Dear friends:
The Austin Forum on Technology & Society has always educated people about how emerging & pervasive technologies are shaping society, but it is fundamentally about community: about connecting people that might not normally have met, and creating relationships that lead to collaborations and innovations that contribution to society. We are proud to be Austin’s largest monthly tech information and networking meeting series, but now, in an expanding COVID-19 epidemic, it is a time for social distancing—not for large in-person meetings. However, we must all also continue to work, learn, and communicate with each other in the meantime. We must adapt to the new normal in order to keep companies and organizations productive, and to continue providing for ourselves and our families. Fortunately, we live in a time of widespread access to computing and communications technologies, and some companies have deep experience to share about encouraging and enabling effective remote working, learning and more with technologies. The Austin Forum on Technology & Society remains committed to sustaining community and to executing our mission, so we will not skip a beat—but we will change how we meet. We are changing the April 7 event to an online presentation and Q&A session, and details will be provided via the web site and EventBrite soon. We want to keep our community safe, so we will use this format for as long as social distancing is required to limit and eventually halt the spread of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) virus. We have offered Facebook livestreams of some past events for those who could not attend in person, but we will now shift all effort towards executing a great event for an entirely online audience. We will also change the topic to address the COVID-19 situation: how to use technologies effectively to work and collaborate, educate and learn, and communicate and share, and how to help others do so as well. Please just us for our first-ever online event on April 7. Even savvy techies are likely to learn something from our panel about how to use digital technologies most effectively, and everyone will learn some challenges we must help everyone overcome. We will have a great panel and Q&A session with no loss of content quality; we will only lose the handshakes and hugs, and the post-event beer and pizza at Trifecta on 3rd. Be assured that we are thinking about ways to address networking and relationship-building online should the social distancing remain necessary for much longer. Also because of the COVID-19 epidemic, we will ramp the usage of the Austin Forum Slack workspace more aggressively now as a means of connecting people in our community from different tech areas and backgrounds. We announced the relaunch of the Austin Forum Slack workspace two months ago to increase our ability to connect and build our community; it has become even more necessary and potentially valuable, and we believe will remain so even after the COVID-19 emergency is behind us. We also have several blog posts in the queue to ramp the Austin Forum Update, our Medium-hosted blog so that we can provide more great content while working entirely with authors online, for readers online. We’ve also started posting more content relevant to COVID-19 on our social media, carefully selected for being factual and informative, not opinions and conjecture. In short, we are transforming the Austin Forum for everyone’s safety, but we are ramping up, not down! Please keep yourselves and your families, friends, and colleagues safe. This epidemic is serious, and in the absence of treatments and vaccines it is our individual and collective behaviors that will determine the rate of exposure. We can and will defeat this, but slower growth in exposure absolutely equals saved lost in the meantime. The Austin Forum on Technology & Society is going to do whatever we can to share useful information while also sustaining our community connections and continuing to encourage collaboration and innovation. We hope you will join us for the special event focused on this topic on April 7, and we look forward to seeing you online on April 7, or on Slack any time. Jay Boisseau, Executive Director and Founder Jessica Sager, Managing Director
0 Comments
The March 5th Austin Forum on Technology + Art is ON, and we want out supporters and friends to know that we are aware about the impact of the Covid-19 (coronavirus) worldwide, and we have been monitoring the situation hourly to ensure we can make effective decisions for your safety.
Fortunately, the impact in Austin has so far been zero--and all of our attendees are generally from Austin. Furthermore, the medical and epidemiological experts are saying that basic precautionary measures such as washing hands regularly (and well!), avoiding people who are coughing (and quarantining yourself if you have symptoms), and others practices can limit the chance of contagion. Everyone should optimize their nutrients, rest, and others measures to maintain a strong immunity system, and elderly persons with know health conditions should avoid locations of possible contagion- but again, Austin is not one. The Austin Public Health Department has deemed that the risk in Austin right now is very low, and the Austin Library has ensured that there is plenty of hand sanitizer while ramping up its efforts to keep surfaces clean and disinfected. Our staff will also bring extra hand sanitizer. Thus, our event tonight on March 5 is deemed safe--and we prioritize your safety. We will share more data, information and precautionary measures at the start of tonight's event, and we will continue to monitor the situation to determine if next month's event should proceed as scheduled. For tonight, we're ON, and we look forward to showcasing some amazing artists and their art created with data, algorithms, and software! Jay Boisseau, Founder and Executive Director Jessica Sager, Managing Director Dear Austin Forum on Technology & Society Community,
As we collectively wrap up both this year and this decade, it is natural to reflect on how far we have come, what we have accomplished, and what potential there is for the future. When Jay Boisseau started the Austin Forum on Technology & Society in 2006, he had no idea that the small monthly get-together would grow to become Austin’s largest free monthly tech meet up, with 200-300+ people gathering every month to learn about new technologies from an impressive range of leaders, entrepreneurs, policy makers, and experts in their fields. Even more important are the stories we hear every month from Austin Forum participants about the connections and collaborations they make while attending our events. The Austin Forum on Technology & Society exists exactly for that reason: to help people connect, collaborate, and contribute, through attending these events. As a new member of the Austin Forum team and Managing Director, I have been inspired by the passion of the participants like yourself, the wisdom and expertise of our speakers, and the potential to do even more together in 2020 and beyond. Over 2,800 people attended Austin Forum events in just the past year alone, joining the more than 28,000 people who have attended Austin Forum events since we began 14 years ago. Looking forward to the next year, we will continue our commitment to providing excellent programming and events on cutting edge technologies and innovations. Additionally, we are excited about new opportunities to grow and engage the Austin Forum community and deepen and expand our impact. We will be sending out a survey at the beginning of January, and as always, invite you to share any feedback and ideas you may have. Thank you for being a part of the Austin Forum community. Here’s to 2020 being the best year yet. With gratitude, Jessica Sager Managing Director Friends of the Austin Forum:
We’ve had a great year of presentations, conversations, education, networking, and more. As we enter the 2019 holiday season and approach the end of the year, we are extremely grateful for the support and success we’ve enjoyed, which is entirely due to the people who make the Austin Forum a community. We are thankful for every presenter, every attendee, every sponsor, every volunteer and team member who has helped make this year the best year ever for the Austin Forum. Our growth and impact have entrenched the Austin Forum as the biggest tech series in Austin and a pillar in the Austin tech community. Thank you! We have two important events coming up to close out the year, and each of them reminds us of the good fortune we experience, the connectedness we enjoy, and the potential for technology to change the world. On November 12, Rhonda Dirvin of Arm and Jason Shepherd of Dell Technologies will present “The Internet of Things (IoT): How Connected Devices Everywhere Will Change Everything.” While artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, smartphones, blockchain, augmented reality, and 5G dominate tech headlines and are transforming society, the promise of edge computing and IoT--the connectedness of pervasive computing devices, sensors, smartphones, instruments, and more--will bring all of these capabilities together in new ways that make our homes, schools, workplaces, factories, roads, and communities and cities safer, healthier, more resilient, more sustainable, and more enriching. There are still challenges and opportunities ahead, but the Internet of Things will connect us and our environments in powerful, even revolutionary, ways. Please join us for this event that brings many important ideas together. Related, we remind you that we collect used devices--smartphones, tablets, and computers--at every event so that Austin Pathways can enable individuals and families in need of devices to be part of the connectedness and enjoy the benefits. Please consider bringing and donating any devices that you’re not using anymore, and Austin Pathways will make sure someone else’s life is empowered by it (and give you a tax deduction receipt!). Our final event of the year on December 3 is very special to our staff and advisory board: “Technology for Social Good: How Tech Professionals & Companies Can Support Social Impact.” We are excited to have Chelsea Collier of Digi.city as a co-presenter for this special event along with our own Jessica Sager. Chelsea and Jessica will share many ways that both tech professionals (individuals) and tech companies can support social impact.You and your companies can help make the world better while also providing for yourself and your family. Come hear from Chelsea, Jessica, and some remarkable guest speakers and be inspired to help change the world. Please make plans to attend this special event, and bring your friends and colleagues. And, in addition to collecting used devices for persons in need, this month we will also collect new toys for our Blue Santa toy drive. There is no obligation to donate and the Austin Forum events never require a contribution of any type, but if you have the means then please help us create even more joy for Austin children this holiday season. We have collected a delivered a few hundred new toys over the years, and everyone makes a difference. Again, thank you for your support of the Austin Forum. We look forward to seeing you at one or both of the big events this holiday season. We are programming an amazing year of events (and podcasts and blog posts) for 2020, but first we look forward to celebrating the holiday season with you and to inspiring ideas and creating collaborations that make our world better for everyone. Jay Boisseau, Ph.D. - Executive Director and Founder Austin Forum on Technology & Society p.s. I hope you’ll also mark down the evening of January 7, 2020, as we start the year off with our traditional “Tech Trends for 2020 (& Beyond)” event with me and my good friend (and technology guru) Jay Williams as the presenters, and possibly a surprise guest...
April 2019 Here’s what Happened at the Austin Forum in April Thank you to everyone who attended our event at the Central Austin Library and to our speakers Gordon Daugherty, Kirk Cesari, Harold Ingersoll, Mitch Jacobson, Jill Murphy, and Nicolia Wiles for sharing their immense expertise on the joys and pitfalls of starting a tech business.
March 2019 Here’s what Happened at the Austin Forum in March Thank you to everyone who attended our event at the Central Austin Library and to our speaker Amber Allen of Double A Labs for sharing her thoughts and expertise on designing experiences for long-lasting engagement in a digital barrage of information. As we ramp into 2019, we at the Austin Forum on Technology & Society are especially excited about the content and programming we have in store for you this year. As the founder and executive director, I wanted to take this opportunity to briefly recap 2018, give a preview of what will be an amazing 2019, and share some exciting news about our team. January 2019 Here’s what Happened at the Austin Forum in January Thank you to everyone who attended our event at the Central Austin Library and to our terrific speakers, Jay WIlliams and our very own Jay Boisseau. And thank you to Houli for her leadership and expertise in the past year and a half as the managing director of the Austin Forum! We wish you good luck in your new endeavors! December 2018 Here’s what Happened at the Austin Forum in December Thank you to everyone who was able to attend our event at the Central Austin Library and to our fantastic speakers, the Austin Forum’s own Jay Boisseau and smart cities expert Chelsea Collier with Digi.City. November 2018 Here’s what Happened at the Austin Forum in November Thank you to everyone who was able to attend our event at the Central Austin Library and to moderator Karla Taylor, City of Austin Transportation Department and her panel of experts:
October 31, 2018 The in-person monthly Austin Forum events are the foundation of our programming, and are how we foster relationships and connect our creative professionals in Austin. However, we have one of the most creative, innovative, energetic, passionate tech communities--and cities--in the world, so there are far more people in Austin with expertise, experience, and insights to share than we can fit into 12 in-person events. There are also many more fascinating topics to cover than months in year (and those topics change rapidly!). Additionally, we recognize that while in-person learning is optimal and in-person events enable networking and relationship-building, not everyone can make every event, some cannot make any, October 31, 2018 The Austin Forum on Technology & Society has reached new levels of attendance, influence and impact in 2018. Our monthly events now average 200 attendees, and the majority of our attendees have attended previous events. People come--and return--to continue expanding their understanding and expertise, and to forge new relationship that can lead to collaborations. This year, the Austin Forum has covered many of the key technologies that are October 2018 The Austin Forum on Technology & Society is Austin’s largest monthly tech education and networking event series. For more than a dozen years, the Austin Forum has offered monthly public presentations from technology experts — including multiple Nobel prize winners, CEOs and founders, thought leaders, technology professionals, government leaders, and more — on August 2018 Here’s what Happened at the Austin Forum in August Thank you to everyone who attended our event at the Central Austin Library and to our terrific speakers, Drs. Ilya Finkelstein and Sahotra Sarkar! Congrats to Jeff Zavala for the question that won him a SXSW Interactive 2019 badge: “How do we as a community hold gene editing accountable to the public good?” It's goin down, Galvanize style. HOT TOPICS, COLD BEER. Join Galvanize Austin for the SECOND in a series of events that will put our communities' experts on two sides of an issue facing the tech community in head to head debate-style showdown. This is the only live debate in town where the audience decides who wins. That's right... YOU decide who wins the gShowdown Belt at the end of the debate. |