Rick will be speaking about “WordPress” at Searchfest 2009 which will be held March 10th in Portland, Oregon. Get your tickets now.
When I call Rick “a twit”, it’s actually a term of endearment and everyone reading this post should follow him on Twitter.
1) Please give me your background and tell us what you do for a living.
I’ve worked in marketing communications roles in the Portland high-tech community for the past 13 years, mostly focused on helping companies learn to use the Web more effectively. As such, I’ve had the pleasure of working with Kent Lewis and Ben Lloyd on Search Engine Marketing since their early days.
After spending time on the corporate side of the desk for companies like MedicaLogic, ProSight, and Digimarc, I decided to move back to the agency side of the desk. I now work as an independent consultant at Return https://returncorp.com helping startups and other tech companies with their marketing communications strategies.
In my free time, I write a blog about the Portland-area Web and mobile startup community called Silicon Florist https://siliconflorist.com.
For all the gory details on me, my Portland on Fire profile https://portlandonfire.com/rickturoczy is probably the best place to start, followed by my LinkedIn profile https://linkedin.com/in/turoczy.
2) How has the Portland Tech community weathered the economic downturn?
On Silicon Florist, I tend to focus on the Web and mobile startups that fly below the radar of traditional publications in town. So, while I can’t speak to Portland tech in general, I can speak to the Web startup environment.
That portion of the Portland tech community hasn’t exactly been spoiled by VC dollars flowing through the streets like some other communities. We’re used to struggling and bootstrapping. So I see the companies around here doing a great job of dealing with the downturn.
It’s still difficult. And people are having to make some tough decisions, but we don’t have as far to fall as some.
I believe we’re going to see some amazing Portland tech companies coming out of the downturn. And we’re going to see some of the existing companies do some incredible things. Because we know how to run lean and collaborate as a community.
3) How has Twitter impacted the Portland Tech community?
Twitter was one of the things that inspired me to start Silicon Florist. I was hearing about all of these cool things happening in Portland on Twitter, but there didn’t seem to be anyone recording them for people who weren’t on Twitter. <
That was 2007. Now, fast forward to 2009....
For all the bells-and-whistles social media sites out there, no single service has more significantly impacted Portland than Twitter. That seemingly simple 140-character "What are you doing?" response has introduced a bunch of us to one another, brought us together in real life, helped us organize events, and solidified relationships. And it's only just getting started.
Twitter is like a water cooler or a cocktail party. It's how we keep in touch with our peers and friends, and how we find new people, too. There are so many interesting people in the tech scene doing cool things. And Twitter brings that all to light.
We even like to think of Twitter as a Portland startup (since they acquired Rael Dornfest's company).
Long story short, if you're interested in the Silicon Forest tech scene, you need to be on Twitter. Trust me on that one.
Todd Mintz knows PPC…knows Social Media…knows SEO…knows Blogging…knows Domaining…and knows them all real well. He runs growth marketing for )and is also a Director & Founding Member of SEMpdx: Portland, Oregon’s Search Engine Marketing Association, and he can be found here on Twitter and Facebook.