The Greater Baltimore Tech Council (gb.tc) hosted their annual Tech Night last night. It is Baltimore’s annual celebration of our region’s tech culture. gb.tc honors innovators in each of Baltimore's vibrant tech sectors and highlight entrepreneurs and service providers across the spectrum of our community. The focus is on the people and companies doing remarkable things in Baltimore.
But it was so much more than that.
I was lucky enough to attend with some of UMBC's other student entrepreneurs: Adrian Rosebrock and Perry Ogwuche, as well as some of the universities corporate relations representatives and VP of Institutional Advancement, Greg Simmons.
The event was held at Baltimore's Port Discovery. "Port Discovery offers three floors of interactive, educational exhibits and ever-changing programs for children ages birth through 10," or adult entrepreneurs and tech lovers.
As we all stood around the check-in table, using a 64 pack of Crayola Crayons to decorate our name tags, conversations couldn't help but being ensued. Events like these are fantastic for making connections. Immediately I met a web developer who later connected with Perry and will be collaborating with him and other members of the Hack-a-thon being held at UMBC on December 6.
Later I met with the Director of the JHU Center for Leadership Education. What a great connection to make as an entrepreneur and as a major in Leadership Development! These are the connections you never expect to make when you sign-up for events such as these.
There were over 400 people at the event, and I was only able to chat with a handful. However, everyone I connected with was welcome to ideas and connection. Some were an obvious fit for my interests and others weren't, but worthwhile all the same.
Doctoral candidate and UMBC Student Entrepreneur Adrian Rosebrock had a table displaying his ID My Pill mobile app. Everytime I walked by he was swamped by prospective users and purchasers of the API. Seriously, he was so busy I had to get him a drink.
The night concluded two and a half hours later with shots of milk and a table of Berger cookies and goodie bags.
Before I headed home I made a point of introducing myself to Jason Hardebeck and told him how excited I was to hear him speak on campus, Monday. Jason is the Executive Director of the gb.tc and, while obviously busy, made time to chat with me about my projects and aspirations.
You never know the connections you will make at networking events and they are almost always worth the time and money to attend them.
Keep an eye out on the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship news and events for upcoming networking opportunities.
