It’s my distinct pleasure to reveal my newest project, the Cowtown Computer Congress (CCCKC). This idea has been floating around in my mind for quite some time and circumstances have emerged which will help make this a reality.

###Background

Kansas City and the midwest in general doesn’t have the greatest reputation for being a center of technology. This is rather absurd considering the number of technology related companies and projects which are based in the area such as Cerner, Sprint, Embarq and Garmin just to name a few.

What is true is that the tech community lacks organization. There are a few active user groups like VMWare and MacCore but there are countless others which have struggled to get off the ground.

I’ve made some efforts to get a local DEFCON group off the ground, but unfortunately I got busy and things died out…a story which is all too familiar.

The Hacker Foundation’s hacker space initiative has always intrigued me, however lack of local organization and difficulty in finding space always stood in the way.

###Opportunity Knocks

I happened to be at StartFest Kansas City a few weeks ago where I had the opportunity to meet a number of individuals who were based in Kansas City and doing some extremely cool things. I mentioned my idea for a hacker space to one of the organizers and he was very interested.

Last week we met and discussed the possibility of getting space within their new technology incubator which will be placed in North Kansas City. I’m thrilled with what I’ve heard so far and they have been very encouraging about the prospect of getting this off the ground.

###Purpose and Structure

The purpose of CCCKC is simple:

*Provide a space for local technology user groups to use for meetings and projects

*Support user groups through joint promotion, organization and cooperation

*Improve awareness of the strong technology community in the Kansas City area

Right now I’m thinking that the best way to organize and govern the organization is to have a board of directors which (in addition to officers) is comprised of representatives from each affiliated organization. The board of directors shall have a say in all decisions regarding the CCCKC headquarters such as scheduling, usage of space and access.

###Affiliated Organizations

Currently I am looking for organizations who would be interested in participating. I’ll be doing a one man road show of sorts over the next couple months and attending many local user group meetings.

I believe that the CCCKC should be as open as possible to just about any tech related organization, no matter how small.

If you find this first, and would like to be involved personally or if your organization would like to be involved please contact me via jur1st@cowtowncomputercongress.org .