QC Merge & Cincy Coworks

Something special happened last week. A 1st-year conference gathered over 80 people in a funky downtown space for two days of learning, friendships, and inspiration.

Queen City Merge was, in my opinion, a success. No, it wasn’t perfect, but as a 1st-year conference it can only get better. The conference ended on the Reds party deck at Great American Ballpark. As I left I felt a lot of energy, but also a bit of sadness like when vacation comes to an end.

QC Merge was chartered to bring together folks from diverse web disciplines (hence “Merge”) to show how much talent is in Cincinnati for building web companies.  At the least, it got people talking. After the end of Jen Myers talk “Developers Can’t Design and Other Myths,” a rabid discussion ensued about why developers and designers don’t get together more often.  Why don’t developers congregate over here?  Why don’t designers congregate over there?  Should they congregate professionally or at a happy hour?  Cincinnati’s a good city for cross-pollination. Cincinnati’s a bad city for cross-pollination.

Jen’s talk was followed by Alex Hillman. Now, if you’ve followed coworking at all over the past few years, you’ve run across Alex’s name.  As co-founder of Indyhall in Philadelphia, he’s helped create one of the most successful coworking spaces in the nation (note I didn’t say largest, richest, or loudest).  Cross-pollination of ideas, creating community, gathering diverse folks – Indyhall breathes these ideas and the QC Merge debate was like a coworking values game of Scrabble™.

As a web developer, I am fairly active in the local developer communities. I attend the user groups, hackathons, and happy hours.  You know what I find there?  Other developers.  When I look at the local AIGA chapter’s roster of events, I see all kinds of events.  Same for the AMA, and the Adclub.  There are lots of developer events.  There are lots of designer events.  And there are lots of marketing and ad events.  How is it that someone like me who loves going to developer events has never encountered someone from the these other groups (not until recently at least)?  How is it that it takes a two-day conference to start the conversation?

We want Cincinnati Coworks to be a big part of this conversation.  I ask AIGA Cincinnati, Cincinnati AMA, and the like to be a part of it too. We all want the same thing, and we’ll get there faster together.

Cross-posted on Cincinnati Coworks.

A frequent transit guide for Cincinnati

Background info: Transit guide explains Cincinnati bus riding basics

In 2004, Make Cincinnati Weird Launched. In 2011, It Relaunches!

Make Cincinnati Weird, inspired by the Keep Austin Weird campaign and others, launched in 2004.  It was entitled "Make" Cincinnati Weird in response to the popular opinion that Cincinnati is conservative, traditional, etc.  and needed to get weird before keeping it weird.

Alas, the project and blog eventually fell derelict.

But now, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, a new fellowship has gathered to resurrect MCW and carry forth the mission that has been and always will be.

To document the quirky, offbeat, and… well… weird goodness of Cincinnati. The single guiding principle, is that diversity breeds strength.

Join us on Saturday, Feb. 19th, at Milton’s Tavern on Prospect Hill to celebrate and wish our fair stewards onward!

* Not actual people

R.I.P. David Crowley

David Crowley was a good man and a great Cincinnatian.  Back when I was more involved politically, I saw him I believe at three different debates, and met him at one of those debates. He always made sense, always seemed pleasant, and avoided the “fire and brimstone” type campaigning that is often so common.

Also, Mr. Crowley, I apologise for the time I mistakenly called you Patrick Crowley (NKY politics reporter) on an old Cincinnati Dealer parody article.  Your comment set me straight.

Who Says Facebook Isn’t Useful?

IgniteCincinnati, Finally

The Ignite concept is coming to Cincinnati, finally.  Not to be confused with the excellent grant program, IgniteCincinnati is:

A night of presentations with a twist. 14 presenters each get 5 minutes to talk about their subject. 20 slides that auto advance after 15 seconds. It is quick, fun, smart and fills the Know Theater. Our next one is January 20th.

To qualify this, I should say that these type of short-format talks have been going on in the area for a while now time under different names.  Whether you call it Ignite, Pecha Kucha Night, Open Mic night, lightning talks, jolt talks – the events are always fun… AND educational!

I love these events. I try to make them whenever they occur, and hope to see you there on the 20th. 

Register for IgniteCincinnati.

Cincinnati Impresses: Center Of Innovation

The Center of Innovation program at the College of Applied Science at UC aims to show seniors that their choices for employment upon graduation is not limited to Fifth Third, Kroger’s, and Great American Insurance (not that there’s anything wrong with those fine companies). The program also aims to show them that, in a region full of marketing, design, and business talent, there is serious need for young technology talent with an entrepreneurial bent. For those who might want to take the plunge, the program also outlines business skills and resources they’ll need to complement their technology skills.

This is a great thing, and kudos and support goes to Andy Erickson and Dr. Hazem Said for their work so far.

This past Tuesday I gave a short talk to students in the Innovation Seminar series in CAS at UC about what' it’s like to work in a startup from a coder’s point of view. I talked about transitioning from a cubicle farm job to a startup environment, the nature and pace of working in a startup, and the tons and tons of learning that is inevitable.

You won’t get a lot from these slides without the narrative, but I post all my talks here so I thought I’d post this one.

Cross-posted on my programming blog.

Development In A Startup

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