Went to Tampa IGNITE last night. It started at 6:30pm and I got there late. Traffic was worse than I expected and I had a hard time parking. By the time my wife and I got to the theater, we missed the first third of the presentations.

I saw Commissioner Sharpe talk about attracting people talented people to Tampa. This included fixing downtown so it’s easy to get to. Unfortunately, his mike went dead in the middle of his talk so he had to speak aloud with no aid making it difficult to hear.

What struck me about the event was how many people I recognized. I saw Gavin Stark and Jason Perry (who won the Kindle raffle) from the Ruby Brigade meetup. Talked to Ryan (met him at 8th Light talks and at the Hillsborough Hackathon). Commissioner Sharpe was the presenter who awarded me and my team, PyBulls, with the first place at the Hackathon, David Sewell of Pivotal Racing and of course everyone from 8th Light.

I like how Tampa is honest with itself that Tampa has problems. Seems like there is a movement with this generation to make things better. I say generation because these events are just starting. The Hackathon was the first one for the county. Tampa IGNITE was the third one.