johnwilker.com

My Friend wrote a book, buy it.

Last week I was at a book reading/signing for a new friend in Denver, Ron Lewis.

His book ‘Stick it to the Man: How to Skirt the Law, Scam Your Enemies , and Screw Big, Fat, Stupid, Lazy Corporations…for Fun and Profit!‘ launched last week, and the party was at a the Barnes & Noble downtown.

Ron is a great guy, truly interested in meeting people and doing what he can to help them succeed. When I first met Ron, I was blown away by his genuineness, he proposed we meet for coffee and was not just looking for one more person to talk about his book to. We talked about 360|Conferences, my Kindle (which I brought with him and showed him).

At the signing, he asked how the conferences were going, which was nice and further cemented my respect for him, not only did he remember my work, but showed real interest in it.

That reminds me, I need to set up coffee with Ron.

I’ve only skimmed the book a bit so far, but hearing Ron read a few passages from it, and hearing him talk about how he “landed his book deal” it was truly inspiring.

It was great to be there to support him in his (first of many, I suspect) moment in the sun.

It’s available on the Kindle store, which is a huge deal to me, so that not only can I read it where ever I want, but I won’t have to risk my signed copy getting all messed up.

It’s a great topic, and an awesome set of little things to get a leg up on companies and government trying do do the same to you.

If nothing else, buy this book to support a local (if you’re in Denver) author, it’s a good thing to do, and I’m certain Karma will smile upon you.

Tags: Books, community, eBooks, Writing

Michael Jackson – Billie Jean (1983) [Motown 25 Live]

He really did rock before he got creepy and named his kid blanket

WWDC from a first timers perspective

Tom and I went to WWDC to meet our 360|iDev speakers again, make new contacts, pimp the upcoming show in Denver and make some noise about InsideMobile. On those two fronts I think WWDC was a big success for us. The USB  Drive Scavenger hunt was really popular and each drive was found really fast.

From a conference attendee perspective, it’s too big, and seems to be all about Apple making us feel like we don’t matter. I’ll break my thoughts down below.

Keynote line: Tom and I got up early and waited in it. We’d never done it before so wanted to see what it was all about. We didn’t get up crazy early, but still waited outside for I think 2 hours, we were numbers 404 and 405 or something. About an hour before the keynote the line moves inside, where they’ve put out coffee and donuts and stuff. Then the line essentially breaks down into mayhem to get up the 4 escalators then mad rush into the keynote room. Why we waited in line to be ran past I don’t know. Why we waited in line when Apple could have let us get in and get seated earlier, I don’t know. Other than it’s a nice way for Apple to show everyone who’s in control.

Sessions: with 5200 people in attendance and only like 12 or so sessions at a time, do the math, each session was a mini keynote. Complete with having to wait in line to get into the room. Why wait in line? No discernible reason, other than (to me) to further make sure everyone knew it was Apple’s show we waited in line at their leisure.

Each session had at least 400-500 people, some filled to capacity, around 1500. How do you present a topic to 1500 people? just like a keynote, you talk at the crowd. Each session ended with “go see these sessions to get more info” pitches then a little Q&A where you have to go stand at a mic, ask your question, take the answer and sit down.

Content: I’ll admit, a great deal of the content was over my head. I’m still very much a novice iPhone app dev. Be that as it may, it was still very dry and very not deep. A lot of the time, sessions were slides of code, with explanations (i can read the docs myself). Every once in a while a session would get into some live coding,but that wasn’t the norm.

Oh and since each session was a mini keynote, they dimmed the lights, and kept it warm, it was WAY too easy to fall asleep, especially in the more “sales pitch” type sessions.

After Hours: WWDC is like… well I don’t know, I’ve never partied like that before that I recall. THough I barelly recall the partying I did at WWDC, so…

There’s at least 6 or more parties every night. Most are “invite only” or “RSVP and hope you get a ticket” deals, which sucks, and further promotes the crazy superstar nonsense that exists. Sadly most party venues are dive bars around downtown SF, so they’re crowded, noisy, did I mention crowded and noisy? The House of Sheilds is a popular place to end up. Bring a catheter and strap a bag to your calf. The bathroom (used as loosely as possible) is like stepping into the 9th level of hell, which if you’re curious is the sewer for the other 8 levels.

WWDC’s official party is a concert in the Yerba Buena park. We got there just as Cake started their encore (The Distance, w00t!) and as soon as the band finished, the tables were cleared off, the booze stations closed up, and the stage crew went to work. This was all before the folks up front had stopped jumping up and down. Very weird.

As much as I liked the parties, they were completely useless for meeting people. You ended up in a group that migrated place to place and sometimes members would come and go, but meeting new people was tough. If you were in one of the parties the music and voices were so loud, you couldn’t hardly talk.

I much prefer the 1 party to rule them all approach that Tom and I do. Sure the people who need their own party to feel special, are denied that, but hey, they can still throw a party elsewhere. Cynergy did it in Seattle. But at least you can meet people, talk, and not be running from place to place trying to catch up to the “in crowd”

Overall: WWDC is just like MAX. It’s the place to go to be seen, it’s the place where you’re assured to be in the presence of people like Wil Shipley and Brent Simmons (though, Brent will be at 360|iDev) and the rest of the luminary Mac/iPhone guys. Oh and of course Gruber, who probly will never be at one of our events.

It’s not the place to get a ton of new knowledge. It’s not the place to try and meet new people, forge new relationships, etc.

It is the place to get new NDA goodies you can’t talk to anyone about, and of course be in the room, when a new laptop is announced.

It’s definitely the place for Apple to assert their dominance over us all, and make sure we know our place in the order of things,which is pretty low.

Tags: WWDC

Kindle Owner Meetup June 6th

So this will either be a really cool meetup like I used to go to with my B5, or it’ll be a mug fest for an enterprising theif. I came across this on the latest Kindle Chronicles.

You can get more info here from Kindleboards.
Sounds like the Denver one is going to be the Starbucks on 16th at Blake. Very convenient since that’s the one I work from when I need to get out of the house. So be there at 10am this Saturday.

I haven’t seen too many other Kindles in the wild (and haven’t been showing mine off either mind you) so it’ll be interesting to see how Denver turns out on the Kindle front.

I’m hoping to meet other folks who are doing more than just reading on the Kindle, that could be a cool thing for 360|Whisperings (which by the way has 2 articles up on the Amazon store now! Mate Review and Cairngorm write up.)

If you’re local, hope to see you there!

Tags: Books, community, Kindle, Writing

360Flex Indy, done

I’m back home in Denver after 360|Flex Indy, and finally able to get my thoughts down on ‘paper’

The conference itself was a huge success, we had about 289 people with us in Indy, which you have to admit ain’t bad for “this economy”.

The hotel and conference center was awesome, i mean, an old train station? awesome! I’m not a huge fan of the layout we ended up with, but i kinda knew that going in. I just hate conferences that span floors, and we did that. Lesson learned.

The sessions, well what’s there to say but that we had 45+ sessions from some of the best minds in the community. Open source projects were launching like kites in a tornado. It was awesome, to be able to be the place where that kind of cool stuff was happening.

Oh and then there was Doug

Tags: 360Flex, Books, Business, Conferences, Kindle, Writing

Ignite Denver 3 Lineup

I posted the line up for Ignite Denver 3 on the Ignite Blog, but wanted to post here too. Nicole and I went to check out the Irish Snug the other day and meet with the Manager. Very impressed with the Snug. I know the single biggest problem with past Ignites Denver has been the venue, and hopefully I’ve made it clear, it’s an experiment. Denver is too big and too cool a place to settle on a college classroom, when there’s so many great places. Unfortunately that also means we try some ‘less than cool’ places. I think the Snug will make amends for the last two venues!

We’re going to have some seats setup in the front area nearest the screen for folks who just want to sit and watch. Behind the screen will be tables and such for the folks that want to chit chat through the entire event (there’s always a few, and usually they’re also the “this isn’t Ignite Boulder” complainers). The audio is piped through the rooms speakers, so there shouldn’t be an “I can’t hear” problems.

I’m torn on weather to have a brightkite wall. thinking I’ll set it up before we start the presos and during the break, but will learn from Refresh and not have the wall up during presos, LOL. Not a good idea.

• Booze on the Brain! (or the neuropharmacology of alcohol)
• Does This Make My Ass Look Fat?
• Ignite the entrepreneur within: 50 Interviews
• History of Rome (For those have have been to Ignite Denver 1 and 2, RJ promises he will not have family trouble and scheduling conflicts! He swore it on the flying Spaghetti Monster.)
• Trinkets and Nuggets about the Modern Japan
• The Similarities Between Emperor Palpatine & Our History
• Leveraging the Internet To Land a Book Deal
• Pie and the contemporary psyche
• Mucking Out Your Inbox: How to Be More Productive with Email
• Toys for relieving stress in the office
• Slammed Doors and Phones: Or the Saga of a Young Organizer
• How a Video becomes Public Access TV in a Web2.0 World

There’s a few tickets left, and if we sell out I’ll have to actually have some one man the door and check names, and do the whole waiting list thing. Make sure you RSVP, we’re gonna have a good time. Ignite is an excellent time to meet people you might not otherwise meet in your regular circles, which is reat because it opens so many more doors and opportunities.

Tags: community, Ignite Denver

1 failed model leads to another, can we learn?

So apparently the failed Rocky Mtn News, folks decided to try their hand at a purely web play. First things first, I hadn’t even heard about the INDenverTimes until Amy started talking about their fail. So yeah strike one there, it’s called getting the word out, and clearly that flopped.

So from what I’ve gleened, 3 investors got some 30 odd people from the Rocky, and started this onine paper, hoping to get 50,000 subscribers at $5 a piece.

First they started with a press conference, no idea why it warranted that, but you know, whatever.

So basically learningnothing from the old and flawed model of a print newspaper (hordes of reporters and editors), the INDT team chose to try and force that same model into a web site. MMM Uh guys, it’s 2009, no matter how to try to fight the future. Print news is dying because it’s not adapting and learning. You clearly haven’t adapted or learned.

30 people? 30?  I know several web startups that operate with 2 people, and do more. 30 people? Look, I’m as sad as the next guy that the Rocky folks are collecting unemployment, but that’s no reason to prop them up with false hopes. Go find new jobs elsewhere guys! Probably in other industries! Reporting isn’t dead. Print papers are. GO report somewhere online, start a blog on your own, you’d probly get more than 3000 readers.

I’m a big fan of relying on your community to help you, because I believe that if you’re worth helping, people will help you.

“I’m not disappointed,” Preblud insists. “It’s been an amazing ride for the last five weeks, and I think we’ve learned a great deal. Although we didn’t meet our subscription goal, our other online metrics are phenomenal.” He adds that “the heroes in all this are the journalists, and I still have a commitment to journalism. We all do — and this is like any business model. There’s always challenges, and you don’t always know all the answers up front. But we believe professional journalism is a crucial component of not only a community but a democracy, and we’re going to continue to move forward in support of that” — as long as the “business model works. And it works in the immediate term.”

I can only assume the investors and 30 plus “professional journalists” (read out of touch with modern trends, human beings) thought that people would flood the site with subscriptions simply because. Sure Iwantmyrocky was created, why not. Sentiment is cheap, and easy to express. But seeing as how The Rocky closed because no one subscribed, it seems a bit retarded to think sentiment for the old Rocky would make people subscribe to the INDT.

All I can say, is that the INDT failure isn’t even remotely surprising. A complete lack of social media effort, or even reaching out to the community, fail and fail. Sorry Rocky folks, you’re ivory tower of “Professional Journalism” is crumbling around you, and paper mache ain’t gonna patch it.

Tags: Business

Ignite Denver 3! in the works!

Ignite Denver is set up for May 13th!

We’ll be at the Irish Snug, watching some awesome, interesting people talk about awesome interesting things.

Ignite is a fun time for all. If you’re in Denver, and reading this, you should definitely RSVP. It’s gonna be fun.

If you think you’ve got something cool, interesting, education, or downright mind blowing awesome, submit a topic on the uservoice site!

Spread the word!

Irish Snug
1201 E Colfax Ave
Denver, CO 80218

Tags: Ignite Denver

Telemarketing is NOT something you have to do!

I’ve been stewing on this for a while now, and I can’t hold it in any more. Cold Calling, and in general telemarketing, SUCK!

I’m going to pick on conferences for two reasons. 1. it’s my business, and 2. Conferences most definitely should be be telemarketing, other businesses shouldn’t either, but conferences?!

My irritation started with Robo Ted calling about MAX. LAME! Not only was it not really Ted, it wasn’t a real person, it was a recorded message. Whatever that cost, should have been taken off of the price of registration, I’m sure it woulda had a better result on registrations.

Then there was CFUnited just the other day. The worst part (Actually there’s two) was that it was an Indian guy with such a thick accent I barely understood why he was calling and asking me to register. The other worst part, I was already registered! According to Liz

lizign @jwilker telemarketing is just something we gotta do. sucks i know.  don’t know what else to do except make the calls myself?

I call Bull Shit. Not only is it not something you gotta do, but if you took whatever you paid thick accent Indian guy, off the rpice of admission, you wouldn’t need to call and bug people to register.

And that’s the problem with this kind of crap marketing. I went to CFUnited a few years ago. I’m going this year on behalf of the Flex Show, different email address. I can only assume that’s why I got a “Please come to CFUnited” call, when I already was.

Weak Sauce. Tom and I would never in a million years call our attendees. We don’t even like having to send emails, since we feel spammy. Calling, hellz no!

Tags: marketing, sleeze

I build community, organize events, and rock!

Yesterday, April 13th was my last day at EUI.

It wasn’t a bad break up at all, or anything like that. Anthony and I had several conversations about my role at the company and how best I fit with the company’s needs and goals.

We agreed, that right now, it wasn’t the right fit. Not for a lack of interest in community on EUI’s part or anything like that, it just wasn’t the right time.

So now what?

Well for a limited window of time I’m putting all my effort into 360|Conferences. Tom and I alternate on who has the bandwidth and time to put a full time effort into the conferences, it’s my turn again.

I’m also working on the next Ignite Denver, so that’s a pleasant distraction, but pretty much, for as long as I can, I’m back to being totally dedicated to 360|Conferences, Corp.

After that?

Well I dunno. If I can’t get 360|Conferences to a FT gig level in short order I’ll be looking for companies that want help organizing kick ass community driven events, and interacting with their communities. I’ll be looking to consult, share what I know, etc. Got a question, project, etc? Reach out, I’ll see what I can do to help :)

Tags: community, Conferences, EffectiveUI, Ignite Denver, Work