And ..the one time at …# Geekretreat

// June 22nd, 2009 // Events

The inaugural SA Geekretreat 2009 was challenging, inspirational and a truck-load of fun.

The greatest thing of personal value to me was that everyone wanted to be there. No bosses had told us to attend. Some people will claim the R1200 cost but that’s besides the point – from my perspective making the trek to Hartebeespoort and spending the money was a pleasure.

It was amazing to connect with some awesome people. EVERYONE was fantastic, easy to talk to and brimming with ideas and passion for what we love most – the internet. (You can view a list of attendees here.)

I think that Vincent Hoffman summed it up very well on his blog -

“There were no cliques, even less intellectual cock-measuring and thankfully almost no back slapping”

(Ok – I slapped Heather’s ass once, but I digress – oh and as another aside – that is the first time that the word “cock” has been used on my blog – I wonder how much traffic that will generate …. )

I was happy to discover that people were 100% down to earth, willing to hear and entertain others opinions and at all times debates were constructive.

The format was perfect. All sessions were participatory and interactive – meaning no death by powerpoint and hours of being talked at. The weekend was a collective dialogue. Another huge area of value was the large amount of free time for people to socialise and connect beyond the superficial. Fireside chats and banters peppered the weekend and I was amazed that with all the people there I still managed to have at least one meaningful conversation with almost every single person in attendance. By contrast many conferences I attend the schedule is too onerous and people do not socialise enough. At those I generally only leave having connected with a few of the chain-smokers.

In the spirit of no back-slapping, I am not going to name anyone in this post but I can say that I met people I did not know existed who impressed me, I also connected in the flesh with virtual contacts and now can honestly say that I regard them on a much deeper level. Nothing beats spending face time with someone. If you have digital contacts you have not yet met in person I suggest you make a plan about it. That is my new mission. It is to easy to form perceptions about people based on their digital presence.

Mentor Programme

What I am personally most excited about is that I was given the task to head up an initiative for a Mentorship Programme within the internet community. Ironically it was something I have been thinking about for a while already.

In my career to date I can say that my greatest achievements and pleasures have resulted not from achieving the bottom line but from helping to grow young talent. Seeing your juniors graduate to more senior positions and carve out their own path of success is ultimate gratification. If money was not an issue I would probably be an educator.

A core principle is that people need to be prepared to freely share knowledge to grow a better industry that creates businesses that can be successful.

SO in principle, we will set up a technology platform to introduce Mentees to Mentors and match them according to geography, needs and other factors to be determined. The idea is for some of the more experienced members in the industry to transfer knowledge to young-up-and-comings – and at the same time Mentors will learn lessons from the experience themselves.

We need to acknowledge that the “Geek” fraternity is diverse. We have tech journalists, Developers, Engineers, marketers,product managers, designers and business development people like myself in the mix. So the programme will attempt to find volunteers across the spectrum.

The entire programme is on a volunteer basis and purely for those that see value in participation.

There will also be a forum where entrepreneurs can bring business plans for evaluations.

If you have any bright ideas that can contribute to this programme please drop me a line via my contact page. This project has no chance of succeeding without the participation of members in the community.

Thank you

Thanks to EVERYONE that was there. I sincerely am so glad I did it.

A huge thanks to the organisers Heather Ford, Justin Spratt and Eve D who did a remarkable job in such a short space of time.

Related

I will keep adding links as I see them. If you post something send me a link and I will add.

Sweet dreams all .

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