Beacon Presentation at Ottawa Civic Tech

This week I was invited by my friend Brett Tackaberry to attend Ottawa Civic Tech and present Beacon. The event was great - for several reasons:

The People

I met a lot of kindred spirits - technical-oriented people who are passionate about making a community impact. Brett has been deeply embedded in this space for well over a decade, and I was unsurprised, but delighted to see Luc Lalande.

Along with Brett and Luc I met some great people working on really interesting projects - from automating reporting on Ottawa municipal politics (check out How They Voted) to Ottawa Bike Routes. And some fascinating conversations afterwards.

The Space

Luc Lalande took me on a tour of Rideau-Rockcliffe Community Resource Centre, which is admittedly a mouthful, but so inspirational! My tour of this converted high school started in a classroom that has become an incubator, along with an upstairs electronics hack-lab... through the lab doors is a boardroom, followed by a hotdesk drop-in centre. Cool right? We're not even warmed up!

Behind that room is the old auto-shop which has been converted into... a food bank with mini shopping carts so families and seniors can get the provisions then need... including fresh meals, which are prepared in the converted science lab now commercial kitchen behind the food bank!

And where does a lot of the food come from for these fresh meals? From the many green walls, greenhouse, and expansive communty garden just outside the kitchen doors.

To see what the RRCRC is becoming is miraculous, with over 30 community-oriented non-profits using the space to serve the community in a mix of basic, modern, and time-tested programs and experiences.

Luc Lalande was an amazing tour guide, with so much passion for this project... I left feeling so happy to know this project was happening with such an amazing steward!

The Opportunity

And lastly, I really enjoyed the opportunity to share the vision behind beacon and the live experience. Several people in the room activated their phones while I was presenting to see it live, and we had some great discussions afterewards.

It's been awhile since I've presented a tech project, but it felt like riding a bike. And I was so happy to be back in the saddle!

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