Casual mixers put spotlight on local tech talent

Beer was flowing but no one seemed to be drinking much.

That's what Mike O'Connor remembers from a past MinneDemo event, a quarterly schmooze fest where tech geeks -- programmers, software developers, entrepreneurs -- swap ideas and show off their latest work.

Alcohol consumed is usually a good party metric. But there was more gabbing and less gulping this time.

"I think the magic ingredients [to Minne-Demo are] good people to talk to, interesting things to talk about, and beer," said O'Connor, a veteran entrepreneur and consultant. "The beer is more of a signpost, the clue to how people should interact." That is, informally.

Now in its third year, MinneDemo and the annual conference known as MinneBar have become must-attend gatherings for Minnesota's technology community. And yet that's the problem.

Originally known for its intimate, free-flowing exchange of tech talk, MinneDemo and MinneBar have morphed into events unto themselves, requiring the kind of planning the two gatherings eschewed in the first place.

For example, MinneBar took place in May at the University of Minnesota's student center, a far cry from the cramped office in the downtown Warehouse District that hosted the inaugural conference. As for the fall MinneDemo event, planned for early October, organizers are looking for a theater instead of the usual neighborhood bar.

"It is becoming more challenging," said Ben Edwards, a 33-year-old techie who helped organize MinneBar. "We try to make it informal. We are constantly looking for [intimate] venues."

But Edwards and 29-year-old Luke Francl, who's in charge of MinneDemo, aren't really complaining. Anything to draw attention to Minnesota's tech community, a group known more for brainpower and talent than the concrete business ventures normally associated with start-up-crazy Silicon Valley in California.

"There is a lot of cool tech stuff happening in the Twin Cities but we don't get as much recognition," Francl said.

Innovation often requires collaboration among like-minded individuals. Techies, who spend endless hours at home on their computers, aren't likely to attend formal conferences, such as those organized by the Collaborative, a membership organization for growth and emerging companies, entrepreneurs and investors. What's needed, experts say, is a less formal, more spontaneous way of networking so that ideas become profitable companies down the road.

"In Silicon Valley, what really helps is that people are always working together," Jawed Karim, a St. Paul native who co-founded YouTube, said in an earlier interview. "You see people hanging out all of the time even from competing companies talking about stuff. It's that interaction that creates the motivation to do something.

"Here people are more separate," he said. "They don't interact as much. What it will take is much closer collaboration in a much less formal environment. It's great that we have a venture conference here and they are very useful. But in Silicon Valley, people network all of the time, on the street corner, coffee shops, dorm rooms, garages."

Silicon Valley roots

MinneBar is a local offshoot of BarCamp, an open-to-all, participant-driven technology conference that began in Silicon Valley in 2005 but has since spread across the United States and overseas.

At the time, some techies had taken offense at software developer Tim O'Reilly's invitation-only, high-powered gathering called FOO (Friends of O'Reilly) Camp.

So they organized BarCamp, which takes part of its name from FOOBAR, a variation of the World War II acronym "FUBAR" that stands for Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition (there's also a coarser version).

At MinneBar, which bills itself as a free "unconference," participants propose and organize the sessions through Wiki, software that allows users to freely create and edit Web pages using any Internet browser.

The sessions cover everything from the latest software code to loftier topics such as "the mathematical foundations of music" and effective team-building skills.

MinneBar is underwritten by sponsors, including venture capital firm Split Rock Partners and Sierra Bravo, a Web development firm. Big corporations are not welcome.

In addition, Francl and veteran entrepreneur Dan Grigsby founded MinneDemo, a smaller series of gatherings where developers can present their work to peers.

"It's like a two-hour jam session," Grigsby said. "Show something that you are proud of, and [participants] will judge what you do."

Over the past three years, MinneDemo and MinneBar have attracted larger crowds. Close to 100 people attended the first MinneDemo; Francl expects around 400 in October. Edwards estimates 300 people participated in May's MinneBar, almost three times more than 2006.

Francl and Edwards have scrambled to find bigger venues while preserving the original vibe. The move from the Warehouse District to the more staid but larger Coffman Union at the U raised a few eyebrows, especially the $5 fee for Wi-Fi Internet access.

"That was the bigger bummer of the event," Edwards said.

In his blog, Web consultant and first-time MinneBar participant Kevin Farner praised the conference but noticed a few problems with the space.

"I will say that the biggest disappointment was the spotty WiFi and lousy projectors," he wrote. "Twentysomethings are not thrilled about projectors that only show 800×600, or [having to] pay for WiFi and even after that have spotty coverage."

Getting down to business

Observers say the real challenge for Minnesota's tech community is to convert the discussions and products originating at MinneDemo and MinneBar into new companies.

Minnesota possesses a lot of talent and promising technology but lacks the same impulse as Silicon Valley to launch start-ups, said Michael Gorman, managing director of Split Rock, who regularly attends the two events.

While a sponsor of MinneBar and MinneDemo, the venture capital firm has yet to make an investment.

"We need some wins, some successes from this community," said O'Connor, the entrepreneur. "MinneBar and MinneDemo help, but they're certainly not everything we need."

Thomas Lee • 612-673-7744