Editorial: Is TribeCon A Winner?

I had a hard time writing this article. It started out like this a few weeks ago: “Things that New Orleanians love, above all else: music, food, community and lagniappe. Is it a lucky day or a carefully constructed experience when the superfecta is fully in place? Probably a wonderful, hard-won combination of both. We get a lot of all of that in a few weeks when the Voodoo Experience music festival in City Park raises cane and social awareness with the TribeCon partnership, an ‘unconference’ that promises to deliver education and useful tools to take your organization from online to off.”

I stopped there. Ok, another “unconference”? Time to get out our Buzzword Bingo cards. I started reading about TribeCon, starting with their website. Skimming pages, I read about “grass roots organizations”, “building community”, “networking”, “like-minded professionals”, “break-out sessions”, “social innovation”, “brand building”, “empowering”, “crowdsourcing”…anybody bingo yet? I wrinkled my nose and sighed loudly to myself that I couldn’t possibly use these same old buzzwords for this article. They’ve been used. Spoken, written, and hashtagged. To death.

So, I started asking questions to people not directly involved and still considering going. I asked the question: “What is TribeCon?” Am I the only one that wasn’t getting it? What I came to understand confused me even more, as everyone had the same explanation: Tribecon is an “unconference” being held during the Voodoo Experience music festival that promotes grassroots organization and building communities offline using online tools. Brief and concise, but the meanings were broad and somewhat generic. Abstract and almost chanted. Missives from the Cult of Schultz? More than a few times when I’d ask, “Ok, but what IS it?” I’d get back blank stares. And, what’s that you say? I’m paying $269 for this?

The high end is $269. That’s a good chunk of a paycheck. However, that does include the entire conference and a 3-day pass to Voodoo. Three day Voodoo passes are currently at $180, so technically, you’re only paying $89 to attend TribeCon. Still, that’s $89. How much have you spent to go to a Net2NO meeting? BarCamp? I spent $100 to go to WordCamp and felt I somewhat overpaid, but justify that cost by reminding myself of all the terrific connections and friends I made. That is, indeed, priceless.

So, what’s the justification? The official word from the TribeCon camp is “This is an opportunity to see nationally renowned speakers in our own backyard at a fraction of the cost of most conferences. There will be a dedicated tent on Voodoo Grounds specifically for TribeCon attendees to network with like-minded peers, to meet and mingle, share inspiration, ideas and best practices.”

Fair enough. The speaker line-up is definitely stellar. Micah Baldwin is probably the most well-known for starting the #followfriday madness on Twitter, but he is also a magnificent blogger and handles empowering others fluidly, easily. Like second nature. Just look at the tagline for his blog: “Sometimes the best way to learn to duck is to get punched in the face.” Brilliant. Making it look easy. How often have you been punched in the face? Me? Daily. I connect with him already. His speech is called “Failure Breeds Community”.

International cause-based superhero Sloane Berrent is easily the most locally recognizable speaker in the lineup. Sloane came through NOLA last spring after the SxSW panel that started it all, was here for a few weeks, and left town with a wake of ardent supporters, secret admirers and renewed inspiration behind her. She’ll be on a panel called “Make Yourself Uncomfortable: How to Rawk a New Community”. Promising.

There are a host of others. A few of my favorite people from around town: Earl Scioneaux, amazing local musician, music producer and sound engineer; Ray Nichols, all around “Good Guy”, very active volunteer that I’ve dubbed the Geekarazzi for photodocumenting all the geek gatherings in town; Tom Martin, President of Zehnder Communications and an undeniable force in forward thinking; and Robert Fogerty, founder of Evacuteer and a pretty awesome dancer, for starters.

These are all amazing people whom I respect immensely, but it brings me back to my original question: What’s the justification? And breeds new questions, like, “What can I get at TribeCon that I won’t get at Net2NO, BarCamp, GNO Code, LaunchPad gatherings, local tweetups, Twitter, blogs, YouTube, Google groups, the news?” Sure, they are all in one place, but all of those other things are FREE. What’s new here? Surely there haven’t been that many strides in social media management and grass roots organization since the last Net2NO meeting or BlogWorld last weekend?

I don’t know.

My questions forced me to do a lot of thinking about what might take place at TribeCon. Invaluable connections will be made. Inspiration that leads to collaboration will definitely take place. In a tent full of local geniuses, connectors, and motivators, there’s no way sparks won’t fly. The little alliances will be worth keeping track of. Methods of management will be shared. I personally have eleventy thousand outlets for social media and my Champ Superstar “brand” (as much as I hate that word) and several causes I can dedicate those outlets to. There’s no way I can come out of TribeCon LESS organized than I already am. And, more than anything else, this could be another great way for the world to see that the New Orleans tech community is systematic, codified, adept, and ready to incite progress here, there, and everywhere.

While my conclusions about what TribeCon can PRODUCE are all positive and likely outcomes, I still don’t have a solid answer for how paying for TribeCon could benefit me, personally. I kept tossing it around in my head, all the while fending off Chris Boudy’s “Is it done yet?” emails and avoiding interview questions and figuring out how I can get the day off to attend and, then, wondering if I even should? After all the self-doubt and letting these questions and CC’s coffee keep me awake all night, obsessing about the tiniest bits of information, having numerous discussions, and rehashing answers from possible attendees, I came up with only ONE undeniable reason I (and anyone in our kinds of communities) should attend TribeCon: TRUST.

At the end of the day, I realized that I inherently trust Chris Schultz and his ability to do innovative, authentic, great things. Chris Schultz is leading a charge in a community that nobody believed could ever exist. The TribeCon camp has made their labor of love a reality and I believe in it. I trust this work. I trust the organizers and the members of the panels. I trust the tech/cause-based community in the city I love. I trust energy and the love and dedication they have for it. It’s that simple.

Can we add “trust” in this instance as just another buzzword on our cards? Maybe. Trust is definitely personal, subjective and arguable.

But, these guys get it. And, you can quote me on this: BINGO.