Matthew Davis is VP of Product Marketing at Reveal, a mobile audience platform. He’s the founder and co-chair of NC RIoT, joined by Larry Steffann, GM of the Wireless Research Center of NC.
One year ago we held the first RIoT, a meetup of local Internet of Things enthusiasts. 80 people showed up, exceeding my expectations by 60 people. The group heard from four speakers, guzzled cheap beer and talked IoT all night long.
Last Thursday night and one year later, we hosted RIoT V: Building NC’s IoT Leadership and Verizon’s IoT Strategy. Over 350 people filled two separate sessions while imbibing NC State-brewed beer and filling Hunt Library to a capacity, standing-room only crowd.
RIoT V began with a sold-out workshop, drawing 90 people to the Monteith Research Center on NC State’s Centennial Campus. We crammed into ASSIST’s festive and functional space, breaking into three working sessions to address IoT’s technical challenges, marketing hurdles and analytics issues. The teams documented problems, solutions and concrete next steps.
Yet, there’s been something missing. Sometimes a question hits you like a punch to the gut, leaving you stunned and gasping for breath, which exposes the gap.
Ten months ago, Tom asked, “What do you want RIoT to be when it grows up?”. Humbled, I hadn’t thought beyond a future of more Powerpoints, networking and beer.
After months of planning and five hours of RIoTing Thursday night, we’ve got a clear answer now.
We exist to promote our region’s IoT companies, thought-leaders, luminaries and success stories.
We exist to foster collaboration between business, university, government, military, healthcare and everything in between.
We exist to claim the “Center of the IoT universe” title for the Triangle and the state. Tall order, but likely the most exciting challenge our team and community can be working on today.
