hitting the big time: presented at #pvdgeeks last night [updated with video!]

Submitted by jpamental on

If you’ve been around the Providence tech scene for any amount of time, you’ve heard about Providence Geeks. According to Jack Templin ( @jacktemplin ) and Brian Jepson ( @bjepson ), this month marks the 4th birthday of the group, and they organize a monthly dinner/drinks/presentation by a local startup, usually at AS220. Not that many get the chance to present, and it’s usually a packed room full of some of the smartest technologists in the area. So when Jack got in touch last week and asked if @newschoolyard was interested in presenting, I didn’t wait for Mark (the president) to answer - I jumped on it. (And then started to freak out a little bit.)

I’ve been working with Mark Bistline for the past year designing and developing the Newschoolyard platform and in the process getting several schools launched on it as well. I don’t get to spend all my time there, but it’s been amazing to be in there from the start, and have the chance to really shape the platform and by extension, the business. Mark has been in the school web game since the mid-90’s, but this time we’re doing it with the doors open, windows wide and building on Drupal and other open-source tools. 

We had a great time last night, and really enjoyed talking about what we’re doing to change the landscape in the school web site environment and how we’re getting ready to grow, right here in Providence. I know at least one person asked, so I’m also posting the presentation in PDF form. Brian also shot an interview with Mark and I - I’ll update the post with a link when that goes up as well.

Thanks to everyone who came out, asked questions, tweeted and in general made us feel welcome. #pvdgeeks rocks!

AttachmentSize
PDF icon newschoolyard pvdgeeks presentation2.54 MB