Keynote Connectors: Identifying and empowering conference attendees

I love the idea of “Keynote Connectors” as outlined in Jenny Weigle’s All Things Community newsletter.

The idea: have a set of people whose purpose is to make sure others are connected at your event. This is more than just your “direction” people. It’s also learning who the attendee is and connect them to others like them or event connect them with a vendor if that’s the right thing for them.

I’ve seen these at events, but most of the time it’s the organizer. Giving this power over to another person or persons can power up your event.

You should have one at your next event!

November 22, 02023 – 06:15 | By Mark Williams | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Comments Off on Keynote Connectors: Identifying and empowering conference attendees

PubNub Pirate Ducks – demo project

Earlier this year I wrote a demo application for PubNub to use at trade shows. It was basic, but that’s what it’s supposed to be. It tries to exercise as much of the PubNub functionality as possible in as small a space as possible with a catchiness for the eyes. You can check it out […]

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November 14, 02019 – 16:00 | By mark | Posted in Code, DevRel | Comments Off on PubNub Pirate Ducks – demo project

On Accepting Praise: a Service to Others

This was written for a speech. It has been slightly edited to be read instead of spoken.  We applaud our guest musicians at the end of each service, as I’m sure we will do again today. When we do this, I always find it interesting to watch our musicians receive the applause. Some accept it […]

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March 6, 02019 – 22:04 | By mark | Posted in Speaking | Comments Off on On Accepting Praise: a Service to Others

Justin Timberlake – Can’t Stop The Feeling! (Trolls Soundtrack)

I was going to continue with the funk/disco theme today but we had the Trolls soundtrack on in the car on the way to school this morning and everyone was moving to it. It’s such a Friday kind of tune: Nothing I can see but you when you dance, dance, dance (I can’t stop the […]

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October 26, 02018 – 19:18 | By mark | Posted in Dance Party, Get | Comments Off on Justin Timberlake – Can’t Stop The Feeling! (Trolls Soundtrack)

The Trammps – Disco Inferno

Disco is such a good option for getting the children up and dancing. Beats that kids can move to and, if you pick right, lyrics that stick in your head. Today we’re looking at Disco Inferno. The one by The Trammps, not the one by 50 Cent. It’s a great song but you’ll be explaining […]

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October 25, 02018 – 18:49 | By mark | Posted in Dance Party, Get | Comments Off on The Trammps – Disco Inferno

Rose Royce – Car Wash

Do you have a dirty car or just some kiddos with too much wiggle in them? Then either send them out to wash your car or drop this classic disco medley on the turntable (you have one of those, right) and watch the magic happen. It’s a good life lesson to boot: You might not […]

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October 24, 02018 – 21:18 | By mark | Posted in Dance Party, Get | Comments Off on Rose Royce – Car Wash

The B-52s – “Rock Lobster”

How could you not like the following lyrics? Here comes a stingray There goes a manta-ray In walked a jelly fish There goes a dog-fish Chased by a cat-fish   Not to mention it’s danceability. Turn it on during the next dance party and see them spin. https://youtu.be/ofkzvM7Skxg Get it: Rock Lobster on iTunes

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October 11, 02018 – 00:30 | By mark | Posted in Dance Party, Get | Comments Off on The B-52s – “Rock Lobster”

My interview on Community Signal

I forgot to post about this at the time. Patrick O’Keefe had me on Community Signal and we had a fun and wide-ranging conversation about community, reputation systems and deprioritization of an existing community. I was happy to be able to participate. How Community Platforms Address the Member Life Cycle

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January 30, 02018 – 20:59 | By mark | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on My interview on Community Signal

An experiment with password fields

Links to an experiment I did with bloom filters and password input fields.

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August 16, 02017 – 16:11 | By mark | Posted in development | Comments Off on An experiment with password fields

Unintended consequences of out of date software

A broken blog home page leads me down multiple rabbit trails to fix it. Turns out it was a broken plugin. Bonus: how to diagnose Wordpress problems.

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July 26, 02017 – 11:29 | By mark | Posted in development | Comments Off on Unintended consequences of out of date software