Onward and upward

Whew! We made it past Austin’s unofficial “Tech Week”. InnoTech, Texas Wireless Summit and Maker Faire which were all smashing successes! After the networking fervor of the week had come to a close, I need to crash for most of the following weekend.

But, now that that’s behind us and we’re looking forward to wrapping up 2008 programming, setting the stage for 2009 and revamping our agenda. It’s a clean slate: new options, new ideas and new folks on our team. Nicole Gloor joined us last Wednesday and has rolled into our group with an uncanny enthusiasm to meet each and every member of the Austin Technology Council. Soozie and I dashed from our Happy Hour last night at 8:00 and Nicole was still rearing to go---love it! Wish I could bottle it, take it and share it, but alas…I found myself crashing by 8:15. Which, certainly seems to be a theme!

Just about every person I spoke to last night asked the same question: What is ATC seeing during these uncertain times? It’s true, we have access, insight and information on what local companies are doing, where they are cutting back and concerns they have. On a very basic level we’re seeing a jump in attendance at our events. This, I firmly believe is directly impacted by the safety in numbers theory. People are looking for insight on what others are doing, how they are reacting and if they’re missing any opportunities. We’re also seeing smaller companies continue to hire and seek customers. Business has and always will continue to tick. Mind you, I do not claim to be an economist, but the themes we are seeing with our membership are focused spending, effective use of networking, and clear communication. This all may change 3-6 months out, and throughout we will continue to provide networking, education and facilitate meetings.

Next week we’re hosting a program called Vision 2009 which is intended to provide feedback from our community on what else we can do to provide value. We’re looking forward to learning more about what we can do for our members beyond our current agenda. Our expectation is that it’ll be just the zing of fresh ideas we need during our planning for next year. Registration is open, hope you can join us.