I attended the Minnesota High Tech Association (MHTA) Spring Conference yesterday at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Minneapolis. I decided to walk to the hotel since I work downtown and it is only eight blocks away. Mistake. I ended up having to walk in the cold rain for several blocks and felt like a wet dog walking into the conference. Thankfully my day improved.
I participated in the MHTA Ace leadership program a year ago and got to know quite a few young technology leaders in the region. So I felt much more sociable at this year’s event because I knew so many people.
I walked into the opening presentation and grabbed a seat in the ballroom. Who do I just happen to sit next to? My friend Graeme Thickins — illustrious blogger, twitterer, marketer, and web x.0 thinker. We chit chatted for a while about some of the interesting start ups in town. Then we settled in to listen to the speakers. I really enjoyed listening to Robert Stephens, founder of Geek Squad. I’ve never heard him speak but I’ve followed his company for many years. I can’t saw I’ve ever been enamored of the Geek Squad concept. But I can’t dispute his strategic thinking. He understood the concept and didn’t loose focus while his organization expanded. He made an interesting point that “play” is a great way to learn and unlock creativity. He gave some examples of how his organization uses play to collaborate and innovate.
I bumped into several vendors and customers during the show. I just happened to sit right next to a customer during lunch. I swear, every time I walk into a room full of people and sit down next to someone I discover there is some sort of personal or professional connection. Granted, Minneapolis isn’t that big of a town. But it still surprises me. I sat down at a random table for lunch at Datacenter World in Vegas and just happened to sit next to one of the few people from Minneapolis. And it turned out my company bought services from his company.
I ended the day watching a panel of state politicians discuss global competitiveness. As expected the discussion followed strict party lines. The democrat state senator was strongly pushing for early education programs (I could hear silent cheers from the teachers union members in the audience). He mentioned that early childhood education would provide a 16% return on investment — much better than giving tax incentives to technology businesses. I will be happen to invest my personal savings in such a venture if the government can guarantee that kind of return (of course the senator wasn’t talking about “that” kind of ROI. The type of return he is talking about would be much harder to measure and therefore ensure the survival of his pet project).
The republican was pushing for greater business tax incentives for jump starting technology and innovation. He noted that states like Minnesota have to compete with other states for business development. Makes sense. I don’t agree with the repubs on everything but it is clear that they understand business and what it takes to compete in Minnesota.
