Last night I had the pleasure of dining with 18 fascinating technologists and entrepreneurs, reminding me again of the depth and diversity of the talent pool in Los Angeles and the emergence of our region as a technology center for the world. We were gathered for a “vision-casting” session for MOTM (Meeting of the Minds), a salon made popular over the past two years by its unique format and the ability of its thoughtful founders, Kurt Daradics and Baron Miller, to lead intimate discussions of well-curated groups of individuals gathered around important industry issues of the day.

The hallmarks of MOTM networking events are their spontaneity, unscripted introductions by the hosts of each of the 40 or so invited guests and a speakers whose role is equal parts teacher and moderator — all buttressed by networking made richer by the contextual relevance of the participants.

Last night was different. Gathered around a large dinner table, our commonality was not around an industry sector, but rather our desire to help the founders chart a course for the group in light of two key developments: 1) MOTM is expanding beyond Westlake Village to include events  in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and Orange County; and 2) MOTM is partnering with Ben Kuo’s socalTECH.com, bringing a live events component to the venture-focused newsletter and introducing the local financial community to MOTM’s mostly technology and entrepreneurial set.

As often is the case at MOTM, I was impressed by each of the guests in their own right — CIOs, gamers, musicians, programmers, content developers, bloggers, an executive coach, a television personality – and the potential not just of those assembled, but what’s possible if the power of all MOTM’s participants were to be harnessed, either for commerce or for good.

About halfway through introductions, and as an offshoot of a Marvel/Disney discussion, Kurt began asking each person to state their “Superhero power,” obviously intending to call attention to something special about each of his guests. While some were more comfortable joking about fictional powers like X-ray vision and the ability to breathe under water, more thoughtful answers included “guitar shredder” and “social chameleon.”  

Although not called upon to answer this question, my faux answer would have been the transformative Wonder Twins powers my sister and have enjoyed joking about since childhood. My more serious answer would have been “master networker,” for the enjoyment I receive from meeting new people and my desire to connect those who haven’t met yet in order to help each other advance their own agendas.

So, what’s your Superhero Power?

Returning to LA to co-host the Digital Family Summit ended an abbreviated Advertising Week on a high note. It was an honor to interview Gerry Philpott of E-Poll and Karen North from USC, who graciously helped us implement the first-ever Managing Online Communities Survey. It was also fun meeting our speakers Mike Jones and Peter Hirschberg, and getting to introduce Jason Calacanis who interviewed them during a live broadcast of his show “This Week In Startups.” 

The best part of the evening was seeing old friends, including Brian McCarthy, Craig Moody, Liz Heller, Jim Jonassen, Joey Tamer, Darren Chuckry, Tony Greenberg, Mark Jeffrey, Tracy Bagatelle, Olivier Chaine and the list goes on. I was also pleased with the high caliber of attendees — at one point I found myself having just had six conversations in a row with CEOs.  

Here are some photos, blog posts and tweets if you’re interested in seeing what others are saying about the event. Also, please visit our sponsors, without whom great events like this would not be possible. Thanks too to all who attended and helped us promote the event.

When the crowed of 250 or so thinned out around 11 p.m., I enjoyed a yummy sushi roll and fried rice from Wokano, along with the company of my old friend DJ Loomer whose musical influence added just the right ambience and downbeat funky tempo to our affair.

After introducing my new pal Kurt Daradics to my old friend Brad Nye one evening last summer, our after-dinner conversation led to an idea to host the first Digital Family Reunion, something that would not have been as relevant just a few years ago. What kind of opportunities could we stimulate by introducing the web1.0 community Brad and I were a part of, having hosted VIC parties in LA throughout the late 1990s, to LA’s new generation of digirati whose post-dot-com-era networking groups include the likes of Mixergy, Twiistup and DigitalLA? 

Held on December 11, 2008, the Reunion struck a chord with the digital media community in LA, attracting 800 energized professionals to the Skirball Cultural Center for a special evening of education, networking and entertainment.

Since then, we’ve had many conversations about how to harness the positive energy created that night. Beyond just networking parties for technology, media and entertainment professionals, what type of organization could the Digital Family become that would provide value far beyond anything else out there today? I’ll keep you posted on the outcome of that debate. In the meantime, we’ve planned an educational event to rally the community around a topic of common interest and importance later this month.

Digital Family Summit ’09 will be held Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at the Wokano Restaurant in Santa Monica. With a theme of “Managing Online Communities,” the program will feature a live broadcast of This Week In Startups, during which Jason Calacanis will interview MySpace COO Mike Jones and Peter Hirshberg, CEO of The Conversation Group. Use the code DFR30 when registering and save $20

In tandem with the theme of the event, we’ve partnered with E-Poll Market Research and the Charles Annenberg Weingarten Program on Online Communities at USC to launch a research study to uncover best practices for managing online communities. If you an online community builder please take our survey. If not, please forward it to somone who is!

I hope to see everyone on Sept. 23rd!

I did get a chance to view the Perseids from atop Mulholland Drive, but the five or so shooting stars were ultimately not worth the loss of sleep. What did make the evening entirely worthwhile was quality time over dinner at Chin Chin with my good friend Amy Seidman, spontaneously seeing our mutual friend DJ Loomer perform at the House of Blues and meeting his Bass Ritual partner DJ Saadhu. Reminding me once again that the most impressive stars of all are the ones right here on the ground whom I’m fortunate to call my friends.

The Los Angeles Business Journal article referenced in my last post came out yesterday and I thought Charles Proctor did a superb job profiling the current state of the technology industry in Los Angeles. The article, entitled “Special Report: Plugged In, Charging Up” goes into great detail comparing employment trends in the technology sector in Los Angeles with that of Silicon Valley, including how our diversified market helped LA recover faster from the dot-com crash and the way aerospace engineers transfered their expertise to industries like computer science and medical devices in the post-Cold War era.

Carrying the technology industry in 2009 is a robust games industry, alternative fuel vehicles and renewable energy and digital media and marketing. I’m quoted as saying “This is a major media location and it has a big, big talent pool,” said Tony Winders, a vice president at Westlake Village-based ValueClick Inc., a publicly traded Internet advertising company. “So the tech community settled in here as a hub for the digital advertising business.”

It was fun being asked to contribute to this piece, but even more encouraging to read an article with some quantifiable details about how well our local technology community is faring these days. Hats off to Mr. Proctor for his thoughtful, quantitative analysis, and A BIG THANK YOU to Nicole Jordan for the introduction.

I was delighted to see my old friend Master Charles tonight at a talk he gave in Los Angeles entitled “One Source – Honoring the Sacredness of Life.” I wouldn’t otherwise wax philosophical here, except for being reminded again what an impact he had on becoming the person I am today. We met 19 years ago when I was a recent college graduate working for Paladino & Associates Public Relations in Hollywood. Master Charles (then Brother Charles) Cannon, is founder of The Synchronicity Foundation and creator of high-tech meditation, audio technology that induces the same brain waves created naturally in meditation.

I was a 22-year-old recent college grad from Missouri when Phil Paladino took me to meet my new client for the first time. That particular evening the program also featured a channeler, which I admit was a bit freaky, but set the tone for an unforgettable job that would provide a colorful start to my career – welcome to LA!

Paladino had a profound effect on my life in his own way as mentor and father figure, but unfortunately became ill and died in 1993, only a short few years after I met him. It is our shared connection with Phil that ceratinly binds my relationship with Master Charles. But he too had a lot to do with both shaping my belief system and eventually my discovery and passion for the Internet.

His talk tonight was consistent with the message of oneness and the celebration of life he spoke of nearly 20 years ago. Our idea for a “one world network” preceded commercialization of the Web, but the idea and execution fell flat at the time, largely because his focus was on his successful meditation foundation and retreat in Faber, Virginia. Mine was on establishing a foundation for my career.

What then was a message about our universal connectedness and a Buddhist philosophy that we are all one, tonight he expressed as a call to spread the conversation about “life’s sacredness and beauty.” He quoted Confucious and Buddah, and spoke of how the mind so often gets in the way of our hearts. He spoke about finding balance by accentuating the positive and living in the “essential now” and reminded the group of  approximately 100 attendees how that life is in fact supposed to be pleasurable. Naturally participation in his meditation retreats and buying his CDs are another way followers can find bliss!

Imagine my excitement when I first learned of the Web in 1993. I was instantly swept away by the possibilities. Here, plainly written in the pages of the Wall St. Journal, was was promise of everything Master Charles had been talking about! The Mosaic Browser being developed at the  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, it said, would connect the world’s computer networks via the Internet with a new world of pictures, video and sound. Wow! The connectedness of humanity brought to life on a global computer network! In that powerful moment, I decided to shift all of my professional energy toward a career on the Internet, whatever that meant. I still get goosebumps thinking about it today.

That experience led me to follow a mantra of “making a positive impact on the world through media.” Whatever that means, it has become a personal mission statement for my life, and tonight Master Charles helped me remember that everything I do is leading me toward that end.

His parting words to the group tonight were “we can transform the world, and now is the time.” An inspiring conclusion to an enlightening evening.

One of my reasons for creating WOTW was to recognize people in my professional network doing interesting things with their time and talents. Two entrepreneurs for whom I have a great deal of respect appeared in major media outlets last week: Tony Greenberg, CEO of Ramprate and Jason Calacanis, CEO of Mahalo.

RampRate’s report “YouTube: Google’s Phantom Loss Leader – How Google shelters profits from content owners while building a delivery juggernaut” is closer to investigative journalism than it is your typical marketing department white paper. Besides adding a new layer to my own understanding of the economics of online content delivery, as a B2B marketer with an appreciation for the art of PR, I was also impressed by all of the coverage the report generated. My favorite analysis was by Advertising Age and Business Week.

Also related to monetizing original content on the web (or not), was an article in the LA Times about “Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show,” which is co-owned and produced by Mahalo, where Jason Calacanis also produces “This Week in Startups.” In the most recent episode, Jason interviews Microsoft director of business development Don Dodge about his thoughts on Bing and more.

Congratulations Jason and Tony!