Blog The Tactile Group

Post Philly Tech Week

Last week the Tactile team collectively attended 12 Tech Week events all over the city. If you’re not familiar with Philly Tech Week, it’s a week-long celebration of technology and innovation focusing on 7 different tracks (Creative, Access, Dev, Civic, Business, Media, and Sciences) that happen through the Philadelphia region. Here is a roundup from some of our favorite events we attended.

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Marc Coleman

The Business Advantage of Diversity

Held at the prestigious law firm of Montgomery McCracken, this luncheon event (yay snacks!) featured a panel discussion highlighting the challenges, risks, and rewards of actively incorporating diversity and inclusion into tech-focused organizations. We spoke of hiring practices, legal issues, and the shortage of coders facing the region. I was personally most exited to meet Sylvester Mobley of CodedbyKids and to learn how they are teaching kids to code at as young as 5 years old!

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Leigh Peele

Web Suite for the C-Suite

This event, which was sponsored by Trellist and Progress, was aimed at business owners or managers. The topic was an overview of content strategy, the best practices for developing a cohesive message across channels, and how the Web Suite CMS can be used to facilitate those strategies.

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Alex Lombardi

Mayoral Tech Town Hall

The Mayoral Tech Town Hall featuring the honorable Jim Kenney was brief but entertaining and packed with civics-rich information. The Mayor touched on several topics including diversity in the technology sector, enhancing the City of Philadelphia’s interdepartmental communication through tech, our status as a sanctuary city, and the financial support of our schools through the implementation of the new soda tax. He’s also not very fond of the anonymous comment feature on philly.com articles. They apparently prompted some concerned phone calls from his mother.

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PRASH DAVÉ

Framing Philly's Social Impact Scene: Where Business, Nonprofit, and Philly Meet

Alex and I had a great time at the Framing Philly's Social Impact Scene event at the Free Library of Philadelphia. We got to know a few interesting attendees from the Philadelphia area as well as some of the panelists who were very interested in the work Tactile is doing. The view from the balcony and the double-stuffed Oreos were just a cherry on top for a great night full of interesting conversations.

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Kevin Yonn

The Dark Side of Technology

As we evolve towards technology, we do not want to create a paranoid society. By getting out of our comfort zone and exploring outside options, we can become more cognitive and have a better means on our intentions in technology. The Dark Side of Technology event represented a great counterweight to the celebration of Philly Tech Week 2017.

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Angela Chan

The Internet of Things: A Plan for the World to Come

During this Philly Tech Week event, I learned about the "Internet of Things" trend. Using smart devices, the event representatives hosted a demonstration of light switches and door locks that are controlled through internet connectivity. I especially enjoyed the panel discussion on how the Internet of Things impacts our daily life and our future.

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Nadya Aboras

Out To Launch

The Out to Launch event was held in the beautiful and recently opened Museum of the American Revolution. After grabbing a lunch box, I heard tech companies from throughout Philadelphia give 5-minute presentations on their amazing new products. It was refreshing to see the tech community come together to support each other and their individual start-up endeavors.

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Jenni Betz

The 3rd Annual Women in Tech Soiree

The event space at WeWork Northern Liberties was filled wall to wall with strong, powerful ladies for The 3rd annual Women in Tech Soiree. The opening remarks, fireside chat, and panel speakers all had influential messages to never ever give up on your dreams and to not to be afraid of failing. There’s nothing better than a little girl power to chase away that looming cloud of self-doubt. Fantastic event, thank you to everyone that was a part of it!

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Matt Cieslak

The Dark Side of Technology

This event was a short talk to a small crowd that amounted to be a commentary on the social and behavioral effects of current communications, gaming, and social platforms. The speaker discussed the implications of modern tech's evolutionary novelty and it's mostly unpredictable impact on the human psyche. Questions of privacy, anonymity, and trust in regards to one's online presence were posted and was an apparent topic of interest as many of the attendees had strong feelings surrounding it. In a time when the freedom of information and access to an open internet are in jeopardy, it is imperative that there is a collective interest in questioning the powers that be and resisting inequality, economic and otherwise. Oh, and the complimentary Dock Street Brewery amber ale was pretty good too.

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