by John Gaudio, Posted 11:40 AM, 02/18/08. Found by Google at 2:16AM, 02/20/08. Midnight Engineering Magazine, 1990 - 1998, catered to engineers with a passion for technology and independence. Many had "real jobs" during the day, and created their own products in the wee hours. Thus the name Midnight Engineering. The magazine featured outstanding articles by people like Don Lancaster, Jeff Schmoyer, Bruce Boyes, and many others. Most of the advertisers offered exactly the sort of hardware, software, tools, and services that made it possible for Midnight Engineers like me to build better products. In 1992 Bill combined two of his passions, his magazine, and Colorado's legendary spring skiing, by creating ME SKI '92, "The ONLY technical conference that addresses the entrepreneurial engineer." It provided this group of entrepreneurial engineers an opportunity to come together in a live version of Midnight Engineering Magazine, where authors, readers, advertisers, and of course Bill Gates, spent time skiing, teaching, learning, and getting to know one another in Breckenridge Colorado. In 1993 ME SKI grew into the ENTrepreneurs CONference, ENTCON '93, a tradition which continued into the new millennium. It's a lot of work putting on a conference, and after about ten years of running the conference, Bill gates chose not to put it on again, but offered to come if any of the rest of us was willing to do the work. That year, Leonard Zerman and I put it together, and at the end of that conference I promised that there would be an entrepreneur's conference the next year. Bill could put on ENTCON again if he wanted to, otherwise I'd volunteer to provide the venue. The idea of not getting together was just unthinkable. Too many of us got too much out of it. The next year, Bill was busy with other things, and asked me to change the name to avoid confusion. We agreed that EntConnect, (Entrepreneurial Connections) made sense, and EntConnect was born. I'm happy to say that Bill Gates continues to join us most years for EntConnect, as do many of the other ENTCON regulars, including Patty Taylor Coldwater, Jeff Schmoyer, Jack Krupansky, Ron Smith, Leonard Zerman, Les Lazar, and many others. We've also brought in a new generation of midnight engineers, many of whom never saw the magazine, but still share the spirit of other midnight engineers. If you're the creative, technical, entrepreneurial type, please join us for EntConnect 2008, March 27th - 30th, in Denver Colorado. You'll learn, you'll teach, you'll make new friends, and you'll have a good time in the process. I guarantee it. |
