Why Do I Give a $h!t About WIN?

First of all, although I am a part of the planning committee for WIN 09 this post does not reflect the views of the committee. In fact I purposefully used the expletive in the title to emphasize that this is not the "official company line".

My name is Loyan Roylance. I am a husband, father, professional and resident in Corvallis. I love Corvallis. And this is why I care about WIN 09.

1. The economy sucks. I need help.
Now more than ever I am motivated to connect with my community because I want to have an active part in keeping my job. Keeping my family in our home and staying in Corvallis. I am ashamed to admit that I was uninterested in connecting with my community when business was good. I see businesses closing around me. I see HP and OSU downsizing. I see disparate community groups fighting each other. I'm scared and I want to do something about it. I know I can't do it alone.

2. I want a forum. Not (just) an event.
An event is something that occurs in a certain place during a particular interval of time. I don't think that will help me by itself. At best, it might make me feel good and distract me from my condition for a moment. High Tech After Hours was an event. I want more. A forum is an assembly or meeting place for the discussion of questions of public interest. I want that! In WIN the network I see an opportunity to contribute and take part in an ongoing forum. My problems won't be solved in a seven hour event or even a week. Prosperity is a 365 day effort. In WIN the event I see the opportunity to feature and promote WIN the forum to my community.

3. When innovative people get together, good things happen.
To me, WIN is no more complicated than this concept. Plainly speaking, our community has a culture of creating closed silos and ivory towers (I count myself among the guilty). I'm done with it. Through WIN, my mission is to create a counter-culture of openness, awareness, and collaboration. It is important for me to know what is going on in our ecosystem. It is important to me that you know what is going on in our ecosystem. We need to help each other from a place of mutual understanding.

That’s it. Or it’s the sort version anyway. My hope is that I have influenced your perspective about WIN and you feel that it is something you want, or perhaps even need to be a part of. Please share your reaction to this post. I promise I am not really as angry as I may seem above [wink].