Here’s another photo of “Woz” — Steve Wozniak, Apple’s technical co-founder — and me, looking at the schematic that was included in my copy of the Apple ][ Reference Manual. I got it with my Apple //e and have held onto it since I was 15, and he signed it. Thanks to James Gress for taking the photo!
Yesterday, I posted an article titled Would you be interested in a hands-on A.I. coding meetup?. It got over a thousand impressions on LinkedIn alone, so I’m already taking the first steps into making it real, with the help of ChatGPT…
I need names for a meetup group in Tampa Bay where the main topic of discussion is AI.
Here are a few name suggestions for your AI meetup group in Tampa Bay:
1. Tampa Bay AI Alliance 2. AI Minds of the Bay 3. The Bay Area AI Hub 4. The AI Network of Tampa 5. Tampa AI Innovators 6. The AI Roundtable of Tampa Bay 7. AI Futurists of Tampa 8.The AI Think Tank of Tampa Bay 9. The Bay Area AI Society 10. Tampa’s AI Connection.
I hope these names give you some inspiration for your group.
Can you suggest more?
Of course! Here are some more name suggestions for your AI meetup group in Tampa Bay:
11. The AI Nexus of Tampa Bay 12. The Tampa Bay AI Enthusiasts 13. AI Mavericks of the Bay 14. The Bay’s AI Pioneers 15. The Tampa AI Frontier 16. The AI Collective of Tampa Bay 17. The AI Vanguard of Tampa 18. The Tampa Bay AI Community 19. The AI Innovations of Tampa Bay 20. The AI Synergy of Tampa Bay.
These names aim to emphasize the cutting-edge and innovative nature of AI and the community aspect of your meetup group.
Can you suggest names that suggest that hands-on coding is involved?
Sure, here are some name suggestions that emphasize the hands-on coding aspect of your AI meetup group in Tampa Bay:
1. Code AI Tampa 2. The Bay Area AI Coders 3. AI Builders of Tampa 4. The Tampa AI Code Lab 5. The AI Developers of Tampa Bay 6. The Bay’s AI Code Sprint 7. Tampa AI Coders Collective 8. The AI Code Academy of Tampa Bay 9. The Tampa Bay AI Hackers 10. The AI Coding Crew of Tampa.
These names suggest a focus on hands-on coding and emphasize the practical and technical aspect of AI development.
How about names for hands-on coding meetups in Tampa that sometimes include AI?
Here are some name suggestions for hands-on coding meetups in Tampa that sometimes include AI topics:
1. Tampa Code & AI 2. The Bay’s Code & AI Mixer 3. The AI & Code Connection of Tampa 4. The Tampa Code & AI Summit 5. The Bay Area Code & AI Hub 6. The Code & AI Network of Tampa 7. The AI & Code Innovators of Tampa 8. The Tampa Code & AI Symposium 9. The Bay’s Code & AI Innovations 10. The Code & AI Minds of Tampa.
These names suggest a broader focus on hands-on coding, with a secondary emphasis on AI topics and how the two intersect.
I need more names.
Here are some additional name suggestions for hands-on coding meetups in Tampa that sometimes include AI topics:
1. Code to AI Tampa Bay 2. The Bay’s AI and Code Collaborative 3. Tampa Bay Coders and AI Enthusiasts 4. The Code & AI Exchange of Tampa Bay 5. The Tampa Bay AI-Coded Meetup 6. The Bay Area Code-AI Group 7. The Tampa AI & Coding Collective 8. The Code-AI Circuit of Tampa Bay 9. The Tampa Bay AI-Driven Coders 10. The Bay Area AI-Coded Community.
These names aim to convey the fusion of AI and coding, with a focus on practical skills and collaborative learning opportunities.
More names like that, but also take advantage that the Tampa Bay area is also known as “Suncoast”.
Sure! Here are some name suggestions that incorporate the “Suncoast” reference and emphasize the fusion of AI and coding:
1. Suncoast AI Coders 2. Tampa Bay Suncoast AI 3. The Suncoast AI & Code Society 4. The AI Suncoast Coders of Tampa Bay 5. The Suncoast AI-Coding Collective 6. The Tampa Bay Suncoast AI-Coders 7. The Suncoast AI & Code Connection 8. The AI-Coded Suncoast Community of Tampa Bay 9. Suncoast AI Hackers of Tampa 10. The Tampa Bay Suncoast AI Circuit.
These names play off the “Suncoast” moniker to emphasize the local nature of the group while highlighting the fusion of AI and coding.
Synapse Summit 2023, Tampa Bay’s annual technology, entrepreneurship, and innovation conference will bring thousands of people to Amalie Arena — and all sorts of opportunities to meet up with them. With the pandemic, you may feel that your social skills are rusty, and this article is here to help you get those skills back up to speed!
It’s been my experience that some of the most important things I’ve learned and all the connections I’ve made at conferences didn’t happen at the presentations. Instead, they happened between presentations — in the hallways, lounges, lunches, and social gatherings, where I had the chance to chat with the speakers, organizers, and the other attendees. This observation is so common that it’s given rise to “unconferences” like BarCamp, whose purpose is to invert the order of things so that the conference is more “hallway” than “lecture theatre”.
It’s especially important to talk to people you don’t know or who are outside your usual circle. Books like The Tipping Point classify acquaintances with such people as “weak ties”. Don’t let the word “weak” make you think they’re unimportant. As people outside your usual circle, they have access to a lot of information, people, and opportunities that you don’t. That’s why most people get jobs through someone they know, and of those cases, most of the references came from a weak tie. The sorts of opportunities that come about because of this sort of relationship led sociologist Mark Granovetter to coin the phrase “the strength of weak ties”.
The best way to make weak ties at a conference is to work the room. If the phrase sounds like sleazy marketing-speak and fills your head with images of popped collars and wearing too much body spray, relax. Working the room means being an active participant in a social event and contributing to it so that it’s better for both you and everyone else. Think of it as good social citizenship.
If you’re unsure of how to work the room, I’ve got some tips that you might find handy…
Have a one-line self-introduction
A one-line self-introduction is simply a single-sentence way of introducing yourself to people you meet at a conference. It’s more than likely that you won’t know more than a handful of attendees and introducing yourself over and over again, during the conference, as well as its post-session party events. It’s a trick that Susan RoAne, room-working expert and author of How to Work a Room: The Ultimate Guide to Making Lasting Connections In-Person and Online teaches, and it works. It’s pretty simple:
Keep it short — no longer than 10 seconds, and shorter if possible. It’s not your life story, but a pleasantry that also gives people just a little bit about who you are.
Make it fit. It should give people a hint of the cool stuff that you do (or, if you’re slogging it out in the hopes of doing cool stuff someday, the cool stuff that you intend to do.)
Show your benefits. Rather than simply give them your job title, tell them about a benefit that your work provides in a way that invites people to find out more. Susan RoAne likes to tell a story about someone she met whose one-liner was “I help rich people sleep at night”. That’s more interesting than “I’m a financial analyst”.
At Synapse Summit, you’ll probably see a group of people already engaged in a conversation. If this is your nightmare…
Click the screenshot to read the Onion article.
…here’s how you handle it:
Pick a lively group of people you’d like to join in conversation. As people who are already in a conversation, they’ve already done some of the work for you. They’re lively, which makes it more likely that they’re open to people joining in. They’ve also picked a topic, which saves you the effort of having to come up with one. It also lets you decide whether or not it interests you. If they’re lively and their topic of conversation interests you, proceed to step 2. If not, go find another group!
Stand on the periphery and look interested. Just do it. This is a conference, and one of the attendees’ goals is to meet people. Smile. Pipe in if you have something to contribute; people here are pretty cool about that.
When acknowledged, step into the group. You’re in like Flynn! Step in confidently and introduce yourself. If you’ve got that one-line summary of who you are that I talked about earlier, now’s the time to use it.
Don’t force a change of subject. You’ve just joined the convo, and you’re not campaigning. Contribute, and let the subject changes come naturally.
Feel free to join me in at any conversational circle I’m in! I always keep an eye on the periphery for people who want to join in, and I’ll invite them.
More tips
Here’s more advice on how to work the room:
Listen! Yes, you’re there to talk, but so is everyone else. Make sure you listen to other people in the circle as they speak, and ask questions, too! One of the reasons you go to Synapse Summit is to get exposed to new ideas. As I said earlier, learning goes beyond the talks. Try to learn three new things at every event.
Be more of a host and less of a guest. No, you don’t have to worry about scheduling or if the coffee urns are full. By “being a host”, I mean doing some of things that hosts do, such as introducing people, saying “hello” to wallflowers and generally making people feel more comfortable. Being graceful to everyone is not only good karma, but it’s a good way to promote yourself. It worked out really well for me; for example, I came to the first DemoCamp (a regular Toronto tech event back in the 2000s) as a guest, but by the third one, I was one of the people officially hosting the event.
Beware of “rock piles”. Rock piles are groups of people huddled together in a closed formation. It sends the signal “go away”. If you find yourself in one, try to position yourself to open up the formation.
Beware of “hotboxing”. I’ve heard this term used in counter-culture settings, but in this case “hotboxing” means to square your shoulders front-and-center to the person you’re talking to. It’s a one-on-one version of the rock pile, and it excludes others from joining in. Once again, the cure for hotboxing is to change where you’re standing to allow more people to join in.
Put your stuff down. Carrying your bag or other stuff is a non-verbal cue that you’re about to leave. If you’re going to stay and chat, put them down. When you’re about to leave, take your stuff and start saying your goodbyes.
Show and tell. Nothing attracts our eyes like shiny, whether it’s an interesting pieces of tech, a new book, a new t-shirt you’re fond of, or even some local knowledge, such a new restaurant, cafe, or bar that just opened. It’s why I carry my accordion around; I think of it as a device that converts curiosity into opportunity (and music as well). Got an interesting thing or idea? Got a neat project that you’ve been working on? Whatever it is, park yourself someplace comfortable in the hallway, show it off and start a conversation!
Save the email, tweets and texts for later, unless they’re important.They’ll draw your attention away from the room and also send the message “go away”.
Mentor. If you’ve got skills in a specific area, share your knowledge. Larry Chiang from GigaOm says that “It transitions nicely from the what-do-you-do-for-work question. It also adds some substance to party conversations and clearly brands you as a person.”
Play “conversation bingo”. If there are certain topics that you’d like to learn about or people you’d like to have a conversation with, put them in a list (mental, electronic or paper) of “bingo” words. As you converse at the conference, cross off any of those topics that you cover off the list. This trick forces you to become a more active listener and will help you towards your learning goals. Yelling “BINGO!” when you’ve crossed the last item on the list can be done at your discretion.
The “How to work a room” poster
If you want to learn how to work the room and prefer absorbing your information from graphics, you may find this poster helpful:
Tap the poster to see it at full size.
…and finally…
I’ll be at Synapse Summit, herding people into the professional headshot booth in the VIP lounge! I’ll pop out from time to time, and I’d love to say “hi” to you. I’ll be easy to spot — I’m the guy with the accordion!
I was at PyCon’s grand return to in-person conferencing last year, where I got to learn a little more about Python, meet a lot of the Python community’s nice folks, catch up with old friends and make new ones, and even jam onstage at Anaconda’s opening night party!
This is going to be a special PyCon, as it’ll be the conference’s 20th anniversary. It’s something worth celebrating, as Python has faced some challenges in that time. When PyCon started in 2003, it had been overshadowed by Perl and PHP. Soon afterward, it was eclipsed by Ruby, thanks to Ruby on Rails. But over the past 10 years, thanks to its simplicity, power, and vast collections of libraries — especially those for data science and machine learning — Python has experienced a renaissance. This gathering of the Python community should be a celebration of Python’s journey, and an interesting future ahead with ChatGPT and other upcoming AIs of its ilk.
Drop by the Auth0/Okta booth and say “hi,” or just simply start a conversation with me wherever you see me at PyCon. As always, I’ll be very easy to find. I’m the one with the accordion!
When does PyCon US 2023 happen? It depends on which parts you want to attend:
The main conference, which has the keynotes, general sessions, talk tracks, expo hall (where I’ll be spending most of my time), and so on, takes place from Friday, April 21 through Sunday, April 23 inclusive.
The opening reception happens on the evening before the main conference: Thursday, April 20.
The sponsor presentations and summits take place before the main conference, on Wednesday, April 19 and Thursday, April 20.
The job fair happens on Sunday, April 23.
And finally, the sprints — where you can contribute to Python itself or one of its libraries — happen from Monday, April 24 through Thursday, April 27.
How much does it code to attend PyCon? It depends on how you plan to attend.
As an individual — that is, on your own, with your own money, and without the support of a corporation: US$400.
As a corporate attendee — that is, your cost is being covered by a corporation: US$750.
As a student — that is, you’re currently in high school, college, university, or some other educational institution where you spend the majority of your time, as opposed to full-time work: US$100.
One of the highlights of the Civo Navigate conference that took place here in Tampa earlier this week was opening keynote speaker Steve “Woz” Wozniak, hardware genius, technical founder of Apple, and the creator of Apple’s first computers, including my first computer, the Apple //e.
After a quick “welcome” speech, Civo co-founder and CEO Mark Boost sat down to have what was probably going to be a Q&A-style chat with Woz.
However, Woz loves to talk, and he’ll happily do so for hours. I’m sure Mark had a list of questions for his guest, but he wisely put them aside and just let Woz be Woz. He went a little longer than scheduled, but that was all right with the audience, who were glad to be in the same room and listening to stories and opinions from one of the pioneers of our industry.
Mark kindly gave me a VIP pass for helping spread the word about Civo Navigate, which entitled me to attend the special VIP brunch at Oak and Ola, where we could get a moment’s one-on-one time with the Wizard of Woz. I had the pleasure of sharing breakfast with social media and technology author Shel Israel, who recently moved to St. Pete while listening to Woz, who delivered a short continuation of his keynote to the VIPs.
I’ve had this manual since the 1980s! Tap to view at full size.
As I mentioned earlier, my first computer, which my parents bought when I was 15, was the Apple //e (pictured on the right). It’s how I learned programming in BASIC, Pascal, and 6502 assembler. I put in my “10,000 hours” on that computer, which set me on the path to an interesting career in tech.
The computer went to a relative when I went off to university and graduated to my second machine, a 640K IBM clone made by a long-forgotten company, but I kept my Apple manuals, pictured above, as mementos.
In my move from Toronto to Tampa in 2014, I had to be really picky about which books I kept. I sold or gave away the lion’s share, holding only on to those with some personal, academic, or historical significance, and the Apple manuals made the cut.
I figured that I’d maybe get 30 seconds with him at the VIP brunch, which would be just enough time to get him to autograph just one of the books. I decided to bring the Apple ][ Reference Manual (which you can read on the Internet Archive), a manual that’s far more technical than anything that comes with today’s machines. Not only did it provide detailed instructions on how to get started programming it, but it also had sections on the reading the computer’s memory directly via the system monitor, using the built-in mini-assembler, full listings of the system ROM, and even a fold-out schematic diagram of the motherboard!
There was an opportunity for the VIPs to have quick individual meet-and-greets with Woz after his speech. I figured that I’d get his attention by placing the manual on the table in front of him, opening it to the back cover, and unfolding the schematic of the Apple ][ motherboard that was bound into the book as its last page.
He caught a glimpse of it, and a look of familiarity came over his face.
“Is that a…?” “Yes, it is!” Photo by Suzanne Ricci. Tap to view at full size.
“Is that a…?” he asked.
“Yes, it is,” I replied. “Came with my very first computer — the //e. Could you please autograph your handiwork?” I asked, pointing to the schematic.
Autograph acquired! Photo by Suzanne Ricci. Tap to view at full size.
I handed him an orange magic marker and he signed the schematic with his traditional “Woz”:
Tap to view at full size.
We chatted really quickly about how transparent they were back in those days. The Apple ][ Reference Manual had not just the schematic for the entire motherboard, but a complete listing of the system ROMs. That sort of openness doesn’t exist anymore with commercially-available computers, with the notable exception being platforms like the Raspberry Pi.
Setting up for the selfie. Photo by Suzanne Ricci. Tap to view at full size.
My turn soon ended, and I returned to our table, where Shel kindly took some victory photos:
Mission accomplished! Tap to view at full size.
Tap to view at full size.
Here’s a closer look at the schematic:
Tap to view at full size.
Tap to view at full size.
My inner 15-year-old is high-fiving me so hard right now.
Anitra and I are planning on having these meetups monthly, so if you missed this one, don’t fret — we’ll hold another one soon. Thanks to everyone who came last night, and we’ll see you again!
7venth Sun serves beers and ciders, and you can bring food. There’s a food truck stationed outside, and if you prefer, there’s great Korean food at Gangchu across the street (in fact, 7venth Sun makes one of their beers, K-Hop).