120 Attend Founding Members' Reception
"Between safety and adventure, I choose Adventure."
- Craig Ferguson
By Christina Henderson
June 24, 2014
When we launched in April 2014, the MHTBA board and I set a goal to sign up 50 members by January 2015. I am an optimist, and I always believed we would meet our goal. But the Montana High Tech Business Alliance has grown faster, and bigger, than I ever imagined. We reached 50 members by May, and by our Founding Members' Reception on June 12, we were 81 members strong (and still growing).
I thought we'd have around 70 people attend the reception, but our guest list ballooned to 120 and we ultimately had to stop accepting RSVPs. The reception was relaxed and mainly involved casual conversation and networking. The most gratifying aspect of the event for me was seeing members from across Montana - Great Falls, Helena, Missoula, Bozeman, Lewistown, Billings, the Bitterroot, the Flathead, and beyond - get to know each other and walk out the door with valuable new contacts.
Several members in different cities have already volunteered to host and help organize future events. In addition to all the great photos, Content Monkeys captured several interviews on video that we will post on YouTube. And board chair Greg Gianforte and I shared brief remarks about what we hope to accomplish through the Montana High Tech Business Alliance and invited discussion from members. Now that we've assembled a core group of founding members, I have several goals to tackle:
Get to know our members through visits, phone calls, and surveys
Work with members to plan regional and statewide events
Shine a light on member successes online and in the media
Launch the online jobs portal
Work with the UM BBER to conduct a research study on Montana's high tech industry
Thank you to all of you who have offered to support the Alliance in a variety of ways. We greatly appreciate your contributions and welcome your ideas and feedback. Please don't hesitate to contact me at director@mthightech.org or406-552-9157.