You Should Get Out More!

I'm just returning from Berlin, where I spoke at Asterisk Tag. Asterisk is, depending on who you talk to, a PBX, an open-source telephony engine, the Swiss Army knife of telephony, TFOT (the future of telephony) and to me personally, it's what answers our phone lines at my office. Asterisk allows our two-person operation full mobility. We can call or be called from anywhere in the world with no roaming charges. As a French company, we can handle tool-free calls from the USA for $2 a month per line. We get voicemail messages delivered via email one minute after the message is left, set the hours and which phones ring at what time. I get an SMS when someone calls and does NOT leave a message. TOFT is now. Oh, all this is running on an old PC and all the software was free.

I have already been at Asterisk events in Madrid and Paris. As I dusted off my Astricon Paris PPT and transferred the file to my MacBook, I didn't realize I was signing the death certificate of my presentation! It failed miserably. But I'm happy, and I've already been invited to speak again next year! The trip got me "out of the house" and sharing ideas, gossip and intoxicating beverages with both pillars of the community (to name a few, Mark Spencer who created asterisk as a teenager, Kevin Fleming, Digium's head of devel, Olle Johansson, an independent authority on some core technologies used in VoIP) as well as many interesting players in manufacturing, development, consulting and services. See this page for the short bios of everyone who spoke. At the end of day one, Phil Zimmermann, the man who brought you PGP, shared insights on a video call (encrypted, obviously) where anyone in the audience could ask questions. It was a great moment, even if it was followed by dancing bartenders (photo above). I think Phil was sorry he couldn't come to see that.

My thoughts on PGP and privacy and why you care are here.

The first benefit of actual, non-virtual gathering is to stand right next to the people whose Tweets you may have read for months or whose blogs inspire (or nauseate) you. Just to see that a lot of other folks with common interests are as shy as you are. The "standing next to" part is not for the photo opps, although that may be good for business or ego, too. As I observed people in small groups, I was able to feel the sincerity or possible lack of same in a way no Wordpress plugin will ever bring to the web. "You had to be there" is not just the end of a bad joke, it's a serious concept.

Not easy, but if you can get to it, the next level is the shared meal with a one-on-one discussion or at worst a group of no more than four people. It matters little whether there is a direct business opportunity or not. There are so many great things that come from moments with small groups and the most stimulating, the ones that keep you growing are the people you just met, not the buddies you've hung out with for years. In fact, the latter group, your um, "friends", can communicate by tweets and tumbls because you already know each other.

While my presentation was marred by my lack of PPT chops and (mea culpa) poor planning, I think a few people did get the message, which was pretty simple. VoIP is a way to transmit audio and video over the Internet allowing cheap calls and powerful added benefits. Grand Central is one example of the latter. Blogs, microblogs and social networks, as anyone reading Chris Brogan knows, are equally empowering written-word technologies. In spite of these gifts to our society, we can't really know each other if we've never met.

As I reflect on previous Astricon events in Madrid and Paris and recall with pleasure the jokes and fun, I also feel that I know the folks I can call on for help and advice in the future, and probably see them next time.