Event: DC New Media Technology

It seems like every week there is a good thing to do, and this week is no exception.  I know its a bit late notice, but tomorrow night the DC New Media Technology is having their monthly Happy Hour to schmooze with the other locals on Web 2.0 and Video 2.0 stuff. 
I am going to make that long and harsh journey to the land of DC to join in on the fun and would love to see some of you there.
Here are the details for those interested.

When
  Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 6:30 PM

Where

Lotus Lounge (DC)
1420 K St NW
Washington , DC 20005
(202) 289-4222

The event page can be found HERE.

Meet and greet others interested in new media, social networking/web 2.0/video 2.0. Besides talking about our current interests & projects, suggested topics:

* Financing Web 2.0/social media efforts
* Technical developments
* Startups

Shoot me an email, Twitter DM, or better yet come over to WhyGoSolo to join my Community Listing if you are interested in getting together.

DC Comnunity Reaches Out

On the heels of finishing off my so called mission statement the other night, I came across a post by Chris Brogan titled "Back in the Saddle".  As many of you who follow Chris's twitter updates are/were aware. he had a heck of a time of it while he was down at SXSW.  His blog went teets up and he was forced to post his thoughts over to his tumblr blog.  Not the most idea place to write pretty expressive posts for all to read. 

Timing always fascinates me as an interesting thing.  Just as I had polished off my thoughts on how building a community is all about reaching out and offering your services to others in order to strengthen the bonds, along came Chris's post.  He said that right away when he started to have an issue, friends jumped into help out. 

Around this same time, KEITH Casey from Casey Software and Why Go Solo made a little holding file for all my front end blog files. Thank you so much for that, Keith!

I have come to know Keith a little recently and I totally see this in him.  He has expressed interest in do things to help grow the community here in DC and I was not surprised at all to see he was right there to help.  Then Chris mentions another close friend to all of here in DC, AaronBrazell. 

Thanks to Aaron Brazell of Technosailor for taking apart my website, piece by piece, digging in deep to the SQL, and finding the problem. Without Aaron, I would’ve continued fighting my former hosting provider instead of finding the problem. Aaron also offered my site a home, and I’m grateful for that.

Aaron has been one of the most vocal and active supporters of the local community here.  He has a lot of great thoughts and ideas and it is no surprise to see him put those words into practice. 

One of the most important factors of creating a great group are the people that make that group up.  And we truly have some good ones here in DC.  There are great people, too many to mention by name here.  But two great examples are the gentlemen mentioned above, setting a great example for the type of generosity it will take to push our little city here into the forefront making it the place to be.

Glad you are here with us guys.

DC Tech Community Exchange Forum

I have gotten some great feedback from the mission statement post from yesterday.  One thing that seemed to be a common thread was "Now what ?"

Well I thought a bit and I think a good start would be a simple Community Exchange. A place we can use to exchange ideas, or even ask for a favor.  One of my thoughts had been an exchange of complimentary services and what a better place for one of us to ask for a little help.  At the worst a good gathering place for all our little bits or information.

So stop by, check it out and let me know what you think.  It is simple now but we will be adding stuff if it moves forward.

Local Focus: Ryan Spahn - Sleep.FM

One of the great things about the meetups we have are the new people that continue to join us and hearing about the new things they are working on.

Last week at our CXCC, I met with Ryan Spahn of Sleep.FM.  Ryan is a Baltimore resident who is working on pursuing bringing Sleep.FM to the masses.  Check out the featured video on the Home page here to see a bit about his project. Ryan reminded me a bit of myself, in the fact that we both had an idea and went about desiging it and finding people to help him build it.  We have talked here previously about one person startups and as I continue to meet people, I find that it is not as rare as one may think.

I thought Ryan would be a great addition to our Local Focus feature here at East Coast Blogging.  Here is his take on our questions.

1.  Whats is your name and line of business ?

I hope everyone will stop by and check out sleep.FM and welcome Ryan to our little community here.

Anyone you think the Focus should be on ?  Let us know.

 

Mission Statement: Building a Community

I am no Jerry McGuire, but I have a mission statement in mind.  Not one that a company is based on, rather one to base a community.

Our little community is really starting to gather some momentum here in the DC area.  There has been much talk recently, on this blog and others, as to the state of affairs with regards to the growing tech community.  Even though everyone has somewhat differing opinions, one things is clear, the common thread is that the community here in DC is on the cusp of special things, it may just take a little time.

We are a community in our infancy here in the DC area.  We try to compare ourselves to the likes of Silicon Valley, Boston, and Seattle, but there is really no comparison.  However, that should not make us upset or jealous, we should accept what we have and move to make it grow and mold it into our own special.  The DC area is unique, as are all of you and we should embrace that, embrace our culture and learn to thrive from it.

And as an infant, so to speak, we depend on each other as we did our parents for support and guidance.  There are many among us who are bringing their ideas to fruition and working hard to bring their thoughts to reality.  It is a hard process along a bumpy road and everyone can use a little help.  Our mission right now should be to all pitch in and help.  Help to place more and more stones on the foundation we quickly see forming around us.  We are not competitors, rather complimentors.

Here is my proposition to all of you within reading distance of this statement.  If we hope for this area to one day grow into the community I know we all envision, we have to stick together.  I keep going back in my head to a statement I have read a thousand times over at WashingtonVC:

grows companies through the exchange of complementary technologies and marketing services.

The exchange of complimentary services … We all have talents that we can share and exchange.  Maybe we are not all web designers or php developers or marketing mavens, but we all have something we can offer.  So go out and share them.  Maybe its testing a new feature, maybe its help with a bug someone just cant figure out or a social media/pr question.  We all have something we can offer I am sure.  Offer them. We are the ones who will build it.  Nobody else.  We can't expect VC/angel $$ to just come our way, so let's show them why it should.  If we build it, they will come. 

Now I know there are some out there who may be saying, "Why should I give my time and may not receive anything in return?"  I can only tell you that you will receive satisfaction of helping good people succeed and you will be helping to continue to build the foundation.  I saw this update on twitter from our friend Keith Casey of WhyGoSolo just yesterday, and it fit so well with the thoughts I have been pulling together:

 I love kicking around good ideas with good people.. especially when I can help make the idea better. The success of friends is always good

In the end, it will benefit us all.  It is kind of like that "Pay It Forward" movie I once saw, or the karma in "My Name is Earl".  Kind of cliche, I know, nonetheless most likely true. If you help one person "make it", do you not think that you have ally that may come in handy one day.  Someone you will be able to reach out to and say "Heh I need some help". 

There are those out there doing this already I know, and this is not groundbreaking stuff.  I just wanted to put it in black and white, in simple terms.  Not so long ago our friend Aaron Brazell (Technosailor) took his time and worked to make a group, @dctwits, that the community here could use to get the word out to the community at large.  Now as we all know, there are no groups within Twitter as of yet, but Aaron took his time and made it work.  What did he get out of it ?  He got our thanks and the knowledge that should he need help, we stand ready for him.  It are these types of acts and people that will make us stand apart from the noise and the crowd.

My door is open.  If I can help any of you, please let me know.  Need the word put out, I will write about it.  Need a new facebook app you are working on tested late one Friday night, I will test it.  Need some help with a technical issue, I will work it.  Have an ad, I will place it on the site.  I trust many of you would do the same.  And in doing so we will only work to make the community grow cohesive and stronger and make people from those "other places" take notice.  Soon it no longer will be "Why did you start your business in DC?", it will be "Look at that community there in DC, thats the place to be".

So these are my thoughts and I hope you find something of value here, I would love to hear your feedback and suggestions.  In addition, I am also going to make this a wiki page that we can all add our thoughts and ideas to as we move forward.  You can access it here.

CxCC - Another Great DC Meetup

SXSW took over Austin, TX last week and CXCC took over Austin Grill in Bethesda, MD last night ! It was a rousing success. It started out innocent enough. Many of us were quite depressed and jealous we were not down in Austin with everyoe else last week and decided to get together and wallow in our misery together. Originally we tried to shoot for Monday, still while SXSW was going on, but time got away from us and we held the innaugural CXCC (Central by Central Central .. a fun little one given to us by @batterista) last night appropriately at the Austin Grill in Bethesda, MD.

In the beginning it was going to be just a few of us, but by the end it had turned into a full blown meetup with somewhere near 25 of us gatehring. It was a great time and we met some new people and got a chance to catch up with some old ones as well. The list was long, I will add the attendee's list in later, but we got to catch up with @newmediajim fresh off his trip to the Middle East, Afghanistan, and of course SXSW. Some complanied about having to come WAY OUT to the suburbs and tales of their arduous trek from the far away land called …Washington, DC (the DC line cant be more than 1.5 miles from the Austin Grill ..). The will be no names but DC Concierge, I think you know who I mean :).

Anyway, I was happy to meet some new people working on some really cool stuff, look for a Local Focus on that soon. And it was again great to see the foundations of the local community continue to grow and add new people to the mix.

Local Focus: Chris Parandian

Well here is the first installment of the new feature here at East Coast Blogging called "Local Focus". 
I am happy that my first focus is going to be on none other than Chris Parandian, Founder of Tin Can Communications™.  Tin Can is a public affairs and new media focused communications firm based in Washington D.C. We assist companies with their communications strategy in the legislative and regulatory arena. We also collaborate with corporate communications to develop a social media strategy as well as help them navigate the interactive universe.

Chris is a great guy that I met online via Twitter and was lucky enough to meet him in person at the Jeff Pulver Social Media Breakfast.  I look forward to many more meetings with Chris and continuing to grow our relationship.

I asked Chris a few questions about the area and social media and here is what he has to say !

How are you using social media tools for your job / business?

Social technologies and wireless are a perfect marriage. I am a wireless guy and there are so many exciting applications available that it is really hard to keep up. Accordingly, I started mobilediner.com to hear from folks who are passionate about the industry. I wanted to hear their views about products and polices that will have an impact on the success of the industry and potential innovations going forward.

Mobilediner.com provides a place for conversations that were not happening a few years ago and that are critical today. On that note, I have learned so much from the dining community. For instance, Jonny Goldstein has been very helpful teaching us about video-blogging. Using all these different social technologies (such as, twitter, utterz and qik ) have helped me show-off these tools to the corporate executives and opinion leaders (who were not aware of them).

Are you from the DC area? Why did you stay / or move here?

I grew up in Howard County (Maryland) but came to Washington after college because my initial interest was politics. My former boss held a seat on the House Commerce Committee (the Committee that has jurisdiction on telecom and tech matters) and my passion for telecommunications policy developed rather quickly.

How have you found the local area with regards to support and tech adoption?

Social media adoption in DC is growing stronger everyday (with the exception of Capitol Hill). We are seeing many folks in traditional advocacy blogging and many associations have started blogging too. In many instances, the reasons why they are doing it are different.

The 2008 campaigns have been a blessing in this regard. For instance, we are witnessing the success that Obama is having utilizing social technologies for GOTV, events, and fundraising. The Obama campaign is also doing some amazing things in the mobile space and I believe you’ll see mobile becoming a key strategy on its own. Overall, you’ll see more of these tools used in advocacy next cycle and the companies who are building them on the front end will reap the benefits.

What are your thoughts and ideas to help grow and support the local tech community?

Engage the tremendous resources in the Nation’s Capitol. There are tons of social media meet-ups and those are great. However, in many cases, your customers are not there. Most Fortune 500 Companies and Associations have a presence in Washington. Find and reach out to those companies and associations of interest. They may be able to connect you to the right people or events that could help your start-up get some momentum.

On that note, I’m happy to try to help those who are interested in the mobile space and can be reached via email – chris(at)mobilediner.com.

Thanks Chris, and good luck with mobilediner.com and Tin Can Communications™

 

New Feature: Local Focus

One of my goals in writing he blog here is to showcase local companies in the area.  However, it recently dawned on me that there are people, individuals out there in our area, using the tools of technology and social media to do their jobs and explore their passions.  Some of them are behind the up and coming companies and some are not, but all of them are a key ingredient that will make our community here prosper and grow.

So this is a new feature I am going to start here at East Coast Blogging, it is called Local Focus.  I plan to speak with and write about my talks with people I meet in the area while at some of the great events taking place.  It may be the CEO of a new company with a great new product or someone who just enjoys technology and the social media revolution we find ourselves in that are using these tools in their everyday jobs.

So stay tuned and let me know of anyone that you think the focus should be on.

Event: DC Independent Film Festival

This isn't my usual cup of tea here at East Coast Blogging, more like Shana's over at The DC Concierge, but in any case this week is the 2008 DC Independent Film Festival .  Here are the details.

What is the DC Independent Film Festival?

The Washington, DC Independent Film Festival celebrates the vision, the creativity and the highest level of independent filmmaking. This year's festival is our 10th anniversary and we will again provide an event in the city where you, the public, can immerse yourself in independent film culture. There will be films, discussions with filmmakers and seminars. This is also the second year we've included a music festival, where independent musicians perform their latest music. Come and experience DC's most unique film event.

When?

March 6-16th 2008

Where?

George Washington University

Jack Morton Auditorium - media and public affairs building

805 21st street, nw washington, dc 20006 (corner of 21st & H streets)

Here is the lineup

• Monday March 10 - In and Out, including world premiere of FL324
• Tuesday March 11 - Native American Films
• Wednesday March 12 - Middle East
• Thursday March 13 - Just for laughs (comedies)
• Friday March 14 - Horror films
• Saturday March 15 - African Films, Cine Latino, Seminars on film finance, production, distribution
• Sunday March 16 - Politics of Film, The Clash, seminars on music composition for film, finance & distribution workshop, legal clinic

So get out and support the local art scene.

Where to Find Your Angel

There is starting to be a lot more chatter around the DC area revolving around funding and investments.  Many often equate this this funding with Venture Capitalists, but this is not always the case.  Another very important piece of this puzzle are the Angel Investors. 

 There was a great post at CenterNetworks written by Charlie O'Donnell, Co Founder and CEO of Path101, an angel investment firm out of New York City.  It was a great read I think all of us/you possibly looking for a boost of financing to place into making your ideas come to life.

His first piece of advice, you dont always find a hot date in the bar, so you probably wont find angels at those networking events.

the same thing as trying to meet someone great in a bar…   Sure, it happens, but the odds are against you.  They don't know you, you don't know them.   You don't have any idea what the other person is looking for, what they value, or whether they're even really in the market at that moment.  Maybe they're just getting out of a bad relationship, or in an angel's case, just lost some money in a bad deal–in your niche, too.  Plus, in general, there are way more potential angels NOT going to angel events than actually going.  Similarly, the number of single people far outpaces the number of people who hangout in the hottest singles bars and clubs.

So where exactly do you go looking then ? 

Your target angel list should include the top 30 most successful people you can find in your space–not that you want to include all of them in your deal, but you need to talk to a lot of people because you're going to get a lot of no's.  The biggest reason why you want these people in your deal is because they can vet your idea.

And don't always be looking for just a check.  Many angels have a wealth of just good ol' experience and if you listen close enough, you may find something more valuable than the money you are searching for.

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