Michael Bishop wrote a great post awhile back called Beyond Barcamp Tampa Bay which inspired me to finally get some of my thoughts down on paper (or page, as the case may be). Since poking my head into Tampa’s tech scene, I’ve talked to a lot of people who share some of my own frustration with the state of community in Tampa. A lot of you have been here for years… I haven’t, but I’ll go ahead and put my thoughts out there…

1. We need centralized place(s) to find each other!

(A) Events

I’ve been maintaining a Google Calendar with tech (and related) events in Tampa for about a year now and recently put it on it’s very own page: TampaBayTechEvents.com

I think GCal is the only smart way to list events because:

1. Otherwise they have to be entered by hand. For most events, I’ve clicked “Add to My Calendar” and Voila. It’s added. With Meetup.com, you can even create a feed of all your Meetups, and click Add to XYZ Calendar, Voila! I encourage everyone to help add and update events to this calendar.
2. Using GCal is awesome because people can subscribe with iCal and GCal, copy/export individual events to their calendar, or embed the calendar anywhere.

(B) Groups

There are quite a few technology-related groups and organizations in Tampa Bay. Meetup.com has a number of them… Tampa Web Technology Meetup Group and Tampa Graphic Design Meetup are two of the largest, but there are lots more, poke around… I’ve been working on a Twitter List of Tech Organizations in Tampa.

(C) Individuals/Jobs

The TMPBY.com site is amazing and has tons of potential! I hope everyone who reads this adds themselves there. If you’re looking to hire or be hired, check there first! Follow some folks on Twitter two have similar or complimentary skills to you. I would love to see some more development on that site.

(D) Workspaces/Coworking

A number of people all over Tampa Bay have been working on places where they can work together. Whether one rises to the top or there are several, it is key to creative Tampa Bay. If you’re looking to improve the state of the tech and creative community in Tampa, you would do well to heed these words:

One of the most important things about a great coworking space is the safe atmosphere it creates for collaboration and mentoring. At a coffee shop, I can’t turn to the person next to me and ask their opinion on something, or brainstorm an idea for my project – they would look at me funny. At many shared desk environments, it’s dog-eat-dog, and if two people are in the same business, they’d be in direct competition, and likely stealing clients from each other. Since the coworking space is more collegial, you can share that project with your potential competition, or hand it to him when you get too busy, and he might be inclined to hand the next one to you. Also, the vibe of a great coworking space is hard to match, even at most places that use the term “Co-Working” somewhere in their sales pitch. The collected energy, passion, and raw talent is often dripping from the walls. There are many spaces where people are not just getting started, they’re putting down roots.

- Ryan Price

Co-working space currently in Tampa:
http://www.ideafield.org/
http://twitter.com/ideafield/

This one will apparently be opening soon:
http://www.cocreativ.com/
http://twitter.com/CoCreativ

Creative office space, but not co-working:
http://www.sanctuarylofts.com/suites.php

Closed for now:
http://www.tampacreativespace.com/

2. Groups/organizers who don’t seem to play together nicely.

I don’t know if it’s because Billy broke Johnny’s little sister’s heart or if 5 years ago Billy’s event conflicted with Johnny or whatever the hell else, but it seems silly. We need more people supporting each others’ events and groups!

3. People don’t get involved.

I’ve seen organizers try to plan everything from a last minute tweetup to a huge conference (and everything in between), and they all struggle with the same thing… Getting people to show up! Peter Radizeski posed questions to members of the Tampa Web Technology Meetup Group recently asking why the group “has 391 members, yet we can only get less than 20 at a meeting”.
I think these issues boil down to three things:

1. People having prior conflicting commitments which get in the way. (Not much we can do about this one…)
2. People not knowing why the tech community in Tampa is important/ not knowing there is one. (Tell your friends, invite your co-workers!)
3. Laziness and a feeling that if you don’t come this time, you’ll make the next one/ no one will miss you. (I wrote the book on this one!)

The reality is, there are tons of cheap and free events happening all over Tampa Bay… But we need each other to make the community here better… One of my New Years Resolutions this year was to help make that happen. Some ideas:

• Find a group that appeals to you and commit to attending as many of their events as possible.
• Give the organizers feedback and offer to help do something.
• Step outside your comfort zone and hit up some events that you normally wouldn’t.
• Work at a coworking space this week, or open your office up to others.
• Brainstorm ways you can help!
• Check out The 10/100/1000 Challenge: Can you help make Tampa Bay a better place to live? Submit some ideas!
• Check out the survey: Tampa Bay Tech / Creative Community Needs Survey
• Come to the Web Tech/Barcamp Meetup Group 2011 Kick-off Meeting on Jan 19th where we’ll be working on planning events throughout 2011.