An Idea for ED Tech Dudes

     It's become apparent that the Women of Ed Tech are organizing through their Ed Tech Women Groups and events, and I think it's finally time for the guys to do it. I have gotten together with a couple of guys over Twitter, and we have been passing around ideas. I have come up with one that I want to share in this blog entry in an effort to right it out in long form. To me, we need something that is easy to do on the side. Eventually, we might be able to break out into full on consulting, and I think that could be added in easily.
     My idea centers around a website that brings all of the great ed tech dudes together. My thought is that we could build a site that makes it easy to find the ed tech dudes, and then adds features gradually. Initially, each ed tech dude would have basically a profile page on the Ed Tech Dudes Site. The page could include a biography, special certifications (such as Edmodo Certified Trained, Google Certified Teacher, etc), links to all social media, Expertise, and links to the ed tech dudes personal ed tech site or blog. If an ed tech dude does not have a blog, they could use their profile page as a place for their blog. Basically, this could brand us together, and add an extra accolade to our profiles.
     We could then expand the site into community events. It would be awesome to have a way and a list of people to come together with to do panel style presentations such as SSXSW and ISTE. Ed Tech Dudes would provide all its participants a place to find like minded people for those proposals.
     We could then expand it into events centered around major conferences and metro areas. My initial idea, is what better way to bring guys together then something like a beer bash. The ladies have these nice receptions at restaurants, but what do guys really want? We want to hang out have a few beers and eat food like chicken wings that are bad for us. We could do that while nerding out over ed tech. It would also bring like minded people together as friends.
     Eventually, this could spawn into a consulting group. I think if this becomes a thing in ed tech, people will begin to ask, "How can I be part?" and "How can I get these guys?" That's when you branch out into a consulting group. You could start by using the ed tech dudes site as a place to come get presenters, and then maybe you go full on consulting.
      Ed Tech Dudes, tell me what you think. If I have a couple of guys interested, I will start the site and share it with you. I think we have to have some standards of guys we include, but I think this is a starting place. Let me know if you like it