Social Times - Latest Comments in Gary Takes on DC Tech Events, Who Will Win?

Re: Gary Takes on DC Tech Events, Who Will Win?

Gary — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:53:50 -0000

Hi guys,I just came across this post and since you're talking about my site Garysguide.org I thought I'd pitch in with my 2 cents :) Btw a ton of people have signed up for our DC Events newsletters and have emailed me with nice things to say about our site so I wanted to say a big thank you!!!

Nick, Thanks for blogging about our site and for the appreciate comments about our design, features etc. Your blog is a great read and looking forward to the Social Ad Summit in New York in Sep.

Ross, DCTechEvents is awesome and folks have only had nice things to say about your personally. I would love to connect with you to explore how we can work together. I completely agree that this is not a zero-sum game.

Having 2 event sites is not bad - there are always some events that are listed on Ross's site and not on our site and vice-versa.

Also I'm positive that with 2 sites we will end up reaching out to more people than before, more people will learn about the events, go to events, meet up with like-minded folks, deals will be down, businesses will launch, and the DC tech scene will prosper and grow in general. That's my hope.

Feel free to ping me anytime with questions, comments and suggestions at gary [at] garysguide.org

Gary

Re: Gary Takes on DC Tech Events, Who Will Win?

Ross M Karchner — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:56:46 -0000

Thanks Nick--

Just to amend my previous comment-- I did get editions of Gary's daily newsletter on the 18th and today, and the weekly one today.

The daily is pretty nice, I was skeptical initially.

Re: Gary Takes on DC Tech Events, Who Will Win?

Nick O'Neill — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:26:51 -0000

I've posted an update Ross, in some upcoming features, I plan on integrating DC Tech Events. Based on the comments in this thread I don't think Gary is going to gain much traction :)

Re: Gary Takes on DC Tech Events, Who Will Win?

Ross M Karchner — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:13:56 -0000

Also-- has anyone actually gotten either of the newsletters? I signed up for both daily and weekly, and haven't seen anything.

Re: Gary Takes on DC Tech Events, Who Will Win?

Ross M Karchner — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:11:45 -0000

Nick: must EVERYTHING be reduced to a zero-sum game?

Everyone else: Thanks!

Here is my initial reaction: http://blog.dctechevents.com/2008/07/20/repost-...

Re: Gary Takes on DC Tech Events, Who Will Win?

Justin Thorp — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 14:37:35 -0000

"Gary Sharma announced to a few people early on in the week..."

LOL...a few people? I got the message 3 or 4 times personally. I then got it forwarded it to me by 20 different people asking me if I got it and what I thought about it.

He didn't announce it to just a few people. He seems to have spammed every techie/developer/socialmedia enthusiast in the dc area.

Re: Gary Takes on DC Tech Events, Who Will Win?

Paul Worsham — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 17:36:03 -0000

Nick - there already is a Clearspring DCTechEvents widget - I put on the event resource page on DCPiazza. As to the competition, it helps improve the world.

As an event organizer who sometimes has to change event details, I don't want to have to correct all of the downstream places my event is syndicated. I've contacted Ross with updates when I catch mismatches. Looking forward to seeing the next evolution of event syndication. It would be helpful to have an organizers/planners forum somewhere.

Re: Gary Takes on DC Tech Events, Who Will Win?

Nick O'Neill — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:37:15 -0000

Hi Hank,

I definitely think you make some great points. I think it is also always best to support the locals. I think when I saw Gary's List, I realized that there is a lot more that can be done with the existing event list.

Conversely, perhaps it would be possible to use a "DC Tech Events" widget or something that we can all use and reference so that Ross gets credit but we have the ability to expand upon his offerings.

Leveraging his hard work and combining our own to make something even greater would make a lot of sense. What do you think? A number of us have tried the "congress" type of thing before and it didn't turn out too well. Perhaps there is a way to have an open discussion and informal meeting on a regular basis though so we can at least get together to discuss.

Any thoughts on that?

Best,
Nick

Re: Gary Takes on DC Tech Events, Who Will Win?

Hank Dearden — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:34:18 -0000

Nick,

First off, nice seeing you and 600 of your closest DC area pals at last night's Twin Tech smackdown. Every so often it's good to get the whole gang out under a summer moon to drink, talk, meet, greet, schmooze, etc. Huge props to Peter Corbett for taking the initiative to make it happen.

I was also contacted by Greg last week about my event series, and concur that his site is nice and clean. It looks like he's made good use of his time, putting together the NYC and Boston sites and learning as he goes.

I will say, however, that my Provincial Pride got tweeked a little, as my first thought was "we have our own, thank you" in the form of DC Tech Events. So, yes, Gary did just bust the door down a bit for competition, and if it wasn't him it would have been someone else. It's the Internet, hon.

Not to to get too kumbaya, I have to admit that I'm still feeling some solidarity with my DC pals following last night's event, and am wondering if..."Aquateens Assemble" to come up with an awareness in which we're all stakeholders, rather than leave all the lifting to Mr. Ross. I don't think DC wants or needs One Single Site that encompasses every event, blog, and job posting, as all these services already exist - and with multiple (and viable) business models and personalities. Last night confirmed to me that there are plenty of people playing in this "space", and with some but not a lot of overlap. And where there is overlap...so what? The marketplace of ideas sorts itself out super pronto.

So - Nick, as much as anyone you and Peter know all the "sites" that are involved with the DC Interactive scene, so maybe it's time for an informal and informative...congress. We all chipped in a bit last night to keep the bar open for a few minutes longer, and we can also chip in for meatwads and frylocks to discuss. This wouldn't be circling the wagons against a Yankee intruder, necessarily...

Thoughts?

Hank

Re: Gary Takes on DC Tech Events, Who Will Win?

Shaun — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:16:32 -0000

I support DC Tech Events and Ross. He is local and knows what's going on. I think that a Local review and event system is better than a widespread system.

Re: Gary Takes on DC Tech Events, Who Will Win?

DC Techie — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:43:53 -0000

THe guy spammed people who posted things to Craigslist. That isn't buzz, that's a bad idea.