Well, we’ve officially started winter here in eastern Iowa. Last night marked our first measurable snowfall of the season, with about an inch or so sticking around in the Oasis. My kids were ecstatic about the quick descent into winter – me, not so much. Last winter hung on nearly until the end of April, and because so many of the warmer days were rainy this year, it seems like we lost an entire summer. I spent this past Wednesday afternoon buzzing around the yard as quickly as I could, trying to mow over two months worth of growth before the weather turned colder than it already had. As I got to the last part of the yard, the sky began pelting me with sleet or ice or something else equally terrible as the arctic wind blew toward me, no matter which direction I turned.
One pleasant side effect of mowing in the cold – I moved significantly faster than I do when it’s 95 degrees plus humidity in the middle of July. The yard takes me over 2 hours to mow in the summer, and it took me about 80 minutes on Wednesday. Possibly a land speed record for a fat guy and a push mower.
I don’t completely dislike winter. I get some of my best work done when I’m stuck inside. Also, I prefer shoveling snow to mowing grass – there’s less of it, and if I’m getting overheated, I can vent the heat more easily by just removing my hat. You can only get so naked when mowing the lawn before the authorities are summoned to your door. Also, this is the good part of the winter, with Thanksgiving and Christmas approaching. I’ve already started making my Chex brand cereal-based non-copyright infringing party mix, and my house is stocked up on flavored teas and apple cider. The Nintendo and Super Nintendo have been unearthed and hooked up to the family room TV for the kids – my older one is just learning how to play Super Mario Brothers by herself, and my younger one enjoys watching her sister fall into the ditches repeatedly.
This is what happens when your coaches have down time.
And, with the weather changing, I’m glad my travel is over until February (more on that in a few paragraphs.) I had left off last time mentioning that I’d be helping with Iowa Startup Games again as a coach and mentor for the student teams. There are a small group of us that usually end up helping each time during the fall and spring events, and this year was no exception. I was only able to coach on the Saturday of the event this time – I usually stick around on Sunday to help the students with their pitches, and then attend the final pitch competition at the very end of the weekend. I was on the road to Kansas City during the pitch competition, but I was able to listen to part of the event over a spotty Internet connection in southern Iowa and northwestern Missouri. The teams that I thought would do well did just fine, and there were a couple of sleepers that ended up surprising me with the quality of their pitches on Sunday afternoon. No team was completely “uncoachable” this time – there were a couple who were close, and I’m not sure what happened with them on Saturday. All in all, it was a good group of students, and the event was a lot of fun.
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s I mentioned before, I was on my way to the 1 Million Cups Organizers Summit in Kansas City on Sunday afternoon. The drive wasn’t too bad, and the rental car had satellite radio included. It was great having the experience of meeting other 1MC organizers from around the country, and seeing some organizers who I had met either visiting or presenting at locations away from Iowa City. Three of the five Iowa locations had representation at the summit – Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, and Des Moines. It would have been nice to meet any of the organizers from Pocahontas, and it would have been great to see some of the folks from Cedar Falls as well. Both of those chapters only meet monthly, and they are usually pretty quiet in comparison to the three weekly chapters.
There were some pretty interesting takeaways from the Organizers Summit, and it was refreshing to see that other organizers and chapters were having some of the same issues that we are having as we put together the show each week in Iowa City. One of our biggest problems is finding good quality presenters and presentations. Moving from two presenters each week to one has helped stretch out the applications in our pipeline, and it seemed like other chapters were doing the same thing. Other organizers also echoed what I’d been saying about moving from two to one – having two presenters makes everything feel rushed, and there have been a lot of times were we’ve had to shut off good quality discussion because we have to move onto the next thing. I feel like the presenters are more relaxed now that they aren’t boxed into six minutes or less of presenting, and that the question and answer period involves deeper questions and better discussion. Other chapters also have panel discussions in place of solo presenters, and I feel like this is something that we can easily implement here in Iowa City if the other organizers would allow it.
The 1MC chapters in Iowa have some good looking organizers!
Since we were meeting in Kansas City, I wanted to consume as much barbecue as possible. Mission accomplished! At dinner on Monday evening, we were treated to catered barbecue at a local craft distillery – I would have eaten two heaping plates of it if they hadn’t mentioned the dessert table. The brisket practically melted in my mouth, and the side dishes were fantastic. On Tuesday, a bunch of us staying at the same hotel went to a different barbecue place in the Westport area. I got a sample platter with a couple of different award-winning dishes, and again, I walked away very full and very impressed.
There was plenty of time for conversation and for fun while we were there. On Sunday evening, after we all had met over a happy hour at the Kauffman Foundation headquarters, a group of us ended up at a dive bar just blocks from the state line that runs down the center of the Kansas City metro area. We all kept joking that we should just walk there, and after a few beverages, we made the trip! One of the other people in the group even had some random person on the street take a picture of all of us. I had an excellent time on the trip, and it was a great bonding exercise for all of us – it highlighted what seems to be the theme of the year: you’re not alone in what you’re doing.
Photo credit: Rina Jensen
After attending 1MC in Kansas City on Wednesday morning, I made the trip back to eastern Iowa armed with the knowledge I received at the Organizers Summit and a long list of contacts of other organizers who would be more than willing to exchange presenters and ideas over the coming year. I now understand why other organizers who went to the summit in 2017 said that they came back to their chapters reinvigorated by the experience of the summit. I hope to be able to go to next year’s get-together and see some familiar faces then.
Now that I’m back home until February, I’m able to truly focus on what needs to be done over the next few months: Cider Finder. I’ve filled out the registration form and reserved hotel and train tickets to take Cider Finder to CiderCon in Chicago on February 6-9. The convention runs all week, but I’ll be joining the festivities on Wednesday afternoon. Most of the things on the schedule before then look like certification tests and guild meetings – not things about which I need to worry. There is also a cider event open to the public on Saturday called Cider Summit that I’ll be sticking around for, after the conclusion of the convention on Friday. I’ll then take the train back to Iowa on Sunday afternoon, hopefully with a bunch of cideries signed on with Cider Finder subscriptions.
Before then, the app must be finished and the beta test completed. The clock is ticking.
I have a few more book reviews currently in the pipeline, which should help to fill in where the rest of this blog is lacking – developing an app doesn’t really lend itself well to interesting blog posts. Look for more reviews coming out soon, as well as my usual recap of the year’s entrepreneurial events. In between all of that, I’ll have updates on BondingBox and the new DateBuilder game, Cider Finder app development, and the Iowa Startup Accelerator’s Launch Day in December.
It’s going to be a crazy couple of months coming up with all of that plus the holidays in there somewhere. Add to all of that the process of getting the ball rolling on Startup Weekend Iowa City 2019, and it’s going to be an interesting winter.
But, you already know I love this stuff. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
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