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[ event ] review of Chic Meets Geek 3

Please note that I know there’s a problem with the blog I’m trying to fix – please be patient as I try and fix it. Thank you!

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I went to a great event a few nights ago – and if you know me, you know that I only praise things that I believe in. Thanks to blogger Chris Pirillo who kindly sponsored tickets for some people, I was one of the winners of a ticket to attend Chic Meets Geek, a new series of events run by Carol Tran and a team of intrepid volunteers. The event was at the Automattic Lounge at Pier 38 in San Francisco, and was a great example of the kind of interconnectedness amongst communities I’d long been a fan of. The mission of Chic Meets Geek is to ‘bridge communities to inspire, share and connect’, and by holding events where the more tech and geeky folks meet those outside of tech (such as those interested in fashion), the event series may just succeed in its aims to get more conversation across diverse communities. If there’s anything the current tense political climate can teach us, it’s that the more people talk to those outside their own groups, the more likelihood we’ll have in solving our shared, collective problems. Events like this one are an integral part of coming up with solutions, and breaking down the barriers, so kudos to the event organizers (and wonderhouse Carol, who was the event MC and chief ChicGeek) for recognizing the need for such an unique event. I think CGM has hit on something incredibly worthwhile, because while there will always be events that cater to a single core audience, events – and people, and organizations – that reach out beyond their siloes serve all of us better to solve our collective problems and misconceptions.

There were a number of interesting components to this event – the centerpiece of which was a great panel of folks talking about what makes them passionate and how they’ve gotten to where they are in life. Few people really hit on the emotional aspect of why or how they’ve done what they’ve done in terms of professional success and the role of passion in what they’ve done; the panel (which included folks from software, restaurants, real estate, fashion, dance and more) was candid, honest and interesting, and more interested in listening to one another than in self promotion (a rarity in startup-rich Silicon Valley). There were also a lot of local small businesses that were involved as sponsors for the event; attendees sampled offerings from a variety of companies, including wine, cheese, soup, tasty tea sandwiches from Dartealing, as well as Abel’s Tequila flavoured ice cream. Luckily for those trying to avoid the sweets, the audience could listen to the sweet tones of Emily Palen, a violinist for the evening.

What makes this series of events far more than just another Silicon Valley schmoozefest was the idea that the event of fashion fans and geeks got together in one place and experience another group of people which they rarely might encounter – with a nonprofit bonus to boot. We also heard from the powerfully inspirational duo the Reverend Cecil Williams and Janice Mirikitani, the organizers from the Glide Foundation, a fantastic San Francisco non profit who were the event’s non profit of the evening. In addition to Cecil and Janice, the audience heard from 2 recipients of the Glide Foundation’s work, who moved people with their stories of resilience and courage in the face of adversity. Hearing stories from the recipient’s of a non profit’s work is always rewarding. To call Glide a church is to miss the point – they, like all important institutions in society, serve multiple needs and multiple groups of people. That ChicMeetsGeek chose them is appropriate, as both of them highlight the role inspiration plays in personal change, and that groups with a mission of passion and change can achieve so much. It echoed the speakers in the panel, who all expanded on how important passion was to them as individuals. ChicMeetsGeek seeks to share those stories inspire as well as connecting the groups, and in a world where negativity rules so much of our news cycle, stories of positivity and change do inspire and remind us that groups of individuals can make change possible and harness the power that comes with strength in numbers.

All in all a powerful evening and something I look forward to attending again in the future – and something I look forward to seeing expand globally. Finding organizations, events and people who make connections between diverse groups and who look to inspire all of us makes us as individuals grow – and ChicMeetsGeek embodies the wise words of Margaret Mead who reminds us to “never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has”.

I think they’re really onto something there though. There will always be events that cater to a single core audience, but events – and people, and organizations – that reach out beyond their silos serve all of us better.

[ event ] Design 4 Resilience

Some news on an upcoming event of interest that I want folks to hear about.

I’m delighted to announce that I’m working with the folks at Shareable, one of my absolute favourite web sites.  They’ve got a great event coming up that I’m helping out with a PR campaign, with a heavy emphasis on social media and social networking.  I’m really excited to be involved – they’re topics I’m very interested in – including design, design solutions, being a culture creative, and loads of interesting things.  More on the topic(s) later on.

The summary:

• http://d4r.eventbrite.com/
• April 10th, 2010 – all day
• The Hub SoMa, 901 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

If I was more of a geek I would have implemented some kind of microformatting on this post, but I’m off to help get more publicity for the event.  If you’re in the neighbourhood, I hope to see you there!

Regards,

Welcome, dear viewer.

Pull up a chair – here’s my welcome.

This is blog entry will serve as a placeholder for my resurrected blog and Web site – now both powered by WordPress! Cue the sound of trumpets and all that.  I’ll have more to fill in here once the redesign and content migration is finished.  There are still a lot of finishing touches, but bear with me while I finish it up.  I also maintain a scrapbook of links I come across over on Tumblr, which will eventually become integrated (and will replace) this blog.

The major update on what’s new is that I’m finally migrating over to WordPress, thanks to a wonderful template by Pexeto Studios that’s inspired me to take the plunge.  I’ve done the basics and will announce the official relaunch on this site – and by that time will have the actual blog up that you’ll be able to subscribe to!  Yay for technological advancement.

Why is your blog called what it is?

I thought I’d start with the basics – including the title of this blog, ‘write on/write off’.  Here’s an explanation of the name as cribbed from my Flickr page.

• the medium: I’m a fan of whiteboards. In meetings I’m always suggesting people use them, and I find myself using them – for work, for home, as a dream journal, you name it. When I came across a most excellent (i.e. usable, affordable) portable whiteboard system I started thinking that what one does with whiteboards – the action of writing on and wiping off – might serve as a metaphor for the blogging experience. We post an entry (“write on”) and delete them or they become archived (“write off”). They can become as permanent as the author decides to make them.

• the process of building: finishing up a redesign of my site I named two of the images ‘write_on.gif’ and ‘write_off.gif’; and for some reason it stuck with me.

• the critic: Whenever I come across things that work – or don’t work – I compulsively have to share it with others. Heck, isn’t that what blogging is, in part, about? This will be a place to celebrate all that works – the “right on’s” so to speak – and what doesn’t work – the “write-offs” in my life – be it design related or non-design related. But this isn’t just about my life…which reminds me of:

• the interactivity of it all: What makes blogs so interesting is the opportunity for the author to interact with the reader (one wonder what Marshall McLuhan would have to say about the hazards of that). So a blog gives you, the reader, the chance to ‘write on’ about what you think about a chosen entry. If you choose to ‘write off’ – that is, stay silent, then so be it; if you take the opportunity to ‘write on’ and interact, then you can benefit from the dialogue. Books (and any medium of information) need to be critically engaged with to fully benefit from the experience – that means wrestling with the contents through deliberation, discussion and debate. That’s the strength of this medium, and why I want you to write on. So that’s the name. Nothing more, nothing less. Thanks for reading

Regards,