“The head of the Denver Metro Economic Development Council had a point that one of the reasons Colorado is doing well compared to the rest of the country is because we've diversified industries – aerospace, energy, tech.”

I think there's a distinction here that might be useful, and that is between promoting a community and sharing a community.

I think there is a lot to be said for sharing what's happening in a community with those not already enveloped in it. That way a community can exchange ideas with other communities, invite others to become part of it, even serve as an example (good or bad). This level of communication, I feel, can be healthy, and tends to reflect the reality (even if it's perceived reality) of the state of the community.

Promotion, on the other hand, seems too often to push beyond the reality and create perceptions of it that aren't accurate. Generally, this is used to embellish the status/success/vitality of a community (or product). I think this type of promotion is common, and leads to a disconnect between reality and perception that ultimately disappoints those who received the promotional message.

For example, deliberately causing a flood of posts and blogs about how awesome Boulder is creates a false perception about how often people in this community actually do blog about how awesome Boulder is. So the promotion causes a blip, sure, maybe we've inspired some people to learn more about the community, not a bad thing. When the flood of posts subsides, what remains? Reality. Instead, let's change reality so people are actually doing more raving about the community they are lucky enough to be a part of, and then joyfully share that reality; the energy, passion, and creativity that make Boulder so awesome, with no false pretenses or need to compete in a war of verbal superlatives.

Either way, communication is great, blog posts, news articles, company press releases, entrepreneurial presentations, meetups, etc. But be wary of promoting false perceptions. Spend energy making the reality better instead, and the sharing that inevitably results will mean more.

There's a time and a place for networking and cheerleading, but I 100% understand your point…

Also, I hope it helps you understand blogger outreach (not to be preachy). In truth, if the roles were reversed, given my previous posts about self-promotion, I would have left me off the list.

Let me know if I can be helpful in the future. As with this project, I will always be open and honest about my intended responses privately
before publishing anything publicly.

Ten months ago I went to my first Boulder Denver Tech Meetup, and was so shy I pretended to text the whole “social time” on a dead cell phone. But pretty quickly the tech scene went out its way to be nice to me. A lot of the people you saw on the slides frequently last night went out of their way to help me – Jeremy Tanner, Tara Anderson, Andrew Hyde, etc. Two Tech Meetups ago, Robert Reich made a comment – that more people were raising their hands looking for jobs than those who had jobs available. It was the first time it had ever happened, and that we need people to innovate and start companies. It got me thinking about what we could do to get the word out. It was a bullet point on my presentation, but with 15 seconds per slide, I obviously didn't get it in there or my e-mail.

Also to one of your earlier points, I want good teams to succeed at both TechStars locations, but I do want good companies based here. From a short- and long-term perspective, I think it's really important to Colorado. The head of the Denver Metro Economic Development Council had a point that one of the reasons Colorado is doing well compared to the rest of the country is because we've diversified industries – aerospace, energy, tech. As he said we've got one the coolest seats in hell during this recession, and I think that's important. If you're familiar with the Colorado paradox, the front range has one of the most highly educated workforces, but one of the most dismal high school graduation rates in the country. To continue to have this kind of workforce, first and foremost, we'll need to solve our education problem, but we'll also need to continue to attract intelligent people to Colorado. I understand with recent NYT articles, “I Dream of Denver,” and being on every best place to live list this might not be a problem.
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You have some really valid points, and I appreciate your honesty. One of my favorite parts about Boulder is that it is unpretentious, and maybe it's not in the spirit of Boulder to do this. But ultimately, I still think it's a fun community project. I like having people talk about what Boulder means to them and why they like living here. I put it in what was to me a fun, spirited way, but I see why it rubbed you the wrong way. So don't participate. That's ok with me.

Tell people how awesome the Boulder tech scene is – great! I still do and I moved (suckers). But, don't do it simply to keep other places from being seen as cool. Silicon Valley might not be seen as “The Next Big Thing”, but it's established and companies still go there. I'd much rather see Boulder be seen as an established community instead of “Next”. Boulder is “Now” and Orlando may be “Next” and we can all work together to make our scenes better for their substance, not because the people who live in them think they're cool (duh?), and not to try to keep another scene from being “Next”.

And I like my long ass name. It's my job to make people remember it correctly – if I fail, well – I suck.

But the question is the long-term viability and strength of a community doesnt come from the promotion of the community. What is the sole reason a community needs to be promoted (the community mind you, not the companies or people within it)? To attract people or resources. Does the addition of either improve or decrease the value of the community? I dunno.

Think about the promotion around Boulder. Its always “Boulder is Rad.” Never why its rad. You hear “Our tech community is second to none.” Never why its second to none. Therefore, the promotion is more about the people promoting, than whats being promoted are the promoters themselves (of course it could be that the promoters themselves are just not strong and are slightly misguided promoters – youth does that sometimes).

My question is still the same: Does promotion of a community by a community member help or hurt the community? I would rather excel and create external evangelists that sing the praises of Boulder and, more importantly, the people/companies in the community, than waste a second promoting Boulder out of context.

BTW, look to other cities like Chicago and DC. They HAVE to promote their tech communities because its in their best interest to increase the size of their communities and the resources flowing into them. I am unsure if that logic holds for Boulder.

(start self promotion) it's georgegsmithjr – you forgot the middle “g” on Twitter when you mentioned me to @robjohnson (end self-promotion)

Also, I hope it helps you understand blogger outreach (not to be preachy). In truth, if the roles were reversed, given my previous posts about self-promotion, I would have left me off the list.

Let me know if I can be helpful in the future. As with this project, I will always be open and honest about my intended responses privately
before publishing anything publicly.