Waterloo, Web & Whimsy

This year's Entrepreneur Week in Waterloo was a blast (kudos to Communitech for running a great program), and coming out of it, a number of things struck me:

• Too many of the events sold out
• Many people missed the round-table sessions like the "chapter" events in the past
• StartupCamp was absolutely packed

So from that, I propose we add a couple of things to entrepreneur week next year: a camp-a-night program, and/or a StartupWeekend to kick off the week. So here would be my ideal schedule of "unconference" events to run in parallel with all the speakers and sessions that we already have scheduled:

Friday-Sunday: StartupWeekend
Monday: FailCamp
Tuesday: Hall Of Fame Un-Gala (simulcast the event to a local bar/restaurant and enjoy some drinks)
Wednesday: StartupCamp
Thursday: ProductCamp

Yes, that ignores the final Friday, but I figure that by then, the organizers of the camps will simply want to sit with a good beer or glass of wine. If you're interested helping run these events, let me know by posting a comment. Here's why I've chosen the specific events above.

StartupWeekend: This event would address the "get one-on-one advice" element that I think was missing in this year's program. In past years we had a giant round-table session that was similar to an open spaces camp event (however it was pre-scheduled). I'd like to get some of that back and run a weekend where some of the local startups could get some great feedback and some real help from local experts and enthusiasts.

FailCamp: I believe that learning from failure is a key part of being an entrepreneur. Celebrating great failures (and the lessons learned) is a very applicable event. That, and I think it would be great to get out some of the companies that have closed/failed/morphed to hear their stories too.

Hall of Fame Un-Gala: The gala for celebrating the Entrepreneur Hall of Fame inductees is a great event - this year it sold out. So, rather than simply running an event in-tandem to the gala next year, I'd rather let more people enjoy the successes of the inductees, the keynote adress, and perhaps a less formal venue where we can still joke and laugh if we don't want to listen to the presentations ;)

StartupCamp: This year's startup camp was awesome. Perhaps some of the startups from StartupWeekend would present?

ProductCamp: ProductCamp has a focus on software product marketing and product management. These two topics are very important to tech entrepreneurs (look at the success of Communitech's 3 marketing and product management P2P groups). An event that focused on this would give new entrepreneurs a great push in the right direction.

Finally - the reason I'd love to have these events is that it would allow more people that can't make it to day-time events to show up and participate.

It's been a long and tumultuous road, but a few days ago Jesse Rodgers and I opened the curtains on a project that we've been working on with Thom Ryan at Communitech: http://Waterloo.TechStartup.ca

It's a simple idea - we're trying to answer the questions "What's going on?" and "Who's doing it?"

The site is intended to be a one-stop-shop for anyone trying to get involved in the tech startup scene in waterloo region. Starting your own business? Visit the Resources section to access a best of class list of helpful links. Want to know what events are coming up? Visit the Events Calendar and peruse the local startup events scene.

All told, there are a number of helpful tools, and throughout them we've tried to keep the following in mind:

Automation is awesome: most of the content on the site is automatically generated by pulling in various RSS and iCal feeds, and monitoring activity from Twitter.

Focus on people: there is a directory of People on the site (anyone can add/edit an entry) and we are tracking the activity of individuals mentioned in the community (for example, try searching "Ali Asaria")

Track as much as possible: under the hood, the platform is tracking a lot of activity (who's posting, who's mentioned, what's being clicked, etc) so we can make good decisions going forward.

We have a lot of ideas for features and ideas, and when we demoed last night at StartupCamp we were given more. Although I can't commit to specific delivery dates, here are some of the features that we're working on and/or were suggested by others:

• 1. Questions/Requests board (post startup needs, partnership opportunities, requests for help)
• 2. Better branding/exposure for startups (ideally through better integration to Startup Index, Crunch Base or something similar)
• 3. Highlight "key" people, based on the news/blog/twitter activity about them
• 4. Emailed daily and weekly digests
• 5. Automatically determining what's "hot" by social engagement and viewing activity

So, what we're looking for are additional RSS feeds to follow, more local tweeps to follow (visit @WatTechStartup) and additional ideas/feedback. Oh yeah - and be sure to tell your startup friends about it!

Since working on Tribe, I've found myself reading more human resources blogs than ever. A common theme among them is "understanding Gen-Y employees". I find it ironic that although so much effort is being spent discussing how to communicate with members of Gen-Y, very little attention is being paid to using these channels to discuss the flipside of the issue: helping Gen-Ys work with other generations.

So, to put my keyboard where my mouth is, here are my 5 Workplace Lessons for Gen-Ys.

Disclaimer: Please don't take these tips as canon; I'm simply speaking from having watched friends and peers struggle from both sides of this challenge.

1. Much of the workforce doesn't share your values: This point may seem obvious, but it is an important reality to internalize. You may be clear on what you want (e.g. clearly defined job descriptions and responsibilities, regular feedback and reviews, skills development opportunities, friendly work environment, etc). However, what's often missed is that the above benefits truly hold no value for some of your coworkers. Some people don't want reviews, don't want to take classes and don't care if they have a well written job description. Some people want a job that is task-based, are happy with their current responsibilities, and pursue their personal development outside of the workplace.

It's important to understand and believe this, because it is much harder to communicate with someone if you incorrectly assume they share your values. If you can acknowledge that many of their values are different from yours from the start, your interactions will go a lot more smoothly.

Ditto if you can accept that neither set of values is "better" - they are just "different". Don't condemn your co-workers because they don't want reviews or don't want responsibilities. When you do pass a negative judgement (even internally) people can tell and it makes you look close-minded.

2. Don't underestimate experience: I've seen many Gen-Ys hired for specific current expertise (e.g. programmers, community managers, business grads, etc.). Because of their special skills, they are placed in the position of a "specialist" within their organization. The danger of being given the role of expert, is that it becomes easy to discount the input and feedback of others.

Let's face it, knowing how to post something to Twitter or write a blog are skills with a limited shelf life. The world is changing too quickly and skills become out of date almost instantly. In this climate of change, what's far more useful (and exceptionally hard to train) is the ability to work with analogies and transfer learnings: the ability to take past experiences and figure out how to successfully apply them to a new situation. Thinking in terms of analogies is inherent, although it comes easier to some people than others. Honing this ability makes you an adaptable, agile and innovative thinker (a.k.a. a more valuable employee).

The underlying point of this is that people with more experiences have more analogies to apply to a new situation. Rather than immediately discounting the feedback of your more experienced peers (which also makes you look close-minded), try considering that they may have past experiences that are providing unique insights to current situations.

3. Get on LinkedIn. Most managers acknowledge that Facebook, Twitter, etc. are great tools. Beyond these (largely social) tools, most professionals understand the value of LinkedIn. A lot of employers, in their efforts to work with Gen-Y, are adopting more web-based tools, and LinkedIn is one of the tools they use the most. If you want your employer to work with you in the ways you find comfortable, you should extend them the same courtesy. Build your LinkedIn profile and network. You'll be happy you did when you look for your next job.

4. Bone up on "Change Management". A lot of the Gen-Ys I know have strong ideas on elements they would like to change in their workplace. Some of them keep these thoughts to themselves, while others rail against the short-sightedness of management. I see very few taking a planned approach to changing their workplace.

It's unproductive to simply complain about how an organization needs to change. Rather than trying to change your organization by sheer force of will, you may find more success if you take a structured (and more gradual) approach to the change. Many concepts from structured change management processes can be applied to changes you want to make in your workplace, and many managers are comfortable with the concept of a managed change approach.

Yes, this will likely slow down the change process, but it will make the change more palatable to your co-workers and managers (and more likely to happen!).

5. Worry less about doing things the "right" way. In projects that engage multiple generations, a pattern I see repeated is that older team members often rely on what was done before, while younger team members advocate doing what's "right". When we examine what was done before, the reason usually comes back to a gut reaction or an unspoken process. Past experiences get rolled into a hard-to-rationalize recommended course of action. On the flip-side, when we examine the word "right", it often translates into something like "the most secure", "the cleanest process", or "best governance". If you're a Gen-Y employee in this situation, try considering what's "optimal" for the situation instead of what's "right". "Right" often implies an extreme somewhere on a scale, whereas "optimally" implies a maximum benefit, while balancing all factors.

For example, in some situations you need to optimize for ease-of-implementation, sometimes you need to optimize for speed-to-market, and other times optimizing means reducing the effort required to create change. This may mean you need to forgo some features today, or take a less direct route, to obtain the best outcome in the long run. Your more experienced co-workers can often recognize what you're optimizing for (even if it's subconsciously) through their past experiences – if you can temporarily let go of "right" and instead work with the team to determine what's "optimal" you may find it easier to get to a solution that's supported by all sides.

If you have any suggestions for lessons that I should add to this list, please drop me a line (or add a comment to this post), I'd be happy to flesh this out further.

Here's an interesting event coming up: it's being held at the Accelerator Centre and it's a fundraiser for the local arts scene.

Brush with Art Fundraising Event
Reception and Silent Auction with Refreshments
Date: Thursday November 5th, 7pm - 9pm
Location: Accelerator Centre, Room 240
Cost: $25

There's no official website that I could find for it - but here are the details:

The November 5th event is a reception and silent auction with refreshments. In the course of the evening Brush with Art will be presenting the proceeds of last year's fundraising film premier to the recipient organizations. The cost to attend the reception is $25.00 per person. One of the items featured in the silent auction is a very special outing with KW|AG's own Director General, Alf Bogusky-have a look:

On The Road With Alf

Join KW|AG Director General Alf Bogusky on an early morning drive to some of his favourite countryside locales, including a few of the sites featured in our 2008 Geoffrey James' Field Notes exhibition. Alf's countryside ramblings provide him with insight and inspiration. Come and share your ideas with him, and generate some new ones along the way, while enjoying the beautiful Waterloo County landscape. Round out your morning with breakfast at Angie's, another of Alf's favourite haunts. Trip to be arranged at a mutually convenient time, within a one-year period

Over its history, Brush with Art has raised over $150,000 to support the visual arts in Waterloo Region. The funds they raise are given to the Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery (KW|AG), Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery and the Cambridge Galleries to enhance their education programs for 1,000's of children in our Region. As well Brush with Art has created an endowment managed by the Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation through which a grant is given annually to a worthwhile visual arts project in the Region.

If you would like to go, tickets are on sale at the front-desk of the Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery (519-579-5860)