Purpose
To discuss activities happening in the tech community and to share ways we can better communicate what’s going on in each organization.
Attendance
- Jason Arend, Eagle Speak — MATA, SGF Web Dev Group
- Myke Bates, The Alchemedia Project (TAP) and Eagle Speak — SGF Web Dev Group, Atlassian Group
- Sherry Coker, OTC Workforce Development — MATA Founder
- Paige Oxendine, The eFactory — The eFactory, MATA Board Member
- Greg Johnson, Atrilogy (Tech Recruiter) — MATA, Hack 4 Good (H4G), Software Bootcamp, HR Conference
- Jason Klein, Logic Forte — AITP, AWS Group
- Jimmy Ledbetter, Jack Henry — Shop Talk Group, Nixa City Council, Nixa JTSD Magnet School PTA
- Shannon McMurtrey, Drury University — Cybersecurity Group
- Deb Wilson, O-STEAM — Ozark Maker Faire
January Agenda
- Tech Group Updates
- Software Developer Bootcamp (Greg)
- Code for America Brigade (Sherry)
- Developer Conference Progress (Myke/Tom)
- Meeting Recording and Live Streaming updates (Myke/Jason)
- bit.ly/sgf-web-devs-youtube
- bit.ly/sgf-aws-youtube
- Excellence in Technology Awards (Biz417/AITP – Dave/Jason)
- Game of Codes High School Competition (Biz417/PaperWise)
Welcome New Tech Leaders
- Jimmy Ledbetter
Discussion
O-STEAM (Deb Wilson)
- Maker Faire scheduled for Saturday August 25th 2018
- Looking to connect with anyone who specializes in wearable technology
- Maker Faire date may change in 2019 to avoid conflicts with KC, Wichita events.
- NWA hosts tech event combined with WIT event and maker summit
- Considering organizing Women in Technology (WIT) and Maker Summit events the day prior to TIO (Tech IT Out)
- Considering hosting small Maker Faire events at local schools (students open, not public) so that students can show off their projects. Would like to host this type of event at a local maker space, but we do not have one (yet).
- DreamIT MakeIT, Drury, and OTC each have a maker space on their radar.
MATA (Sherry Coker, Jason Arend)
- Welcome new Board President – Jason Arend
- Events: CS Girls Bolivar 01/18, CS Girls Springfield 01/25
- OTC funding up for renewal on the ballot this year. If funding increase, manufacturing focus may include a maker space.
- High School Computer Science Curriculum in Missouri
- MATA formed as 501c6 so political advocacy/lobbying would be allowed.
- In past 9 years, no technology legislation except broadband laws.
- KC Tech Council and Code.org are promoting CS education reform in State of Missouri K-12 system. MATA and CSTA advocating for Missouri to legislate CS course work be allowed in K-12 system and count as Math or Science credits.
- Focusing on HB 1623 (http://house.mo.gov/BillContent.aspx?bill=HB1623&year=2018&code=R&style=new).
- Coached by KC Tech Council. Met with Lt Gov, Senators Dixon, etc.
- More participation from SGF (25%) than STL.
- Learned most states already have more advanced CS curriculum.
- Learned MO has 10K tech jobs, only graduating 1900 CS students per year.
- Springfield Representation
- Bolivar Public Schools – Brad Sterling (Technology Director)
- Camdenton Public Schools – Doug Starkey (Technology and STEM Education Director)
- Humansville High School – Lisa Perkins (CS teacher)
- Republic High School – Robin Robertson (CS teacher)
- Southwest Baptist University – Tim DeClue
- MATA – Sherry Coker
- O-STEAM – Deb Wilson
- Springfield Chamber Public Affairs – Emily Denniston, Alex Greiwe
- Audio Acoustics – Bob Graham
- Classy Llama – Kurt Theobald, Jonathan Hodges
- Duck Creek Technologies – Andy Yohn
- Eagle Speak – Jason Arend
- JMark Business Systems – Tom Douglas
- Visit MATA advocacy page for updates.
- MATA encouraging organizations to support MATA for $300 to help cover costs to promote Springfield Technology Community (e.g. print materials, banners, etc)
- Hack 4 Good
- First Weekend in November
- Considering a monthly event to refine and expand project that came out of the annual Hack 4 Good competition.
- Code Brigrade – Join Slack channel #codeforamerica to discuss whether or not we are interested in Hack 4 Good participating in their program. Feedback from group suggests program may be too limiting. Myke suggested discussing with Tulsa group that participates in this program.
SGF Web Devs (Myke Bates)
- Meeting Recaps
- Last major meeting of 2017 featured Mozilla with about 100 attendees.
- Last two meetings of 2017 were “hack nights” focused on building app for group (e.g. Check into meetings, door prizes). App about 60% complete.
- Goals for 2018
- Legal Entity (Non Profit) to accept funds for a local/regional Developer Conference, for meeting sponsorships, etc.
- Consider connecting with MATA or CFO to handle funds?
- Jimmy had problems getting multiple people paid from an account.
- Sherry recommend Barbara Houser KPM for non-profit accounting advice and tax filings.
- Developer Conference
- Targeting event in late 2018.
- Working to establish entity, begin planning venue, speakers, sponsors.
The eFactory (Paige Oxendine)
- Accelerator Cohort 3 applications are open. Program will run from May-August 2018. Injection of $30K capital. Up to 10 companies. Program is now once per year over summer.
- Spin66 scheduled for Friday May 11th. http://spin66.org/
- The eFactory Office Space @ 100% capacity.
- Currently scheduling Speaker Series and Lunch & Learns for April and May.
- Hosting a special Tax Reform event with BKD in May.
Software Bootcamp (Greg Johnson)
- Roundtable discussion went well, with about 20 in attendance and many who sent regrets but would like to participate in the future.
- Meeting with CoderCamps CEO in PHX to discuss Springfield event for Steve Wozniak (WasU) (http://www.woz.org/).
- Also meeting with ThinkFul (https://www.thinkful.com/) and Dev Mountain (https://devmountain.com/) to discuss Springfield event.
- Chamber tired to bring Launch Code STL (https://www.launchcode.org/) to SGF last year. Going to discuss with Chamber and may try to connect with Launch Code again.
- Contact Greg if he should connect with any other existing bootcamp programs!
AITP Shop Talk for Technical Managers (Jimmy Ledbetter)
- Jimmy Ledbetter and Jordan Phillips began leading group last fall. Prior group leader Vickie Hensley resigned due to work schedule conflict.
- Recent sessions on generation gaps and understanding millennial.
- Upcoming session will discuss recruiting.
- Needing to connect with more technology managerial types.
- Considering rebranding with new name.
Meeting Recording and Live Streaming (Myke Bates and Jason Klein)
- Myke and Jason are recording SGF Web Devs and SGF AWS meetings.
- Working through hardware, software, technical, content issues.
- Myke is writing a guide to help other groups get started.
- Subscribe to their YouTube channels:
- bit.ly/sgf-web-devs-youtube
- bit.ly/sgf-aws-youtube
FWD/SGF Technology Event Calendar for Springfield Missouri (Jason Klein)
- Moved tech calendar from AITP website to dedicated website.
- No longer limited to Star Chapter software capabilities.
- Using WordPress “Twenty Sixteen” theme with “The Event Calendar” paid plugins to setup recurring events and automatically import events from Meetup, Facebook, etc. (https://theeventscalendar.com/bundles/)
- Working to add missing groups/events
- Deb asked to add O-STEAM and link to O-STEAM calendar. (done)
- Girl CS day Today 11am-1pm @ Bolivar HS, Contact Gina Greene CSTA
- Girl CS day Next Thursday 01/25 11am-1pm @ The eFactory, Contact Barbie Kolb GO CAPS
- Working to implement search capabilities, improved iCalendar subscription options (currently all or nothing), subscribe to weekly email digest, and forms to submit event information.
- Short term plans include recruiting several other community leaders to help maintain events, establish guidelines for event content and formatting.
- Long term plans including posting feed of upcoming events and event changes to Twitter.
Upcoming Events – Spread the Word!
- Biz417 Excellence in Technology – March 1st
- Biz417 Game of Codes (High School Coding Contest) – March 29th
- OTC Student Led Hackathon – April TBD
Action Items
- Send Barb Houser KPM contact info to Myke, Greg, Jimmy
- Barb Houser <bhouser@kpmca.com> 417-882-4343
- Send link to MATA Tech Group brochure (Google Docs) to Sherry
- https://goo.gl/56Ctr8
Group Leaders – Please join the discussion in our #TechLeaders channel on Slack (https://matasgf.slack.com/). Not a member? Request an invite from Sherry Coker or Jason Klein.
Refer to the Springfield Tech Calendar at FWD/SGF (https://fwdsgf.com/) for event details and/or links to group pages. Group Leaders – Please be sure to post your upcoming events to the calendar! Send events to Jason Klein.
Adjourned 1:15pm
Next Meeting: Thursday February 15th 2018 @ Springfield Brewing Co. Save the date!