Internet Geek Girl

Picture this. Sunday morning, crack of dawn (well 8:30 am which is crack of dawn for internet geek types). Anil Dash and Deborah Schultz are presenting an excellent workshop on Community Evangelism: Tools & Techniques here at the Web2.0 Expo at Moscone West. I’m listening, taking notes, twittering, adding people I just met to my LinkedIn and getting flickr accounts from the locals sitting around me and taking pics! This is mecca for InternetGeekGirl, and I must say - I’m loving every minute.

Because I don’t have a lot of time before I dash over to a gathering at the Clift Hotel, I’ll have to save the details for later. The workshop was chock full of excellent ideas about what it means to be a Community Evangelist. For Anil and Deb, an evangelist is about “being a native in the community you represent.” They define evangelists as consumer advocates, educators, and cross-functional staffers that are often the company’s greatest external champion and at the same time the most significant internal critic. These are important people. More organizations need them. In case you’re looking, keep your eyes peeled for humans with the following characteristics (quoted from Anil & Deb’s presentation):

Human Skills of Evangelists

• Listener
• Connector
• Critic
• Partial geek
• Detective
• Catalyst
• Diplomat
• Juggler
• Driven by relationships
• Approachable
• Intuitive
• Inquisitive

I also had the great pleasure of hearing Rob Hayes and Jeff Clavier speak on Starting Up 2.0: Strategies for Pitching, Financing & Growing Your Web2.0 Startup. Rob and Jeff helped lift the “secret veil” that used to shroud the world of getting VC funding. Thanks to investors like them and the blogs and presentations they put out into the universe, entrepreneurs like me can gain insight into a world that used to operate like a secret society. Again, not a lot of time here, but I would suggest that it behooves all entrepreneurs to get a handle on how these guys think and how they look at deals. It will help you in the long run.

OK, gotta dash. But stay tuned for InternetGeekGirl’s musing throughout the week. It feels good to be amongst my peeps!