Purpose

Mid-America Technology Alliance (MATA) hosts monthly Tech Group Leader meetings to help local tech-focused groups discuss activities happening in the tech community, and to encourage groups to collaborate, cross-promote, and coordinate efforts to build a stronger tech community.

View Google Doc | Download PDF

Groups Represented

  1. Myke Bates (Web Devs)
  2. Nathan Gregg (Creatives)
  3. Jason Klein (MATA, H4G)
  4. Paige Oxendine (eFactory)
  5. Heath Rust (DreamIT, TIO)
  6. Beth Young (SpfdSec, BSides Spfd)
  7. Tim Franklin (.NET Users)*
  8. Deb Wilson (O-Steam, Maker Faire)*

March Agenda

  • Recap 02/26 O-Steam Dream Big Movie (Deb Wilson)
  • Recap 02/28 Excellence in Technology Awards (Dave Sharon)
  • Recap 02/28 eFactory Accelerator Deadline (Paige Oxendine)
  • Springfield Developers Changes (Myke Bates)
  • MATA Membership Changes (Jason Arend)
  • MATA Job Board Preview/Discussion (Jason Klein)
  • 04/12 Evangel Cybersecurity and Ethics Symposium
  • 05/15 Pitch Contest – Formerly Spin66 (Paige Oxendine)
  • 07/13 BSides Springfield (Beth Young)
  • 10/05 Ozark Mini Maker Faire (Deb Wilson)
  • 11/01-11/03 Hack 4 Good Weekend (Jason Klein)
  • Review Annual Event List (attachment)
  • Group Updates

Agenda Discussion

Recap 02/26 O-Steam Dream Big Movie (Deb Wilson)  osteam.org

  • Engineering movie followed by a panel discussion featuring women in engineering hosted at Alamo Drafthouse. Well attended.

Recap 02/28 Excellence in Technology Awards (Dave Sharon)  biz417.com/techawards

  • Feedback: Too much advertising video, booths. Something other than Tesla Model 3?
  • Changes: Planning to open nominations earlier, planning to mix local/national judges with prior award recipients.

Recap 02/28 eFactory Accelerator Deadline (Paige Oxendine)  efactory.missouristate.edu/accelerator/

  • Good applications. Committee already performed first round review. Scheduling first round of interviews week of 03/25. Local, regional, out of area applications. Program dates May 13th – August 12th.
  • 08/12 (~10am) Accelerator Demo Day @ eFactory

05/15 (3-5pm) Pitch Contest – Formerly Spin66 (Paige Oxendine)  efactory.missouristate.edu/apply-to-pitch/

  • 04/12 Application Deadline – See eFactory Website
  • 5th year for Spin66 (spin66.org). Evolved over the years. Mercy R&D (mercyresearch.com) previously organized. eFactory began organizing in 2018.
  • Landscape with events and programming is much different now compared to when Spin66 was first created in 2014. Decided to focus on areas where there are not multiple similar events. Chamber hosted pitch competition in the past. New format is focused on pitches. Everything from very early initial idea all the way to already have a business (not exclusive to tech). Depending on applications, may split early stage vs later stage, or categories/divisions. Shorter with Mother’s Happy Hour, RMI $5K prize.

Springfield Developers Changes (Myke Bates)  sgfwebdevs.com

  • Preliminary report. Planning to drop “Web” from “Springfield Web Developers” and establish formal entity with board and committees. Reserved new domain names (sgf.dev, springfield.dev)
  • Broaden topics and focus of activities. Planning to be more intimately involved in Hack 4 Good competitions and ongoing maintenance.
  • More focus on civic involvement, including businesses around town and the City of Springfield.
  • New medium-sized annual software developer conference that competes on regional/national level.
  • Proposing collapsing many of the different developer user groups under a single dev group umbrella.
  • Potentially hosting all dev meetings on the same night once per month rather than many different nights. First saw this concept with web dev group in Tulsa. e.g. Web Developers, .NET Users, Python Users, etc.
  • Should have more clear direction in the next few months.
  • Nathan suggested reviewing SGFC constitution for board/committee guidance. springfieldcreatives.com/handbook/

MATA Memberships (Jason Arend)  matasgf.com

  • Getting ready to announce new membership levels. New larger memberships intended to help with new programs and community expenses in short-term, potentially hiring a part-time person to assist with area technology events long-term.

MATA Job Board (Jason Klein) PREVIEW  matasgf.com/job-search/

  • Getting ready to launch new job board. Expect by next meeting.
  • Modeled after tech calendar. Automated import/aggregation directly from local employer job portals.
  • List local jobs plus remote jobs for local employers. Moderation criteria will help keep noise level to a minimum so job board only contains local technology jobs.
  • Debating between hosting on MATA website versus standalone website. Tyler Drenon suggested working to ensure project is scalable enough to potentially apply for funding to serve entire state after local project gains traction. Reserved new domain name (motechjobs.com).
  • Working to define how broad “technology” will be. Certainly traditional jobs such as Information Technology (IT) and Software Developers. Will likely expand to include jobs such as medical and manufacturing equipment technicians, robotics, energy, etc.

04/12 Evangel Cybersecurity and Ethics Symposium (Jeremy Harris)  evangel.edu/cesymposium19/

  • Per event website, the April 12th Symposium has been postponed to a later date. Contact is Dr. Jeremy Harris (harrisj@evangel.edu). Tech calendar has been updated.

07/13 BSides Springfield (Beth Young)  securitybsides.com/w/page/116970567/BSidesSpfd

  • 05/15 Call for Presenters (CFP) deadline. Selection committee will notify speakers by 05/31.
  • Looking for Sponsors. MATA invited to host technology booth again.
  • Two-Hour Python Security Presentation (Weston George, Samuel) – See details on website in coming weeks. Please share with dev groups.
  • Shirt vendor recommendations? Per Heath, Startup Weekend used Spirit Factory. Quote was about 1/2 price of Greek Corner. Cost is subsidized by including their logo on the shirts.

10/05 Ozark Mini Maker Faire (Deb Wilson)  theozarks.makerfaire.com

  • Nothing to share at this moment.

11/01-11/03 Hack 4 Good Weekend 2019 (Jason Klein)  hack4goodsgf.com

  • Jason Klein and Tim Franklin will serve as co-organizers. Planning committee will begin meeting soon.
  • 50% budget increase to cover 50% attendance increase goal and new feature/bug bounty program for ongoing hack nights. See annual report for details. hack4goodsgf.com/2018-annual-report

Review Annual Event List (attachment)  goo.gl/6PBZff

  • 04/12 List Evangel Cybersecurity date as TBD since event has been postponed.
  • 08/12 eFactory accelerator demo day
  • Beth Bowles (MSU/Discovery Center) involved in TGF “Girls Who Code” (thegeekfoundation.org/what-we-do/) and hosts “Girls in Tech” at Discovery Center. Also at MSU for a day. Need to request details from Beth for tech calendar.
  • 2020 04/17 NEW Dev Conference (tentative)
  • 2020 Q1 NEW AITP Technology Conference (tentative)

Group Updates

eFactory (Paige Oxendine)  efactory.missouristate.edu

SpfdSec (Beth Young)  spfdsec.org

  • 03/27, 04/24 – Monthly Social every 4th Wednesday 6-8pm @ SBC

Cybersecurity (Lorne Hazelwood)  aitpozarks.org/cybersecurity

  • 04/09 *Navigating Mobile Carrier Privacy Policy* with Sarah Evans – Bring your lunch, laptop and mobile carrier access credentials. We’ll walk through updating your user privacy opt-outs and discuss what we discover in your mobile privacy policy.
  • 05/14 *Everyday IoT (Internet of Things) Privacy* with Bill Dorman – Bill will help attendees understand the risk, rewards and best security practices for personal IoT device privacy when living in an always connected world.

Springfield Creatives (Nathan Gregg)  springfieldcreatives.com

  • 04/17 3rd Annual Studio Crawl – Same agencies, new homes. Alchemedia Project, Mostly Serious, Classy Llama
  • 05/15 (?) Branding Event – Panel style.
  • 06/19 (?) Painting The Streets (Dickerson Zoo) – Street art, murals, anything else that makes our city look better.
    • Artist of Welcome to Springfield, Butterfly Mural also in Zoo has also
  • Forming committee to plan first annual Springfield Design Conference. Early stages. Potentially a 2-day event in late 2019.
  • Rogue Agency
    • Shawn Finger presenting at the April Board meeting
    • Board needs to vote to approve budgetary resources for a project this large.
    • Hoping to begin promoting project within the next two months.

MakeIT Maker Meetup (Heath Rust)  meetup.com/Springfield-MakeIT-Meetup/

  • 04/04 (6-8pm Library Center) Single Board Computer (SBC) e.g. Arduino and Raspberry Pi
  • 05/02 (6-8pm Missouri Spirits) Bar Crafting – Free Event – Show how make 2-3 different drinks. Each person able to make their own drink. Distillery tour. Open cash bar afterwards.
  • Starting up temporary space at Oz Water to launch initial maker space. 3D Printers, Laser Cutters. Will host Meetups at that space once per quarter.
  • Recently toured a space downtown (9000 sq-ft) that is a little larger than we need. May take up part of that 9000 and grow into it.

.NET User Group (Tim Franklin)  meetup.com/sgfdotnet/

  • 03/26 Building Amazon Alexa Skills with C# w/ Tiffany Ford
  • Actively looking for presenters, topics, and sponsors for April through November
  • Working on H4G with Jason Klein and trying to find a good React Native starter kit for a reboot of the IPourLife project and for potential future use elsewhere

Splunk (Jennifer Gruener)  bit.ly/sgf-splunk

  • 03/19 OTC student came to presentation. Likely learned about the event through Forward Springfield calendar?
  • Meeting every two months. Next meeting in May.

AITP (Dave Sharon)  aitpozarks.org

  • Upcoming Scholarship Deadline ($1K Student Members, $1K Professional Members) Apply Online  cfozarks.org/scholarships/
    • How was the application turnout? Any changes for 2020?
  • 04/17 (11:30am-1pm) – Managing Your Security Incident Response (RSVP aitpozarks.org/events)
  • 05/15 (?) Annual IT Executive Panel – Is this in May? If not standard 3rd Wed lunch, have you heard tentative date/time/location?
  • 09/16 Annual Scholarship Golf Tournament @ Highland Springs

General Discussion

  • Invite Students to Tech Group Leader Meetings (per Nathan Gregg)
    • GO CAPS  gocaps.yourcapsnetwork.org
    • MSU AITP  msuaitp.com
    • Drury/OTC/Evangel
    • Nathan will contact schools
    • High Schools? Ava HS interested in sending students.
    • Narrow down to 5 specific schools/organizations? Limit to 1-2 representatives per school per month?
  • BSidesKC hosts a Hack For Kids (8-15) program. How to solder, pick locks, etc. Learn more at hak4kidz.com
  • Scott Bratcher – City or State Update? SGFC Outreach Next Week
  • Potential new monthly Linux User Group in the works

Adjourn 12:50pm

Save the date! Tech Group Leaders typically meet 3rd Thursday 12-1pm. Join the Tech Leader channel on MATA Slack! Request an Invite @ matasgf.com/slack

Next Meeting: Thursday April 18th 2019 (12-1pm) @ The eFactory – Reply to Calendar Invite: “YES” to sign up for lunch, “MAYBE” if you are bringing your own lunch.