Submitted by Heidi Hooper

The idea behind T3CHn!c came about last year as people were simultaneously discussing on Twitter a way to get together for a summer picnic with fellow geeks, techies, IT nerds or whatever the technical community likes to call themselves.

A group consisting of Josh Schramm and the Boundless Flight team got together and started planning a summertime picnic and inviting all those associated with the IT community of Northeast Ohio.  The goal was to provide encouragement as this group had been knocked around a bit due to the slumping economy.

It was exciting to plan the whole event using the internet – social media was used to coordinate and plan the picnic, in fact Josh and I didn’t meet face to face until the day of the event!

In one instance a company from France contacted us via Twitter and offered support because they noticed the buzz of T3CHn!c and wanted to be a part of it.

The result was enough interest was shown by the companies and individuals which teamed up together that T3CHn!c became a free event for all attendees.  We had lunch, dinner, drinks, beverages, entertainment, swag and the opportunity to win great prizes like software and books.  Of course the other benefits were that it also brought together a talented group of people to network and become acquainted, sharing stories and making connections.

Last year’s event brought together about 20 companies and 200 people; this year we hope to get 40 supporters and 400 attendees making T3CHn!c 2010 an epitome of collaboration and the highlight of our summer!