After 8 years of volunteer service to the community, we (Stuart and Keith) are “retiring” from Tech Toledo.
We have enjoyed putting on events, supporting other grassroots efforts, partnering with various institutions, and overall cat herding to help connect technologists, designers, and entrepreneurs in the Toledo region.
We are moving on to other things, but we hope we have “planted enough seeds” and “cultivated enough ground” to make it easier for others to step up and continue building our ecosystem.
For example, ToledoTechEvents.org is still online for organizers to add their own events to and for anyone to find interesting events to attend. CoderDojo Toledo is still going strong.
We are around if you want to chat about why we closed up shop, existing opportunities and challenges, or how you might continue some of the things we did. Tech Toledo won’t be organizing events or pushing for any initiatives, however.
Since the end-of-year Holiday Mixer has been a favorite, we are excited that NextTech, powered by JumpStart, is willing to continue this tradition. They are planning a Holiday Mixer for December 10th.
If you are a meetup, user group, professional association or other community organizer who wants to participate in the 2019 Holiday Mixer, contact Roy Hodge (email). We encourage you to meet Roy and other JumpStart Toledo staff, learn what they do, hear their plans for the Mixer, and give them input on how to make it better than anything we did in the past.
Also, you may be interested in a new IT industry association for the state of Ohio. Come to a breakfast on Friday, October 18th, to learn more.
It has been a fun and educational 8 years. Keep the momentum going by continuing your current groups, starting new groups, hanging out with colleagues you met at our events, and experimenting with new ways to strengthen the economic vitality of the region through technology, design, and entrepreneurship.