Thanks to everyone who sent me well wishes upon my announcement that I was moving on from my previous gig. I received 110 comments, and about 74 private emails regarding what my next steps might be. It was very heart-warming, as I’ve never (ever) been given so much good feedback and kind words between jobs.
What became really fun to me was hearing some of the ideas and offers people had. I enjoyed learning what was out there, and it gave me some interesting ideas about the state of the “social media industry,” such as it is. I know that lots of big, good companies are interested in this space. I also know that there are plenty of companies really just trying to be seen and heard out there. I felt compassion for the latter, because it’s really hard right now for people to get attention.
The Backstory
I had an idea what I wanted to do before moving on from the last place. I said it to anyone who asked. I said that I wanted to look into running smaller, niche-focused events, and that I wanted to work on social media, especially in how it works behind the firewalls of enterprise companies. Further, after talking with people like Jeremiah Owyang, who took a job at Forrester, I knew that I wanted to do something more than talk about cool bleeding edge technologies. I wanted to work with a team who wanted to make things happen, not just talk about things.
I got what I wished for. (Didn’t you warn me to be careful about that?)
My New Role
As of now, I’m the Vice President of Strategy & Technology for CrossTechMedia, a company that has been running IT tech events for the last few years. My role will be to create exactly what I mentioned above: more targeted niche events about specific technologies and trends, which will take the form of Executive Briefings for enterprise customers, and small-medium businesses seeking to see how certain leading edge technologies would work for their organization.
On top of creating and speaking at my own events, I’ll attend and speak at other events on technologies, including social media, virtualization, mashups, unified communications, and other areas we believe are directly impactful to companies facing IT challenges, and seeking to get ahead of the curve. This won’t just be what-if. It’ll have a strong component of “we can do this today” built right in.
My other duties involve working with CrossIntegration, our services and software development organization, on showing them which of these technologies matter to businesses, and building a practice to execute the strategies we work on, such that we’re not just talking, we’re doing.
Why CrossTechMedia
There are a few reasons why this company will work for me. One, I am a partner in the business. I am incented to see the business succeed. Two, I’m being encouraged to get creative on ways to build the business, and it’s in my best interest to do so. Three, the team is really damned interesting, open to new ideas, and has a nice track record of running events and software projects, so I’m joining a bunch of people who know what they’re doing, but want some new brains to work with on a future puzzle. (Sounds cool, right?)
It’s also in Massachusetts, so I don’t have to move. I’ll be able to work remotely a few days a week (nice!), and I can do lots of interesting business with friends and colleagues. There are lots more ways to get things done, which is nice, too.
Details or FAQ
I’m still based in Massachusetts
I get to keep my 631-612-8945 phone number (thanks to pulvermedia for that!)
You can still reach me at: blog at chrisbrogan.com
I still will do things on this blog
I will still go to shows
I will still do PodCamp things
I am open to your ideas
I can consult and execute on social media business opportunities as well as other things
I’m happily employed
So that’s it. Any questions?
