Last week I was asked to present an idea to the Arkansas Times magazine for their “Big Ideas” section related to technology. I chose something that several of my friends (Brant Collins, Steven Trotter, Arlton Lowry, and Keith Crawford have discussed quite extensively, and that’s bringing a large tech conference to Arkansas similar to SXSWi.
The article is running in this weeks edition (December 16, 2010) of the Arkansas Times and you can find it here or I have reposted my part below:
Each year thousands of tech insiders, thought leaders and celebrities flock to Austin, Texas, for SXSWi (South by Southwest Interactive), a huge tech conference that sets the tone of the industry for the year and gives the Austin economy a huge shot in the arm. Why can’t we pull off a similar event in Arkansas?
Already, we’ve got a strong foundation. Last year, I helped launch Central Arkansas Refresh, a monthly discussion group of locals who make their living working on the web. In a little more than a year’s time, we’ve registered 200 members. The inaugural BarCamp Conway and BarCamp Jonesboro — free, user-generated tech conferences where attendees vote, collectively, on topics to be presented — were unmitigated successes earlier this year. Each had more than 100 attendees from all over the region and more than a dozen sponsors, including big players like Adobe and Microsoft.
With municipal and corporate support, we can build on the infrastructure already in place and host a major conference that attracts attendees — and attention — from all over the country.
If you think that Arkansas would be a great host for a tech conference like Tahoe Tech Talk or South by Southwest I would love to hear from you, drop a comment below…
Actually this is one of my first year goals with the CoWork. I think there is a lot of demand for something like this in central AR. Would probably need to be a fall time frame. Lets get together and talk soon.
Let’s definitely get together. I think the best way to proceed is to form a steering committee of sorts that will basically provide input and chase down resources, etc. I don’t want to see a bunch of us get started on something though that will consume us. I think we need to first get a business plan together for the event and then shop the idea around.
It is really good to know about it, any ways thanks for sharing nice one, I have bookmarked this web page, i like to forward this link to my friends too,I think we need to first get a business plan together for the event and then shop the idea around.