Techguerilla Talks - Latest Comments

Re: Avis Towed My Car

whitneyhoffman — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 13:26:07 -0000

Definitely work your way up the chain at Avis, and include the video in the email. Ask for compensation for the storage and towing. If you get no where, i would also consider calling the local consumer advocate with the story- this is the sort of thing they love.

Re: Avis Towed My Car

Michele Price — Sat, 28 Jun 2014 17:52:01 -0000

Looks like evidence for small claims court. Are you going to show them this video and ask if they are going to take care of this error along with the financial duress?

Re: Complexity and Resolutions

Rick Ladd — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 13:51:45 -0000

Thanks for sending me to this ancient bit of wisdom. I actually had a product in mind when I posted the da Vinci quote to FB. It's not, however, a consumer product. It's a tool the organization I'm partnered with, Quantellia, LLC, has developed which kind of does what you were doing when you wrote this post. Helps organizations reduce complex decisions into manageable - and actionable - elements.

As I'm learning both the software/tool, and the growing discipline of Decision Science/Engineering, I'm refining my thoughts about how to present them and where they fit so I can find organizations who will benefit from what we do. Yours is a valuable perspective and, in fact, World Modeler cannot be used without breaking down the elements of a decision into simpler components. Not quite the same as working through a temporally linear set of steps, but closely related, it seems to me.

Re: Why I’m Rethinking The Gender Issues In Technology – Treehouses

Ashlyn Brewer — Tue, 12 Nov 2013 21:05:01 -0000

I *absolutely* read this blog post as you using your son's experiences - and the treehouse metaphor - to describe the benefits and origins of male-dominated industry conferences, departments, boards, etc. Based on your response here, that was not the point you were trying to make. Sorry for my misinterpretation.

Re: Why I’m Rethinking The Gender Issues In Technology – Treehouses

Matt Ridings - Techguerilla — Tue, 12 Nov 2013 19:49:03 -0000

Put more simply: “If teen boys decide that kitchens are the cool place for them to hang out and talk about girls, they are more likely to learn about or be interested in cooking than girls who hang out at the tables in the front of the restaurant. That leads to fewer girls being exposed to the awesomeness of cooking, and thus fewer going into those careers. And that's troublesome if we need to improve cooking, which is what tends to happen when you add more diversity and if cooking is where the most opportunities exist"

Now, to address Ashlyn specifically:
"Respectfully, Matt, screw "separate but equal" treehouses". I was speaking directly to the fact that young teens seek out spaces with their own gender. Not that they don't have communal spaces, not that they are trying to be exclusionary, and most certainly not referencing the adult workplace. (heck, half the reason they get together is to talk about the opposite sex)

"There is no personal or business case to keep women out, either." See above.

"In games, skill usually ends up the only deciding factor in who you want to game with." This has not been experience with this particular age group.

The entire point was that I'm strongly interested in bringing in more young girls to the STEM fields, and that some of the formative behaviors I see taking place at a specific age group are troubling to me with the implication that it could actually harm those efforts.

Maybe I'm missing the point of Ashlyn's comments, but they seem geared to adult situations that I'm not addressing at all?

Re: Why I’m Rethinking The Gender Issues In Technology – Treehouses

Matt Ridings - Techguerilla — Tue, 12 Nov 2013 16:09:38 -0000

I think we're talking past one another, so I'll dive right in as well. I think you're missing the point. That could be because I communicated it badly, or because you're reading something into it that isn't there. Either is entirely possible.

Re: Why I’m Rethinking The Gender Issues In Technology – Treehouses

Ashlyn Brewer — Tue, 12 Nov 2013 12:42:30 -0000

I've erased this response a couple of times trying to get it right, so I'm just going to dive in without bothering to sound eloquent.

Respectfully, Matt, screw "separate but equal" treehouses. Women are coming into all of those treehouses (MMORPGs, tech conferences, boards of directors, etc.) whether men like it or not. Those treehouses - beautiful open gaming universes, leadership positions at amazing companies and space at the edge of the technological frontier - are all in the highest and coolest trees. There is no equal in the separate here.

There is no personal or business case to keep women out, either. The amount of people who want to devote insane stretches of hours to a video game, or who are qualified to lead a board of directors, or who have unique insight to bring to a tech conference, is already a small pool. Why limit it further?

Also - if this was 2009 and your son and his friends were playing COV/COH, they'd all be dying to roll in my group. In games, skill usually ends up the only deciding factor in who you want to game with. Looking forward to living in a world where that's true across all these treehouses.

Re: I Think I’m Supposed To Feel Bad About That

Ann Handley — Sat, 07 Sep 2013 10:23:07 -0000

My issue is always how little I actually *do*, compared to the truly "interesting" people among us. (I debated whether to put quotes around "interesting" or not. Are they really? Are the quotes suggesting a disrespect or doubt? I don't know. Maybe. Maybe not. I'm thinking of Amber's "filter" comment.)

I suppose I'm as shallow as you are. Generally I feel okay with that. Except when I don't.

Also, I love the title of this post. That's really the comment I wanted to add here.

Re: Dishing The Dirt: The Social Speaking Circuit

Anita Kirkbride — Sat, 07 Sep 2013 09:10:03 -0000

The question is.... is the rest of the organizing committee willing to make the changes I see as necessary to win back that trust. I'm honestly not sure. It's good to hear we can be forgiven, though :)

Re: Dishing The Dirt: The Social Speaking Circuit

Tim Washer — Sat, 07 Sep 2013 07:43:06 -0000

Yes to more heckling! I've suffered way too many pitchmen, like Larry McDoogal. http://youtu.be/8fZ5oIOnORw

Re: Dishing The Dirt: The Social Speaking Circuit

Matt Ridings - Techguerilla — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 21:16:56 -0000

I'll tackle a few of these. I've got nothing negative whatsoever to say about you. The events that I've attended of yours seemed very well run, and you seemed to have found a niche of condensed content with low price point. That may surprise you to hear given other occurrences this year but I'm happy to talk to you offline about why there aren't any issues between us.

Now. That said, it's easy for me to be critical and I *know* there are dozens of things behind the scenes that cause issues that I'm not aware of. I can do that because quite frankly it's not my problem. When your telephone stops working you don't think about all the issues that eventually happened to cause that occurrence, behind each one of which is a good human trying to do something about it. Your telephone still isn't working, and that's the service your pay for.

If you're in a friendly relationship and a business relationship, it can definitely strain things. There are some who will take advantage of that (dump them immediately) and some who feel a greater sense of responsibility because they don't want to let you down (embrace them). I've let things go further than I ever should have without a contract because the person was a friend and kept saying 'trust me'. And I wanted to. And I've been screwed several times in the process. Yet I will continue to do it my way.

I don't have a lot of issue separating the business from the personal. Many do. That person will still be my friend, we just won't ever do business together. They cost me a lot of money, yet want me to be sympathetic to the reasons behind why they cost me that money. (I'm in no way talking about you here btw). I find that point of view entitled and frankly it stuns me when it occurs. I was quite *literally* told last week by an event organizer that they could not believe that I wouldn't change my terms for them at the last second (that would cost me money), "issues had arisen on their end and I didn't I realize how hard this was for THEM?"

That's not business, and it's not leadership.

Re: Dishing The Dirt: The Social Speaking Circuit

JasonFalls — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 20:42:24 -0000

I'm kinda disappointed the dirt wasn't truly dished, even though I'm 100% certain some of it would have been dished my way, from Matt and from commentors alike. I'm a big boy. I can take it. Heh.

My perspective on this is probably very different. I've been a speaker (the perspective Matt offers here). I've been an organizer of large and small events for other people and I've been the owner/operator of a small to medium event. It's hard for me to be critical of any event because I know that no matter what, I don't know 3-4 dozen factors that are at play.

And yes, other industries don't have this problem. Because other industries don't build events with their friends. I built events in the social space with people I wanted to be around. People I cared about. People I hope cared for me. The event business almost left me bankrupt as a result, of money and of friends. Many of the friends who didn't put me in that situation asked for more money, ridiculous travel accommodations, whined about the food, whispered to their friends that I was too cheap to buy speaker's gifts and ego ego ego ego ego ego.

I don't much hold it against them. They didn't know I was losing my ass. But because of my pride (or foolishness), I thought people I knew and liked would be less needy children when it came to helping a friend. So I lost face. I lost some friends in the process. But I went to bat with people I cared for. So, I'd probably do it again.

Stupid me.

I admire the hell out of people who can make it in the event business. The margins are narrow. The profits are hard to come by. The friends quickly whisper behind your back and become enemies ... or at least not friends. Jason Keath is a goddamn saint. I admire him for what he's done. But I promise he can probably tell you that balancing the business of running events with the incomparable egos of people you think are your friends ain't fun work.

Too many people in this business are focused on what you've done for them lately vs. what they mean to you over the long haul. There may be immaturity in the event space here, but that's not where it ends.

Yes, we're in a business. No, we shouldn't give give give and never get in return. But I promise you Matt, and anyone else in this thread, every event you can complain about is one you have no earthly idea how or why things were the way they were.

Re: Dishing The Dirt: The Social Speaking Circuit

Lynette Young — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 20:35:18 -0000

I was a 'professional' (as in getting paid a nice fee EVERY time) speaker well before hitting any sort of 'social circuit' speaking gigs. Social doesn't pay - and I don't just mean fees. It's very hard to land a good number of well paying clients from the stage because you are usually not allowed to pitch from stage (nor would I want to). Even with event ticket prices being in the thousands, somehow there is never enough money to pay speakers their worth. I've also seen that decision makers (those who would hire me to speak or consult) are not the ones sitting in the audience either, making this 'fishing' process less profitable for me.

When I first started speaking in this space, I was told "events don't pay speakers". Well, that is simply not true. I made a good part of my income from speakers fees but in other industries.

There are very few social speaking gigs that pay (well) and those are locked up pretty tight with cliques of friends/speakers that make it really hard for anyone else to break into.

My $0.02

Re: Dishing The Dirt: The Social Speaking Circuit

Steve Woodruff — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 19:53:12 -0000

This post is an eye-opening public service. Good on you, sir.

Re: Dishing The Dirt: The Social Speaking Circuit

Jason Keath — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 19:13:37 -0000

And even when it is accidentally included in a speaker contract, CC is still pretty gracious about it.

Re: Dishing The Dirt: The Social Speaking Circuit

Jason Keath — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 19:09:26 -0000

Tell me more about overlapping main speakers? Expertise or content? Curious.

Re: Dishing The Dirt: The Social Speaking Circuit

Jason Keath — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 19:04:15 -0000

Makes sense. You guys are pros.

Re: Dishing The Dirt: The Social Speaking Circuit

Jason Keath — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 19:03:56 -0000

Yeah, most of the folks on this thread would be exempt I imagine. And we do convey all those points ahead of time. And many speakers ask the right questions, especially lately.

This process has definitely raised the quality of content for Social Fresh.

Re: Dishing The Dirt: The Social Speaking Circuit

Jason Keath — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 18:56:14 -0000

I will also throw out Dreamforce, by Salesforce, as a really well done event from a speaker perspective, and every perspective really.

Last year I tweeted out to see if anyone could check to see if there was a slide remote in the room I would be speaking in and got a tweet back from conference community managers that were near by and confirmed for me in minutes.

Re: Dishing The Dirt: The Social Speaking Circuit

Jason Keath — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 18:54:23 -0000

All great points. Every speaker and sponsor should be treated respectfully.

Now I'm really curious what events these were. But completely understand not naming them.

Re: Dishing The Dirt: The Social Speaking Circuit

Peter Kim — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 17:43:51 -0000

No Amber, that's not what I mean at all. As mentioned above, I'm on the fringe of this "social circuit" if not entirely outside and it's difficult for me to take away lessons away without more context and details.

Re: Dishing The Dirt: The Social Speaking Circuit

Amber Naslund — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 17:33:21 -0000

Is the implication here that the only thing that makes a "great post" or a valid argument that you lob bombs at someone specifically and personally? I think Matt is challenging the principles and practice here, not necessarily seeking glory in throwing specific people under the bus. And I'm not sure I see what value that would add to the discussion.

Even if you remove the "pretty incestuous little space" comment and consider all the other points here, there is plenty of meat on this bone to chew on.

Re: Dishing The Dirt: The Social Speaking Circuit

Matt Ridings - Techguerilla — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 17:31:07 -0000

Re: Dishing The Dirt: The Social Speaking Circuit

Amber Naslund — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 17:30:04 -0000

There's no question that there's value in having practitioners present. I'm glad you do that.

But Matt's post here isn't a debate about the value of paying speakers or not, or whether there's a "professional level" speaker available in this world (the ones that are true pros, btw, will likely argue that their expertise is MUCH broader than "social"). There's plenty of good, convincing arguments on both sides, on behalf of both speakers and events. Bottom line there: as a speaker, set a standard. Find events that fit it, or adjust it. Same with event organizers. Set the expectation. You'll find people willing to meet it.

The real issue here is in how business dealings are handled REGARDLESS of what you've agreed upon. Our issues have been much less about the potential revenue (which of course we value highly) but much MORE about events essentially putting their problems of disorganization, lack of funding, and logistics issues in OUR lap, and giving us attitude about it to boot. For example, we get recruited (recruited mind you, not something we applied for) to present a workshop with specific terms around content, revenue, etc. Your event partner pulls out. You tell us the terms we negotiated with them WHILE THEY WERE AN AUTHORIZED PARTNER WITH THE EVENT are no longer your problem, and gee sorry, take it up with them but we can't deliver on that. Two weeks before the event is to take place.

Why on earth would I want to work with people that treat anyone like that in a professional setting? Ever? Why is that considered acceptable in ANY industry as a standard of work?

THAT is what galls me. And even in the nonprofit industry where budgets are hell, most people are amateurs with a cause and everyone is rolling up sleeves, I've never experienced the level of unprofessionalism that I have in this "space".

Re: Dishing The Dirt: The Social Speaking Circuit

Amber Naslund — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 17:21:58 -0000

From experience, Anita, I'll tell you that acknowledging all of the above to the speakers involved and telling them how you plan to improve - even if they aren't there the next time - goes a long way toward good will and future reputation.

It's not the mistakes we remember. It's how they're handled that counts most.