seattle startup weekend v2.0

so, i want to start by saying i had no idea what to expect from ssw2.

i have a day job.  i wanted to participate, but not too much. i generally protect my weekends pretty tightly and don’t schedule much, so the idea of committing 54 hours to the rollercoaster that is startup mentality was a bit daunting.

i signed up anyway.

i love the strange bonds that intense shared experiences form between people – it’s one of the things that is so appealing about the startups for me.   this group intentionally or not took steps to leverage socialmedia in a perfect way to foster and extend that shared experience.

the week before the event, i was seeing updates from rob eickmann, and suggestions to start talking on pathable all generated excitement and anticipation for the event. thanks! it was really fun to enter a community where i had already met and interacted even bantered with several participants.

friday nite the pitches were inspiring! i went home to sleep trying to decide whether or not i would join a team. on saturday i almost did (sorry patrick). but, i still didn’t want to commit to a bunch of work (i was avoiding plenty back at my office). i didn’t want to risk adding one more thing to the already long list of – have to; should do; boy wouldn’t it be great if i could; omg i have to; or even boy, i want tos.

so, i meekly offered that i would do a little blogging to help nathan kaiser of npost out on seattle2.startupweekend.com. it gave me an excuse to not get involved (too much), but also poke my nose in and talk to a lot of people. my first try at live blogging an event. it was fun for about 6 hours. (sorry nathan!)

anyway there is a small point i’m making and then a great bigger one.

the small one.

i had such a great time, that i want to participate even more next year. the excitement of everyone talking about ideas and thinking about ideas and generally creating was incredibly infectious (so was the cold that i either brought to or away from the weekend).

I haven’t stopped talking about it for the last 3 days!  I’ve been watching twitter closely for #ssw2 tags.  i love that this group is local.  there are amazing resources at my fingertips and i just need to remember to get out into the community and say “hi!”

now, that leads me directly into my great big point.

everyone in this community has earned his or her geek merit badge this weekend.  through rolling brown-outs and and wifi mania everyone was geeking away– creatively connecting, moving around or throwing down old school with analog devices.  aaand, the excitement and enterprise didn’t flag.

you are amazing leaders.  i want to learn from you and revel in the infectious excitement that has fueled me this week (even as that cold catches up with me). thank you for the opportunity to join you.  i’ll be back next year chipping in anything i know but…. i still won’t stay up all night for it.  just saying.  i want to sleep.  i look forward to the next opportunity.

and, in the mean time i will – OBEY the decider.

yeah, it lacks the luster that tom music gave it when he was speaking….  guess i can’t help that.

oooh, and thanks to anthony stevens for sharing his ssw1 experience and encouraging me with a tale of geek transformation and blossoming.