Thank you all for your participation at TAG Summit! It was an incredible day of learning, insights, networking, socializing, and conversation. Additional thankful recognition to our sponsors, speakers, organizers, and volunteers. Our community is strengthened with the sharing of knowledge and experience, and supporting each other through service. Thank you all for your contributions.
On the main stage, Shelley Roberts’ keynote presentation on adaptability was both fantastically insightful and challenging: how can we improve ourselves without being aware of our own habits and limitations??? We must be carefully self-aware and devoted to improvement! This provided the perfect transition to highlight our efforts at TAG as we focus on Strengthening Our Technology Community. Dr. Carl Willis-Ford shined a light on the cultural and systematic difficulties of encouraging women to pursue STEM in his doctoral research, while providing insights on how we can improve. Maggie Roberts inspired us with her out-of-the-box thinking and methodology to produce results: good guys catching bad guys and holding them accountable for their financial crimes. Kayne McGladrey encouraged us to maintain cybersecurity awareness and to devise new ways of keeping our community, friends, and family safe from the potentially devastating effects of cyber warfare. The list is long! Thank you to ALL of our speakers and panelists for sharing your thoughtful presentations and insights.
I’d like to especially thank our Events Committee for their dedication to organize TAG Summit. To Austin Baar & Dr. Carl Willis-Ford, Kevin Stock, Jeremiah McCoy, and Meg Weber for managing the IT/Cybersecurity, Development, Engineering, and Leadership breakout tracks. To Matt Bain for incredible web and graphic design (Sole Graphics plug here!). And to Kamira Rea for awesome event planning, management, and the care to help me keep focused.
TAG Summit was possible with the support of our sponsors and community partners. Thank you for your collaboration to make TAG Summit an incredible community event: Alpha Technologies, Emergency Reporting, Whatcom Community College, NCyTE Center (was CyberWatch West), Varvid, HeartbeatRM, Port of Bellingham, RealMax, Sole Graphics, SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention, Bellingham Codes, Bellingham Makerspace, Whatcom IT Professionals, Bellingham Regional Chamber of Commerce, Brad Williams and Dr. Carl Willis-Ford.
I am proud of what we accomplished together. In many ways TAG Summit was a success through teamwork and the shared vision of making something special. I hope you each enjoyed your time with us at TAG Summit, and left as an improved version of yourself. I know I did.
Cheers,
Michael
P.S.
Check out the TAG Summit 2019 Facebook Photo Album courtesy of Crystal Garcia of Varvid. (Thank you so much, Crystal!) Tag yourself and your friends! Share your own pictures to the page, also.
TAG Summit recordings and presentation slides will be made available upon speaker approval. Keep an eye out for blog updates on the TAG NW Website.
Many of you provided input on our printed feedback cards at TAG Summit. Thank you! You’ll receive a focused TAG Summit feedback survey. We would appreciate your input on how we can improve.
TAG is expanding! We are seeking passionate folks interested to serve in a range of capacities: on our Board of Directors; on our (new!) Advisory Board; on our relaunched Board Committees for Membership, Sponsorship, Events, and Marketing; as Event Volunteers; and as Interns for new positions to support Events, Communications, Web Design, and Graphic Design. If you would like to Get Involved, please contact us. You all are invited to help shape the future of TAG.
And finally, as a non-profit, our success depends on the financial support of our community. Would you like to support us? Please donate! Not a TAG Member? Become a TAG Member today! Our member dues are $50 per year for individual members ($25 for students), and $200 for business members. If you would like to support TAG even further, we have sponsorship options for your consideration. Thank you to all that financially support TAG. Any support you can provide is greatly appreciated.
Stay tuned for TAG Predictions 2020 in January! Our Save the Date and initial details will be available shortly. See you again soon.
