Reflecting: South Sound Technology Conference, 2008

A treat it was indeed, as I attended my first of many South Sound Technology Conferences (SST Conference) this past Friday. Like a little kid after Christmas day, I was excited and enthused all day and played with the new thoughts and information I'd gained in my head all evening, dreaming and planning...

To many, it might seem nerdy or naive to be so excited, but for others who share my passion for science and technology, you know my excitement is real, and my dreams, even realer.

The conference hit the ground running strong with Andrew Fry leading the pack.

The first panel featured information on "Fostering Innovation", and included presentations from Egils Milbers, John Dimmer and Lee Cheatham. I have to share, this presentation may have been my favorite of the day. Egils Milbers, Executive Director for the Economic Development Commission of Washington State was noted as being highly prestigious and even a bit of a celebrity and he certainly lived up to his expectations. With a wonderful power point presentation, he inspired and enlightened us as he spoke on what innovative means and how to go about being innovative, along with what is needed. A quote from one of his slides that I found profound in respect to our nations correct woes follows.

"Never allow a crisis to go to waste!"

-Rahm Emanuel

Also, John Dimmer of the Tacoma Angel Network was there to encourage entrepreneurs and let them know of the resources for capital available to them as start ups, the Tacoma Angel Network included. And Lee Cheatham of the Washington Technology Center was there to close and tie everything together. The three of them provided a fantastic start to the day and some valuable prospectives for which I felt very fortunate to get to hear.

The next presentation was one I had been waiting for and had even blogged about last month. Cloud Computing, the current buzz word whizzing around the technology industry, was presented by Aaron Kimbell, and then followed up by the "Dual Prospectives Panel". Together, they were able to make very clear to me exactly what cloud computing is and means and the pros and cons of its use, as well as who it's respectable audience is or should be. The panel included Mike Manzano of Topia Technologies who focused on Cloud Computing in Software and Dr. Ankur Teredesai of the Institute of Technology, UWT, who focused on Cloud Computing in the Education. I personally was thrilled and very satisfied with the discussion! In fact, rest assured that I will be doing a follow up blog of my October blog on this subject in the very near future.

The rest of the afternoon provided an introduction to a selection of the technology based businesses we have present in the South Sound, including Prepared Response represented by Mike Brown, Serra Media represented by Mark Briggs, Avue Technology represented by Dan Creamer, NewTech represented by Jennifer Leaf and Internet Identity represented by Rod Rasmussen. All of the companies had different dynamics, all spun upon the use of technology. And besides the pleasure of having some fresh clear insight into these co existing companies, as they met one another and discussed their point of views on different subjects, as a student, it was nice to get a preview of my possible future employers.

Overall, for me, the SST conference was amazing and truly beneficial. The ideas it spurred within me and the confidence it gave me in what this industry can do, only helped to secure that this is where I need to be and this industry is what I want to be a part of.

A special thank you goes to Andrew Fry and all of those who helped plan and put on this annual event. I look forward to celebrating the conferences 10 year anniversary at the conference next year! Should be an interesting one, especially given the current state of our nation.