Supporting a community — NewTech PDX story
October 2013, my voicemail was full of frantic messages. Shauna Noah, Jupiter Hotel’s event organizer at the time, was not happy that my flight out of JFK had been delayed. I was hosting an event that night and her message was clear: “The place is filling up.”
The event was put together under short notice so I doubted the turnout would be something to write home about. But even though the event space had room for 75, it was full in 15 minutes. By the time I brought the five presenters on stage it was hard to hear them and many couldn’t even get into the room. Folks were being turned away and started spilling into the bar next door.
The night itself was fulfilling a loophole. TechCocktail was sending companies from around the US to their first annual TechCocktail Celebrate Conference in Last Vegas, but companies had to ‘win’ a regional event. The only problem is that Portland hadn’t held a TechCocktail event that year and they wouldn’t budge unless we held an event. I emailed their CEO and got the go-ahead but only had 4 weeks to pull it off, and they were NOT sending help.
Partners in Crime
It was in the chaos that I first met Thubten Comerford. I was all ears to hear his idea for a new event that would “bring together all the different siloed tech meetups and groups into one, cooperative, cohesive tech community.” He saw the crowd’s energy, could feel my passion for the community, and was impressed that I pulled together that large of an event by myself, while traveling to the East Coast no less. So, he asked me to join him.
What I didn’t know was that Thubten had already been going up to see this ‘New Tech Meetup’ (now NewTechNW) in Seattle, hosted by a colleague I knew very well, Red Russak, and someone Thubten knew very well, Brett Greene. By watching how it was produced, and learning from the dynamic presenters, he built the framework of what would become our very own: NewTech PDX.
NewTech PDX connects the tech community in Portland with the greater Portland community. We do this by bringing together geeks and laymen alike to see demos of the technology being built right in their own back yard, and supply them with catered food, beverages, and plenty of time to network.
We have accomplished a lot in 2 years of NewTech PDX events:
1/20/14 — First Our first event together: 150 attendees
25 evening events, and never below 100 attendees
Added a Thought Leader Coffee to give folks a deeper dive with a local thought leader in a more intimate environment
1/18/16 — First event at our new, bigger venue: 260 attendees.
∞ Connection made
3,000+ attendees
120+ speakers
2 hosts
1 hell of a good time!
Thank you Portland
NewTech PDX is a testament to the strength and camaraderie of the Portland community as a whole. It is evidence of Portlanders’ thirst for a greater connection with each other and to the technology being built right here in our own backyard. They have rallied together, helping us make the event bigger and better each month.
From Thubten and myself, I would like to offer a big thank you to all of the speakers, sponsors, volunteers, and attendees who make this all possible. Stay tuned, we are only just getting started!
