouping.