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Geeks and Entrepreneurs converge in Oklahoma

By Becky McCray

Last year at the Oklahoma Entrepreneurship Conference, we had two people tweeting: me and @stargardener. When we announced the hashtag we were using for the event, we got the oddest reactions. We had a tweetup, with just the two of us, and it was great. And the brand-new-at-the-time @OKCCoCo was there.
Speaker Dr. Ernesto Sirolli, being introduced by Vikki Dearing
This year, there were 20 or so tweeters, and we had a tweetup with 17 people. Of course, @stargardener and I were back. The @OKCCoCo crew live-streamed video of many sessions. Conference organizer, the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, picked an official hashtag: #OKEship, and tweeted a few photos. We had someone live tweeting from the audience in all the break out sessions. Heck, I live tweeted from the stage in one panel.

What changed? Convergence: more geeky entrepreneurs, more entrepreneurial geeks.

Chris Brogan and @Tym77Plus, the conference this year emphasized social media. @chrisbrogan keynoted, and he drew in many of his local fans. Several local social media stars also spoke, including @malenalott, @deedradeterman, @blogging4jobs, and even me. I know I left some of you out who spoke! Remind me, and I’ll fix it. (@Stargardener just reminded me that I left out @skygrrrl1272, who came over from Arkansas to speak.)

Where do we go from here? Who knows; but it will be exciting.

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About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
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February 25, 2010 Filed Under: social media Tagged With: events

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Comments

  1. MissDazey says

    February 25, 2010 at 12:26 pm

    “Convergence: more geeky entrepreneurs, more entrepreneurial geeks.” That would make a really good book title. Hint, hint.

    How many people attended the meeting?

  2. stargardener says

    February 25, 2010 at 2:57 pm

    I agree, Dazey! It would be a terrific book title! ;-) Entrepreneurs are naturally geeky because they embrace change and all things new! We learned that last year when we held mini how-to-twitter sessions, didn’t we, Becky!

    My take-away from this conference was to brainstorm “home bases and outposts” and “bridges not icebergs” {from @chrisbrogan’s keynote}. An affirmation of a path I was already skipping on.

    Don’t forget @skygrrrl1272! Although not an Oklahoman her work benefits our state; she was also a speaker/contributor. {She is also a geeky entrepreneur as well as an entrepreneurial geek!}

  3. Becky McCray says

    February 25, 2010 at 5:15 pm

    Dazey, there were about 150 there, I think. I haven’t heard the official number. (oh, no! not another book I need to write!)

    Stargardener, that is exactly right: our impromptu Twitter sessions last year were a terrific example of convergence. I’ll go back and add @Skygirrrl1272 in the article, too. Thanks!

Trackbacks

  1. May 2010 Tourism Currents Newsletter - Let's Meet IRL (in real life) says:
    July 11, 2013 at 3:11 pm

    […] As we follow tourism events via Twitter hashtags, we see the thumbnail avatars of a growing cadre of social media-conversant tourism pros, but we’d like to see more attendee diversity (like CVB/DMO representatives) at tech conferences. Technology is for everyone, not just wired geeky types.  Many smaller conferences are already springing up to bring tech to all niches; here’s the new Small Biz Social Media Summit in Hutchinson, Kansas in June (Becky is one of the speakers) or a recent gathering of entrepreneurs in Oklahoma. […]

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