Cybersocials back and going strong in N.B.'s IT community
Geeks tend to be isolated beings, says one of the founders of New Brunswick's Cybersocials.
So, to counteract the tendency of geeks to work and play alone, William Langley, an industrial technology adviser for the National Research Council in Moncton, and a few other information technology workers started Cybersocials across the province in 1993.
Cybersocials are no-charge monthly events that are currently held in Moncton and Fredericton on a weekday evening. IT professionals meet in person, usually in a pub or conference room, to mingle, network and collaborate. Keynote speakers, generally from a local IT company, pay a small fee for the opportunity to promote themselves and their company at the event. A short presentation is done, and then there is time for questions.
The main point, and attraction, of the Cybersocials over the past 15 years is the time after the presentation when attendees - usually a mix of politicians, company presidents, students, programmers, and business people - have some snacks or a few drinks and a chat with people they might otherwise not have the chance to connect with, says Langley.
In the past few months there has been a rejuvenated interest in events that bring knowledge sector professionals together in the province.
"We missed a few in the fall and I definitely got calls asking about when Cybersocials were coming back," says Jessica Findlay, a spokeswoman for Enterprise Fredericton, which helps to co-ordinate the event in the capital city.
"Then we held one in January to kick off the year and we had close to record attendance."
Cybersocials started out as a small group of IT industry workers, including Langley, got together in a Miramichi pub just as the dot-com bubble was forming.
The events soon spread to Saint John, Fredericton and Moncton.
While the Miramichi and Saint John Cybersocials fizzled out due to lack of numbers to keep them going, says Langley, the events in Fredericton and Moncton drew close to 200 people regularly.
"In the pre-bubble days there used to be a lot of buzz," recalls Dan Martell, owner of Spheric Technologies Inc. in Moncton.
"There were a lot of eager and passionate people at the Cybersocials."
Then the tech bubble burst in the early 2000s and interest in Cybersocials waned.
In the past several years the events have struggled to attract pre-2000 numbers. Both the Moncton and Fredericton chapters draw between 30 to 70 attendees, depending on the speaker and time of year.
"Cybersocials were dying off at one point," says Lisa Rousseau, the Fredericton-based vice-president and co-owner of walkingspree.com, a wellness social networking site.
"In the long term there will probably be some incarnation of them in one form or another."
Langley agrees, saying the many benefits of participating in Cybersocials are what have, and will continue, to keep the concept relevant.
For local IT companies Cybersocials provide the opportunity to showcase something interesting that they are doing, scout for new employees, and increase visibility of what they do, says Eric Pelletier, manager of investment attraction and community relations for Enterprise Greater Moncton, which helps sponsor and co-ordinate local Cybersocials.
Plus, the monthly event gives the average IT worker a chance to mingle with other people who have similar careers, collaborate and learn about new work, project or client opportunities, says Doug Motty, general manager of Enterprise Fredericton.
And students looking to get their foot in the door can mingle with those already in the industry, learn more about it and hear about job opportunities, adds Pelletier.
Langley even knows of one person, now on Moncton's Cybersocial committee, who landed her first job out of school through a contact she met at a Cybersocial.
While Rousseau says she will continue to attend Cybersocials, she and a fellow social media expert started their own social media group in January, called Third Tuesday, which she says appeals to people in the IT, marketing and business sectors.
The New Brunswick Third Tuesday group - a concept that has become popular across North America in the past few years - meet the third Tuesday of every month on a rotating basis in Saint John, Moncton and Fredericton to discuss new social media developments and best practices.
Like Cybersocials, Third Tuesday events are free, feature speakers and offer ample time to mingle.
The N.B. Third Tuesday events have already grown from about 50 attendees to close to 150.
"Things used to be more about business people getting together in old boys' clubs," says Rousseau.
"Now, there's a lot more collaborating and sharing going on, especially in the technology field."
The Cybersocial and Third Tuesday events are a part of larger group of events, such as the Knowledge Industry Task Force annual golf tournament and Knowledge Industry Recognition and Achievement awards, that are growing in popularity and helping the knowledge industry become a cohesive community, says Motty.
"As more jobs move away from the traditional base to service and technology jobs there will just be more of a need for things like Cybersocials," says Motty.
"Companies are hungry and people are hungry for things like this, and they will continue to be."
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