I gave up on a holiday letter or cards a few years ago; however, last year I started doing a year in review post, and it seemed to work pretty well. Here’s the 2008 version …
Let’s start with the negative.
What did I want to do in 2008 that didn’t quite make it?
- Didn’t quite achieve 501(c)(3) status for Legion of Tech. The paperwork is nearly done and will be submitted in January.
- Didn’t get the O’Reilly Art of Community book published. For too many reasons to list here, we finally decided to can the project.
- Didn’t do anything spectacular enough that it prompted someone to write a Wikipedia article for me.
Now on to the fun part.
2008: A year of change
- My biggest change by far was deciding to leave my steady employment at Jive Software to become an Online Community and Social Media Consultant. I am very happy with the change, and despite the economy, things are going pretty well.
- Redesigned my blog with a better look and feel.
- Helped organize events like BarCampPortland, Ignite Portland, and more as the co-founder and chair for Legion of Tech.
- Ignite Portland was featured in the Oregonian resulting in mayhem, overcrowding, and a new LoT policy of no mainstream media coverage prior to events like Ignite and BarCampPortland.
- Spoke at a bunch of conferences: OSCON, Community 2.0, Innotech, BlogHer Business, Web 2.0 Expo, Ignite Portland, Love@First Website, a few BarCamps, etc.
- Attended too many local Portland events to count.
- I took my mom on a vacation to Maui where we spent time lounging on the beach and drinking fruity drinks out of pineapples.
- I joined Portland-based startup, Shizzow, to manage the Shizzow community (as a side project, since we are currently bootstrapping). We were also honored to be guests on the Strange Love Live podcast.
- Became obsessed with Yahoo Pipes resulting in a video podcast series with Yahoo Pipes demos.
- Began writing for GigaOM’s WebWorkerDaily.
My personal hopes for 2009
- Grow Fast Wonder Consulting into a more successful business with a few more clients.
- Achieve 501(c)(3) status for Legion of Tech.
- Continue to help organize more awesome events in Portland.
- Finish my eBook about Companies and Online Communities.
- Learn more about Yahoo Pipes.
- Continue mission #GetOffButt to get healthier, stronger, and in better shape.
- Again, I want to do something spectacular enough that it prompts someone to write a Wikipedia article for me.
Another thing I’m excited about for 2009
- The Portland tech community. I rave about it almost constantly, but I do expect the Portland tech community to continue to produce exciting new companies, projects, and community organized events to become even stronger in 2009.
Dawn, THANK YOU for all that you do to help grow the PDX technology community. You’re a real asset and we’re lucky to have you evangelizing on our behalf!
Betsy,
As you know, I do it because I love it … and it gives me more excuses to hang out with cool people like you 🙂
Dawn – happy new year! It was great getting to know you a little better in 2008. Here’s to more Portland tech community momentum in 2009!
Happy 2009. Your posts on Yahoo pipes etc. throughout the year have been really useful and interesting.
Hey Dawn:
Having a Wikipedia article about you may not be all that it is cracked up to be. An ex-student once created one on me. It had a small factual error, which I corrected, and along the way expanded the article a bit. The fact that I was editing the article on myself caught the eye of the (ahem) editorial bored, who decreed that I was not as deserving as many of the other illustrious types described therein (Jenna Jameson and the like, for example) – and therefore cut it back to almost nothing. Sigh! So much for my 15 mins of fame.
ps. The Jenna Jameson example does show you one route to getting your name into Wikipedia – but please don’t go there. 🙂
Hi Dawn,
Happy New Year!! You’ve accomplished quite a lot in this past year and your goals for ’09 seem fun and event-full!! Look forward to seeing you and Todd soon. –Nina
Hi Dawn! Great to see that you are doing well! Sounds like you will have your hands really full in 2009 – I wish you a wonderful 2009! 🙂