Last week, I had the privilege of teaching an entrepreneurship class at Savannah State, a service design class at SCAD and conducting internship interviews with Armstrong students.
It was such a joy to have a connection to their world and hear their different perspectives. One theme that unfortunately was consistent was their belief in a lack of ability to stay, live and work in Savannah after graduation.
Many students lamented that the city they had grown to love had a plethora of tourism related jobs, but they all seek communities with diverse economies where they can launch their careers.
Next weekend, Nov. 13-15, everyone will have the opportunity at Geekend to get a peek into the kind of community in which these students desire to live and work. For these few days, Savannah has the chance to show off its diverse local talent and the high-caliber talent it attracts.
It is a glimpse into what Savannah could be in 20 years.
I asked the students to describe the community they seek. They spoke of inspiration, money, creative fun and work. They described a community inspired by world greats like cutting edge professors at MIT who make us all think beyond today and into possibilities of tomorrow.
That community will be at Geekend 2014.
Second, the students desire
access to capital and commented on how amazing it was at StartupLounge in October to meet experienced angel investors coming from Atlanta and Greenville to connect with 25 local companies. Wouldn’t it be neat to also have a leading venture capitalist who has made more than 175 seed investments in companies like FitBit and MakerBot visit Savannah and meet local entrepreneurs?
That venture capitalist will be at Geekend 2014, among other investors.
Third, they seek creative fun for all ages. We discussed learning and fun not as two separate buckets, but integral to each other.
A community filled with children who desire to learn to code and can even create video games is a community building a dynamic workforce for tomorrow. A community like Denver that embraces the power of play to connect people on the street, bringing strangers together in open spaces over simple games.
Fun can also be live entertainment, especially exciting when futuristic yet classically trained.
This year’s Geekend highlights video games created by local kids and encourages everyone to embrace the power of play through game arcades.
Finally, the students seek work. They want to meet fast growing innovative companies with high-paying jobs. They want to embrace the maker movement, which is igniting creativity and birthing companies like Square by providing every day access to expensive tools like laser cutters, lathes, saws, mills, 3D printers and more.
Square’s the company that invented the credit card reader for smart phones, the gadget that seems to be everywhere overnight.
Guess what? The leader of the Maker Movement will be kicking off Geekend on Friday, Nov. 14.
Inspiration, money, creative fun and work were the answers to describe a vibrant community. I am confident these students, and perhaps you, will be the catalyst to Savannah’s change. I remember Savannah two decades ago, so I know there is no limit to what the next two decades can bring. Geekend at the Coastal Georgia Center offers you a vision of our potential.
Professor Neil Gershenfeld, director of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms, will instruct attendees to unleash their creativity inside a Fab Lab complete with low-cost digital and analog tools.
John Burke, a partner with Palo Alto’s True Ventures, will be “ring” leading Geekend’s Pitch Circus to highlight five stellar startups.
Kodestars Kids Arcade, open to the public from 2-4 p.m. on Saturday will include more than a dozen video games designed by local children.
Brian Corrigan and Justin Gitlin of Oh Heck Yeah will demonstrate how they created Denver’s immersive street arcade.
Mark Hatch, CEO of TechShop, will share his passion for the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) revolution, which just may spark your prototype.
I don’t have the space to tell you about each of the amazing presenters putting together dozens of workshops, talks and panels at Geekend, but as this region becomes everything those students imagined and more, you are going to want to say, “I was there at Geekend 2014.”
Bea Wray is the executive director of The Creative Coast, a not-for-profit organization that promotes the creative and entrepreneurial community within the region. Wray can be reached at 912-447-8457 or bea@thecreativecoast.org.
By Bea Wray