Events
Guy Kawasaki Enchants Santa Cruz
by Kevin Romero
Santa Cruz turns out for Silicon Valley icon
During An Evening With Guy Kawasaki LIVE, Kawasaki spoke about the subject of his most recent book, “Enchantment: the Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions.” In his talk, he detailed techniques for catalyzing “enchantment” for customers and tech users alike.
Guy Kawasaki speaks at the Santa Cruz New Tech Meetup on May 7, 2014 (Photo credit: SCNTM)
Guy began the evening with a story of his connections to the community of Santa Cruz, pointing out his best friend and business partner of 30 years, local Santa Cruz community member Will Mayall to the audience.
Gesturing at a slide of the theater’s marquee, Guy joked, “I’ve never been billed with ‘Clueless’ before,” inspiring laughs throughout the crowd after comically adding, “This is kind of a big day in my life. I have truly arrived.”
Guy frequently quipped about local landmarks including the theatre, boardwalk, Verve coffee shop, and other Santa Cruz community highlights while maintaining an intensely engaging talk about enchanting customers and tech enthusiasts about products and professional relationships. Santa Cruz’s burgeoning technological community was well represented in the audience.
Summarizing the major points in his presentation, Guy highlighted the importance of incorporating Santa Cruz with the worldwide technological community, saying that the process of “enchanting” people will inevitably include communities like Santa Cruz that are as “Deep, Intelligent, Complete, Empowering, and Elegant” as their products and creators.
Guy’s ties to Santa Cruz tech
Before Guy’s presentation participants met to network and talk about Santa Cruz’s tech economy and community.
Mark Mesiti-Miller, of Mesiti-Miller Engineering, Inc. said that, “Santa Cruz is like a vegetable garden, it’s alive and vibrant and flourishing,” adding that he thought Guy’s presence at the evening’s event was a testament to the abilities and initiatives of the growing tech community in Santa Cruz.
“The connections between the community and tech world is part of what makes Santa Cruz unique,” stated Economic Development Manager J. Guevara at the event, adding, “Guy’s going to light it up! It is a sign that there is a movement here growing in Santa Cruz. It’s a testament to the overall community. We’re all contributing”
For Santa Cruz New Tech Meetup, Guy’s presentation provided a tremendously effective method for uniting Santa Cruz tech businesses and professionals with the community at large.
Community initiative and delight
Since Santa Cruz New Tech Meetup began in 2008, the group has hosted monthly events for Santa Cruz technology and community professionals to present, learn, innovate, and keep the rapidly developing tech community in Santa Cruz growing.
During his introduction to the event, founder Doug Erickson said, “We’re doing this because we love all things cool, geeky, and Santa Cruz,“
When asked about the importance of Guy’s presentation, Erickson added, “[Guy] is a motivator. He’s massively involved in the whole tech start up scene. He gets people interested in developing their tech.”
UC Santa Cruz is key
During the Q&A portion of the event Guy stated that to him the key to Santa Cruz being a tech powerhouse is the School of Engineering at UC Santa Cruz. He believes that the connection that Santa Cruz has to the school underlines an environment predicated on supporting innovative students and dynamic technological initiatives. Guy mentioned that UCSC’s engineering programs are nimble and rigorous.
Kawasaki’s model for success includes combining intensive ethical standards with economic development and success. His belief that ethics and success do not have to stand at odds mirrored the sentiments of many participants at the event.
Santa Cruz is seeing the results — start up companies, innovative research, outstanding graduates and more.
Related:
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Key Takaways from Guy Kawasaki
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Guy Kawasaki enchants 400 in Santa Cruz New Tech Meetup
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Guy’s Slide Deck
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Kevin Romero is a literature major at UC Santa Cruz who is currently writing his first collection of short stories. He is an editorial intern at Santa Cruz’s Catamaran Literary Magazine and the Chicago Quarterly Review. Otherwise, he spends his time collecting more books and movies than he has space for on his shelves. He can be reached at his LinkedIn profile or by email at ksromero@ucsc.edu
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Sara Isenberg publishes Santa Cruz Tech Beat for the benefit of the extended business and technology community. When she is not volunteering her time for the tech scene, Sara makes her living by managing software projects, web strategy planning, and providing development team services (including account management, vendor management, strategic partner management, beta project management, referrals to qualified technical team members, and more). Please visit her website: Sara Isenberg Web Consulting & Project Management, or contact Sara by email if you have any project management, account management, or Development Team leadership or service needs.
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