Might have Been Lost in Translation but Truly Innovative

I just got back from another Pecha Kucha at Seriously Creative’s new space based in the heart of the new rising and more modern Santurce.  The space is a lot cozier and location wise it is very accessible to everyone in the Metro Area which makes it a big plus.

It Was time for a Pecha Kucha

Being a  fan of how, Angie and Dana,  two small business entrepreneurs in San Juan bring a diverse community together and sit them down for a night of exchanging ideas and views.

The event was started by Dana Montenegro who introduced the concept of what a Pecha Kucha is and introduced his wife Angiemille Latorre who would present kick off the Pecha Kucha’s with a presentation titled “Tiralo al Medio”.

Committing and Experimenting

“Tirate al Medio” in good Puerto Rican slang takes the meaning of jumping into a commitment .

What I liked was how Angie spoke on some of her attempts and how she set goals to keep herself being proactive. She spoke of her personal efforts towards creating awareness in a very unorthodox way. A subject I may cover in a future blog post.

Once Angie finished some ideas were exchanged and similar to when my buddy Joaquin Kierce gave his Pecha Kucha it ignited many thoughts on how to add value to her effort (which should be everyone’s effort).

Seeking the Source of…

The stage was set for Juan Pablo from lab787.com who is also spearheading a movement to nurture a culture of creatives and designers on the island.

Juan Pablo spoke about the many who here on the Island like elsewhere complain about the struggles but are not pushing towards improving their current situation much less of their communities.

I personally appreciated how well he prepared to give one of the most solid Pecha Kucha presentations I have seen.

We need To Nurture Juan Pablo’s message

His message is very clear we can’t move this economy unless we have designers and creatives finding those global opportunities which will help us connect to the rest of the world.

I personally want to commit myself to help Juan Pablo push more of his work just looking at the detail he put into his presentation clearly shows me how deeply committed he is with his efforts.

The first two presentations really got me thinking and ignited some pretty awesome ideas where I can clearly say it gives me a bit of hope that this small island which is in very bad shape can come out of the hole if we could have more Angies and Juan Pablos.

Is it About the Money?

The third presentation was created by Kurt Schindler who is a financial planner for a local bank in Puerto Rico. His message was clear and it was inclined towards finding your path (at least in my interpretation). What my good friend AJ Leon would call embracing the journey.

A Fragmented IT Eco-System in a Tiny Island

The last presentation was shared by the current CIO of the Puerto Rico government someone I heard of the first time about a week ago when I sat down with his wife who is the owner of Piloto 151 a coworking space in Old San Juan.

I saw his presentation and it seemed to be a brain dump of many things he wants to do and has already started. There was clearly too much information to absorb in one presentation I guess it is part of the complexities of the position he holds tied to government and politics.

What story is the Puerto Rico Government Sharing?

I directed the question to the CIO of the Puerto Rico. To be fair I probably did not formulate my question the right way but my point was that for many of Puerto Rico’s issues to be resolved and to get buy in from those like me that want to help, but don’t want to be part of the political B.S.

Being a Misfit at heart keeps me away from wanting to just play along to give people what they want even when it does not make sense.

My friend Pamela Slim taught me the importance of understanding the story you tell yourself and the story you tell others. I currently think the current CIO is bringing a lot of cool things to the table and I give him kudos for that, but it can be an uphill challenge trying to easily get transparent updates on the experiments and attempts at improving Puerto Rico’s infrastructure.

More Transparency is the Difficult Solution

In my opinion we need  more transparency so people like me that want our Island to succeed but are tired of dealing with politicians can put in their two cents and see progress breaking political parties.  The government needs to share the story in a more transparent manner. I did not get a response from Giancarlo Gonzalez but he mentioned we could continue the conversation on twitter and I followed up on him on a few occasions and I will be waiting on his response.

How will you tell the local government’s story of progress @giangonz #pechakucha #puertorico

— Raul Colon (@rj_c) November 8, 2013

 

Special Thanks to Angie and Dana

To conclude my admiration for Dana and Angiemille continues to grow.  They continue to get over the many hurdles (most created by the Puerto Rico Government) and also facilitate the connections amongst a diverse group of individuals.

For the moment I can only root for those who shared their thoughts in this Pecha Kucha (even when I have a very different opinion on their perspective) and hope we can continue these conversations Ignited in the Pecha Kucha in a more open platform.

Feel free to make a comment below.