Churchill Club 20th anniversary event: The call of the Rooster...
By Tom Foremski - October 21, 2005
Twenty years on, Silicon Valley has expanded way beyond its birthplace in Palo Alto, it includes San Francisco and I would say it even reaches the outskirts of Santa Rosa, in the North Bay.
It would be fun to have a sort of "new" Churchill Club up in the city, where there are plenty of people interested in Churchillian type events but they can't get down to Palo Alto at 6pm because they are working until 8pm.
So, I've been floating the idea for the Rooster Club SF--[a salon of peers rather than podiums] over the past couple of weeks, here on SVW and elsewhere.
I mentioned it to Raymond Nasr, the new Churchill Club president who liked the idea. And it's not competition to Churchill Club, it's an SF affiliate. It is not either/or--but an and.
I've no idea how to pull such things together, Raymond and his team have plenty of experience.
I think that if Silicon Valley is going to make a comeback--and it is making a slow comeback--it has to have new institutions, new media voices and new organizations that represent and reflect these times.
And they have to come out of all this media disruption, this blogging movement.
And that is why it should be called the Rooster Club, imho, because the Rooster is a perfect metaphor for the blogger. Take a look:
-The Rooster crows away on its little patch of the farmyard, look at me, look how fine I am, my voice carries far and wide.
-The Rooster is all puffed up, all feathers and air, yet the Rooster is always the first to see the faint light of the future, the dawn of a new day, and proclaim it for all to hear.
-The Rooster always wakes you up way too early--and you curse the Rooster for it--but you can always fall back to sleep.
-A Rooster has to have cajones, by definition. But that is not a gender reference, it is a balls reference;-) because men and women bloggers have to have the balls to put their ideas and writing out into the blogosphere, into a public arena where they can be challenged, ridiculed, and attacked.
-This is the Chinese year of the Rooster.
. . .
Let me know what you think, we'll pass around a sign-up sheet very shortly. Also, send me some of your Rooster/blogger metaphors, we can compile them here :-)
By Tom Foremski - October 21, 2005 | Permalink | Comment
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Comments (16)
And only a Rooster could take an Ox, a Snake, and a Dragon and build a team. The Ox to do the engineering, the Snake to do the BizDev, and the Dragon to close those sales.
Roosters - the CEO's of the animal kingdom.
Posted: October 21, 2005 12:52 PM
I like this idea. What is cool, I think, is that Churchill Club focuses on more established names. I think a "Rooster" club in SF would be good if it focused on new ideas, business models and so on (not that you can't find that in established names, mind you.) I think a more cutting edge discussion suits the personality of the city more as well.
Posted: October 21, 2005 12:54 PM
I completely agree, Tom. As a North Bay type, I particularly like that you added the North Bay. There are some important tech companies up here - Autodesk being the biggest - but also a lot of startups doing interesting things (Mindjet comes immediately to mind). I like the Churchill Club events, but getting down the Peninsula is tough. Doing things in the City would be much better. When Churchill does do gigs in the City, they're always well attended. And, as a nascent corporate blooger, I'm a fan of the blogging component, too. Now if I could only come up with a good Rooster metaphor.
So count me in!
Bruce Lowry
Director, Global PR
Novell
Mill Valley
Posted: October 21, 2005 1:14 PM
tom, this sounds good. count me in too!
s
Posted: October 21, 2005 1:34 PM
Tom, I've been thinking about trying to organize a community of peers in hi-tech/biz but interested in thinking/talking about other intellectual issues:
http://bigben.blogs.com/first/2005/10/a_socrates_cafe.html
Posted: October 21, 2005 1:43 PM
Plus, a rooster is a common adornment on weather vanes, giving you that steady indication of which way the winds are blowing.
Posted: October 21, 2005 2:56 PM
Tom,
Great idea...a very long time coming. count me in. I like the rooster analogy...there is definitely critical mass in SF these days for churchill type event.
Posted: October 21, 2005 5:38 PM
Tom, you know I'm a fan of this. Actually, many of our IBDNetwork members have been asking us to do events in the city again. Our events are definitely different from the Churchill Club, and there is always a need for the dealmaker events, but I'd be into the Rooster Club too.
Posted: October 21, 2005 7:03 PM
Great idea. Evenings are such a drag. I would also encourage you to only go off the beaten track in terms of speakers and content. I'm tired of the AO crowd and VCs. I'd like to hear more from the people changing the Valley and doing the work. Not the heat-seeking, PR missiles.
Posted: October 22, 2005 4:45 PM
Tom, great idea and long overdue! Would be happy to collaborate with you and leverage other networks to build critical mass.
Dale Smith
Vice Consul, Technology Advisor
British Consulate-General
San Francisco
Posted: October 26, 2005 5:15 PM
Splendid idea, Tom!
Though in the analogy of other Chinese signs, I'd say the Monkey may be perhaps better suited to Business Development and don't forget the Dog to do marketing.
Posted: October 31, 2005 3:17 PM
Tom, this is a good idea. Changing the format somehow would be good ... just to come up with any different.
Posted: October 31, 2005 3:41 PM
Tom, sorry for the late and not entirely supportive reply.
What interests me is the ferment in media, and the new business models that must arise to support new media firms. To some extent that make it worthwhile, at least for me personally, to get involved in a club whose mandate would extend to any topic involving how to create an efficient firm -- even if other members wanted to build widgets, offer consulting services or whatever.
But I think Rooster Club is the wrong name. I'm hardly a model of sensitivity on issues of gender or race, but cock is a symbol that would to repel at least some fraction of those entrepreneurs who it would be essential to include.
Besides, in those few personal contacts that I've had with fowl, I've always found the hens most useful for it was they who laid the eggs.
So the idea is good but the name is for the birds. How about Bay Club or something geographic instead?
Posted: November 3, 2005 4:57 PM
Excellent idea. I especially like the idea of broadening beyond the usual crowd of VCs. Add areas that are usually on the outskirts of the "Silicon Valley talking to itself" crowd. Digital radio or video comes to mind - DRM issues. Even some of the political people whose issues touch into technology could be stimulating to hear from - for example, conservation or energy production, biotech, etc. As for the name, well....pretty easy to lampoon once we're done with the year of the rooster. Edgy is good, though.
Posted: November 7, 2005 5:46 PM
The Rooster club is a great idea for SF. Please add my email to the distribution.
Posted: December 12, 2005 8:53 PM
Great idea, specially for those of us on the North side of the Golden Gate. And peers...please peers. So nice to talk with rather than being talked at. Count us in.
Posted: January 14, 2006 5:45 PM