{"id":1146,"date":"2013-06-04T22:21:29","date_gmt":"2013-06-05T04:21:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mooreds.com\/wordpress\/?p=1146"},"modified":"2013-06-04T22:21:29","modified_gmt":"2013-06-05T04:21:29","slug":"an-open-letter-to-robert-reich-about-bdnt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mooreds.com\/wordpress\/archives\/1146","title":{"rendered":"An open letter to Robert Reich about BDNT"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi Robert,<\/p>\n

I attended another BDNT on June 4, as I do every quarter or two. \u00a0You asked some questions tonight of the community that I think deserve a more measured response than I could muster yelling out in the auditorium. \u00a0Questions like: why do you come here? \u00a0What does the future of BDNT look like? \u00a0Jeez, won’t anyone volunteer to take video? \u00a0How can we leverage all the great people at BDNT during the time when we aren’t all in the same room?<\/p>\n

First, I want to thank you, Robert, and all the many volunteers and sponsors of BDNT that make it possible. \u00a0I have been to a number of them<\/a>, presented at two, and know some of the volunteers. \u00a0I can’t say I’ve met friends there, but it is a great place to go with existing friends to get pumped up about the Colorado tech scene, and new technology in general.<\/p>\n

BDNT is, and has currently been, a fantastic presentation venue and gathering place for local tech community. \u00a0The focus has always been on building community and helping presenters (and their companies) get better (check out the second to last question on the\u00a0‘submit a presentation’ form<\/a>).<\/p>\n

I see two major BDNT constituencies: fly by nighters and regulars. \u00a0I’m a fly by nighter–I won’t attend when I get busy or BDNT falls off my radar, so I make it about 2-4 times a year. \u00a0Beyond speaking and attending, I have posted a few jobs on the job board, some reviews on my blog, some tweets, and exchanged some cards and some emails from people I’ve met there, but that’s been the limit of my involvement.<\/p>\n

The quality and diversity of the presentations is BDNT’s biggest strength–the five minute format and enforced time limits (as well as the coaching) make presentations so tight. \u00a0And if a snoozer slides in, the audience only waits for five minutes. \u00a0Therefore, BDNT is a quality, time efficient event where I can check on the pulse of the tech community (is technology XXX going to be big? \u00a0how many jobs were mentioned for technology YYY?).<\/p>\n

Because the presentations are so important, the biggest service BDNT could provide to us fly by nighters is to video tape the presentations. \u00a0I understand, Robert, that BDNT is a shoestring operation and that video takes time and money. \u00a0I don’t know exactly how to tackle that–two ideas that jump to mind are: ask a local video production company for sponsorship (People Productions<\/a> jumps to mind) or set up an ipad and share to youtube, and provide cheaper, lower quality video.<\/p>\n

As for the regulars, I don’t have the faintest idea of what they need. \u00a0Robert, you or the other volunteers probably do–they reach out to you with requests for features, help, etc. \u00a0So, I’ll have to rely on you to guide BDNT to serve their needs.<\/p>\n

A caution: please don’t turn BDNT into another local, professional social network. \u00a0I already have too many ‘networks’. \u00a0I also fear that BDNT doesn’t have the mass to avoid being a ghost town. \u00a0(How many of those 10k members have only been to one meetup? \u00a0how many people who are not recruiters post to the message boards?) \u00a0We have all seen digital ghost towns before and they aren’t much fun to be around. \u00a0And I don’t want another place to keep a profile up to date–please ask to pull from LinkedIn and StackOverflow all you want, but please don’t make me fill out another skills list. \u00a0(I just joined the\u00a0BDNT LinkedIn group<\/a>\u00a0(well, I applied for permission to join) because that’s the right place to do professional social networking.)<\/p>\n

I will say that I’ve enjoyed the various experiments I’ve been a part of through BDNT (e.g, the twitter backplane, the non profit hack fest, the map of tech in Colorado). \u00a0Robert, if you want to experiment with a social network because of what the regulars or your gut is saying, do so! \u00a0Just don’t be surprised if us fly by nighters don’t really participate. \u00a0But whatever you do, please don’t stop experimenting.<\/p>\n

It is worth asking how BDNT could be better, but, Robert, don’t forget that being ‘only’ the premier technology meetup in Colorado and a place where many many people come to check in on the tech community, present ideas, meet peers, and learn is quite an achievement. \u00a0Ask Ignite and Toastmasters about being ‘just’ a successful presentation organization–it is a success in this world of infinite opportunity and limited attention.<\/p>\n

Bask in the glory of creating a successful community.<\/p>\n

Finally, for everyone who wasn’t there, some fun facts from the June 4 2013 BDNT:<\/p>\n