Next month, the Redwood Technology Consortium (RTC) will hold its first annual North Coast Technology Conference. The March 14 conference will include talks by local experts, a follow-up to last year’s technology boot camp, and a keynote speech by Dr. Jeff Marsee, President of College of the Redwoods.

After the RTC celebrated its tenth anniversary in late-2007, board members decided it was time to reevaluate the purpose and offerings of the organization. We distributed electronic surveys asking community members to list what they valued about the RTC. Two themes were consistently mentioned: networking and education. The board decided that one way to combine the two was through a conference that would be open to everyone on the North Coast.

The conference, which will take place at the Humboldt Bay Aquatic Center in Eureka, will have two simultaneous tracks: one on using technology to market your business and the other on technical tools and innovations. To kick-off the conference, Dr. Marsee will deliver a keynote address about College of the Redwood’s use of technology in education.

Last year Patrick Cook from the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) came to the county to present a Technology Boot Camp, an event that was quite popular in our area. Patrick is working on a follow-up workshop called eMarketing Technology Boot Camp, which he will offer as part of the conference. The North Coast will be the first community in California where the boot camp will be offered. Cook is director of the Silicon Valley SBDC and was one of the founders of the Northern California SBDC Technology Advisory Program. He has held senior IT positions in retail, banking, and digital photography organizations.

Simultaneous to the eMarketing Technology Boot Camp will be a technology and innovation track. A call for papers was put out in January to find speakers for the technology tools and innovation track. The selected presentations cover a variety of topics. Here are a few highlights:

Jack Sivak, who has been coaching project and program managers for over 15 years will talk about effective project management. Jack says, “Based on internal wiring, technologists are typically poor planners.  You know that you would rather just ‘do it’ and then they’ll see how great your product or service is.  But smart customers want proof that you can think through the entire development and/or implementation process, provide them details, and show how you and they will measure project progress. If you are even the least bit intimidated by the thought of developing a real project plan, you need to participate in this interactive presentation.”

Bob Morse, who has over 18 years of experience in web development will give an overview of content management systems and a detailed talk about Drupal, an open source system. He will talk about what Drupal is, why you might want to use it, what it can do, and who else is using it.

I will be leading a session on social networking, including using such sites as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. I’ve worked in information systems for over 13 years at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. My current work involves developing knowledge sharing communities for NASA engineers, and I will bring both my personal and professional experience to this talk.

If you are looking to learn more about how to use technology to market a business or learn more about technology in general, come to the conference. Space is limited, so sign up early. The cost is $30 for current RTC members, $40 for non-members. The conference runs from 9-4 and registration includes lunch. To register, go to <a href="http://redwoodtech.org">redwoodtech.org</a>. I hope to see you there.

Daria Topousis telecommutes to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and serves on the Board of Directors of the Redwood Technology Consortium.

Copyright 2009, Eureka Tmes Standard Newspaper. The print verison of this article first appeared in the 2/25/09 edition of the Times Standard.