This is the first in a series of posts on How To Rock a Community.
This past weekend I attended the first TribeCon in New Orleans, LA as a speaker on a panel with Sloane Berrent, Taylor Davidson, and Shannon Lane.
What most likely sets me apart from nearly all of the attendees, no less speakers, is that I have never attended a conference before. They just haven’t been part of my circuit. I’ve never been to an unconference, a wordcamp, or anything of that sort. My life has been occupied with dance and events associated with dance for the majority of the last eight years.
So, how did I manage to land a role as a speaker at a conference that had the likes of Julien Smith and Micah Baldwin on stage as well?
I put the word out there. Then I showed up.
For those skimmers, you can just jump to the end of the post for the five easy steps to rocking a community.
The topic of our panel was Making Yourself Uncomfortable: How to Rawk a New Community. How I got to the panel is a story of exactly what we were talking about.
I came down to New Orleans at the beginning of October for the Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown. I wanted to meet up with some people in the technology community so I put word out that I’d be in town and wanted to meet up.
This is the tweet out:
It was retweeted and then I received word that Sloane would be in New Orleans for her Cause It’s My Birthday celebration the day I would be flying in, and she messaged me saying I should stop by.
Now, I’m all for a good time, but usually with people I already know well. I know some people have strategies for working through a new room or crowd, love flitting about a party of new people. That’s not me – I’ve been an introvert for as long as I can remember despite how much I like getting to know new people and having a good time.
So there I am, chilling in the upstairs of the Ernst Cafe with a plastic cup of red wine in hand focusing my attention on a seemingly neglected band of musicians while everyone else socialized, waiting for the one person I know via twitter to show up to her own party. Uncomfortable and wondering why did I put myself in this position again?
…
Fast forward to the end of the night. I’ve been introduced to the movers and shakers of the New Orleans tech community. We’ve bought each other drinks. We’ve hopped from one bar to another. I’ve ridden in the back of a pickup truck with Doug Campbell (Sloane’s partner in Cause It’s My Birthday crime), went out for late night food in the Quarter and I’ve totally rocked into a new community.
In the melee of this chaotic night I was introduced to Chris Schultz and Tiffany Starnes, organizers of TribeCon, and with Sloane’s glowing review of Slacker Reform and my similar nomadic lifestyle she put it out there that it’d be cool for me to join her on the panel at TribeCon. I thought it’d be great but didn’t hold much attachment in to it. It was, after all a night of drinking and partying amidst a whirlwind tour of seven cities for Sloane, and these people had no idea who I was.
About two weeks later I was in Denver, CO for another dance event, sitting in a café doing some reconnecting via e-mail, twitter and facebook with my friends and network. I shot off an e-mail to Sloane about her offer for TribeCon, I was already sold on coming back to NOLA, and the opportunity of TribeCon loomed out there.
A week passed and then with a confirmation from Tiffany (I’m still on Team Starnes btw) I was in on the panel.
Then I freaked out.
Who was I to be on a panel with amazing technology and community players. People who have launched and sold startups, set memes like #followfriday, or had a best seller that is named one of the Top Ten Business Books of 2009. The biggest thing I’d ever managed to do was get kicked out of Canada it seems.
After about a day the freakout settled and I crunched down to write out a brief bio, something that didn’t make me look like a complete hack at this.
Another week gone by and I was back in New Orleans sitting in Launchpad – the local coworking space – next to Taylor creating our presentation that was due in an hour.
I was ready, the freakout was gone now that I was in the act, and these people were all just like me – startup success, book deals, or not.
So what’s the trick?
Making yourself uncomfortable.
Doing the things that others aren’t willing to do and hustling to do them well.
Rocking a community begins by Saying Hello, Showing Up, Listening, Caring, and then Giving. You don’t rock by talking over others, taking from others, and then leaving when you have what you want.
Check out our slides from the conference.
Stay tuned for the next in the series of How To Rock A Community: Say Hello.
