Urban Vancouver

Technology Evangelist

By pacificIT on April 22, 2006 - 3:48pm

[Xposted: Pacific IT]

Over the last three weeks I have taken numerous trips down to Seattle. My objective was to meet certain individuals, network, seek out new opportunities and generally find out what the heck was going on in this neighbour city other than Ichiro (or anything with the Mariners or Seahawks), Microsoft, Boeing, Starbucks (or anything to do with coffee), Amazon, Expedia, Frasier, Sleepless or the Space Needle. What were people doing, working at and talking about.

My adventure first connected me with Sean Cunningham of Logic 20/20. Sean is a technology consultant and a great guy to know in Seattle. Our discussion covered a lot of areas but one of the terms he used which lit my eyes up was TECHNOLOGY EVANGELIST. "That's what you do, isn't it Rob?". Hmmm. I had heard it before. I had even seen it posted formally as a position on a major computer company's website. But was I an Evangelist?

The first thought which popped into my mind was a religious fanatic: someone who preached loudly whether others wanted to hear it or not. I didn't perceive myself that way. The word frequently used in Vancouver for someone like me has been GURU. I never liked that term either because it says a person knows everything about a topic which I have never said about myself. So what about TECHNOLOGY EVANGELIST?

This is how Wikipedia defines Technology Evangelist:

A technology evangelist is a person whose job is to assist organizations adopting new technologies. The role of Technology Evangelist was first created by Guy Kawasaki while working for Apple Computer in the late 1980s when the Apple Macintosh was first being marketed.

Technology evangelism is closely related to both a sales and training role but has very specific skills related to technology marketing and convincing a potential buyer or user to change from an old way of doing things to a new way of doing things. Technology Evangelism is sometimes associated with an internal employee assigned to encourage new ways of doing things within a large organization.

Ah, now I see why my eyes lit up when Sean spoke. This is VERY CLOSE to what I have always done, both now with Pacific IT and long before as a Technology Trainer.

Thanks Sean. I have seen the light!