Beer and Blog Portland

Today

Wow friends! It’s a beautiful day to socialize and network outside on the patio with cool drinks and good people! @xolotl is planning a good game of hideNtweet. @geekygirldawn is talking about an 8pm run for @Whiffles fried pies. I think I’m going to share a laugh with @turoczy on his comment on a Facebook invite for a $25 Happy Hour Workshop on The Holy Triad of Social Media Marketing

From now on

Last week I was working with Nichole installing a blog for her father. She is also an attorney and we discussed someone from her firm doing a talk on IP law as it relates to blogging and social media. That’s when a couple thoughts came into my mind that I realize come up frequently now:

1. It’s too loud to do talks at the Green Dragon these days, and;
2. We could do it somewhere else, but the offsite Beer and Blogs cause confusion.

These are problematic issues because a big part of what Beer and Blog is all about is helping each other for which talks work great. We could change venues, but Green Dragon has been a great home to us. It’s tough to find locations that meet the requirements for a good meet up spot: happy hour, good food, nice selection of drinks, reliable wifi, order at bar when busy (compared to table service only), and a staff that cares we’re there. The location is convenient and parking is easy. Finding all of that *and* a separate room with A/V support for talks is a fantasy land at the moment.

So, let’s do this:

1. Always meet at the Green Dragon every Friday with no exception. (I can see @kenefsky’s and @reidab’s heart breaking for Blog and Beer)
2. We’ll do the talks as offsite events at different times than Friday’s from 4-6pm.

These changes will not only address the two concerns about where we’ll be and ability to hear talks, but it will also begin to build connections with other groups. At our talks, we’ll do two discussions: one lead by us and the other by the group we’re visiting. This gives us a chance to teach and learn with other groups while expanding everyone’s networks. We have an opportunity to expand the spirit of helping each other beyond the tech scene in a way that leaves *us* more well rounded in our knowledge of the world outside of tech. As I write this there is a discussing taking place on Silicon Forest with 3 Oregon Venture Capitalists. They are talking with many of our friends about funding startups. This is an exciting time for all of us and now is our moment to reach out to the larger business community and the even greater Portland community with the offering of tech in our hands and to do so as a group. Beer and Blog can participate in this movement by helping spread the knowledge of blogging and social media. I plan to ask you, the attendees, to lead our talks for the other groups. This is a particularly good opportunity for folks to share baseline information that might otherwise be perceived as too basic for the more advanced tech scene. Let’s talk more about this stuff tonight and on the network.

I also realize that Beer and Blog serves another important function, which is to be one of the groups that brings play and the social into our group. So we’ll continue to do fun field trips, but those too will be outside of our regular meet ups. We need to go to more Twicnics with @donpdonp. Take more magic bus rides with @podcasthotel. Organize outdoor movie nights with suggestions from @pdxflaneur. Participate in more hideNtweets with @xolotl and @yuetsu. Sing more karaoke with @mizd and @rockstarbrother.

I posted this on Upcoming and Calagator even though it’s practically start time.