Category Archives: Meetings

Meetings, Robotics

Announcing Softec’s 2018 Robotics Expo

An Epic Event for All Ages

We invite you and your kids to celebrate our 10th Annual Student Robotics EXPO on Monday, September 24 from 5:30-8:30pm at the Alex Madonna Inn Expo Center.

This year we have named a theme for our event:

“Robots and Sports”

Participants and teams will dress up and decorate their booth. Prizes awarded for best in theme!

We are expecting to exceed last year’s attendance which was 800 attendees.  

We will have many booths, the Drone Arena, another food truck, and more fun!  Visit our Robotics event page for all the details.

Meetings, TechBrew

What’s new in TechBrew?

Like a TED talk with Beer!  TechBrew has been a Softec staple for over ten years.  With two locations you are sure to find a TechBrew that matches your schedule and is conveniently located.

SMV TechBrew Reboot

The Santa Maria TechBrew was recently rebooted with a new day and location.  Occurring on the 4th Monday of each month, you can find us conveniently located right off of Betteravia, in Santa Maria at Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company in the attached Me-N-Ed’s restaurant area.

Schedule

SLO TechBrew – 2nd Monday of each month at 5PM – SLO Grillhouse

SMV TechBrew – 4th Monday of each month at 5PM – Figueroa Mtn

Local Tech, Meetings, Uncategorized, Women in Tech

Kristen Olsen at May’s Women in Tech Breakfast

We had a great time getting to know Kristen Olsen at this month’s WIT breakfast.

Kristen Olsen (@kdolsen) moved to San Luis Obispo nearly 20 years ago to pursue her dream of improving people’s lives through software development. She gets that opportunity every day as a Software Development Manager for Amazon, leading a team that enables people all over the world to independently publish their books for distribution on Kindle and print.

She studied Computer Science at Cal Poly and her career has been a tour of many of the large technology companies that people love – including Intel, HP, Apple, and Adobe (then Macromedia). Locally she started working for LEVEL Studios helping to create websites for large companies and then worked remotely as an Apple employee helping to write the services that Developers use to make applications available on iOS and Mac devices. After working remotely for years she wanted to come into a local office again which lead her to Amazon in San Luis Obispo.
Kristen lives in North County with her amazing husband Joe who stays home to take care of the kids and two young boys who are always at the ready with hugs. In her free time she loves to spend time with her husband and sons playing video & board games, watching eSports, being a part of a church community, and making crafts.

Weren’t able to join us in person? No problem. Join us digitally by checking out link below for Kristen’s insights on being a woman in tech, supporting a stay-at-home dad,  eSports, video games—and how, for Kristen,  technology is an act of making:

Share your own insights on our Facebook page.  Follow us  for updates on upcoming events, hear from other local women in tech, or nominate a speaker.

Meetings, Uncategorized, Women in Tech

Sarah Risley at April’s Women in Tech Breakfast

We had a great time getting to know Sarah Risley at this month’s WIT breakfast.

Sarah Risley (@SarahRisley) is the Nuclear Training Accreditation Supervisor at Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s (PG&E) Diablo Canyon Power Plant. In 2010, driven by her passion for recruitment and retention of women in technology, she founded the Diablo Canyon Chapter of U.S. Women in Nuclear (U.S. WIN). U.S. WIN is the premier network of more than 8,000 members that work in, and support nuclear and radiation-related fields, with a keen focus on public outreach and professional development. She continues on the board today, and also represents members from the central and pacific regions on the national level by her service on the U.S. WIN Steering Committee, and is the Executive Sponsor for the national Professional Development Committee. Sarah holds a Master of Business Administration from Cal Poly and Bachelor of Science in Corporate Communication from the University of Texas, Austin. Sarah, her husband Chris, and their two young children reside in San Luis Obispo’s south county.

For those you who missed the breakfast—don’t worry! We recorded the interview.

Check out the link below for Sarah’s insights on being a working mother,  movies—from Nightmare Before Christmas to Some Like it Hot—and women in tech: 

Be sure to stop by our Facebook page to hear about upcoming events, drop a comment, or request a future speaker.

Meetings

Call for Speakers 

Softec would like to hear from businesses or individuals that would be interested in speaking at Softec Events. Please reply to this email and include complete contact information, speaker bio, and topic description. Send this to events@softec.org
  • Softec holds Tech Brews in San Luis and Santa Maria each month and the presentation are approximately 20 minutes in length.
  • Softec holds Dinners that draw large crowds. Common format is a panel of experts talking on hot topics in tech.
  • Softec Open Houses are held in partnership with local businesses that are willing to give Softec an inside peek at cool tech things.
The first evaluation in giving someone a speaking slot is the WOW factor of the topic and speaker. Our mission in the community is to connect people, resources, and ideas to create a vibrant tech industry here on the central coast. We do this by creating fun events that attract smart people so they can meet other smart people. Over the last twenty plus years we have found that smart people talking about cool tech ideas create Softec moments.
Softec Moments are when people, ideas, and resources come together to create business formation or growth opportunities in our community. Many of the leading tech businesses in the region have one or more Softec moments in their history.
Meetings, Uncategorized, Women in Tech

Kelly Irish at March’s Women in Tech Breakfast

We had a great time getting to know Kelly Irish at this month’s WIT breakfast. 

Kelly is currently a software engineering manager at MindBody. She received a BS in computer science from Virginia Tech and has worked as a software engineer for the past 20 years. She’s coded for small consumer focused startups to business management software, but the majority of her time was spent coding for government contracts from submarines to surveillance.

For those you who missed the breakfast—don’t worry! We recorded the interview.

Check out the link below for Kelly’s insights on submarines, coding, and women in tech: 

Want more? Be sure to stop by our Facebook page to hear about upcoming events, drop a comment, or request a future speaker.

 

Meeting Summary, Meetings

2nd Annual Technology Expo on July 9, 2015 at the Radisson Hotel in Santa Maria, CA

QuintronQuintron Systems, Inc. will be hosting their 2nd Annual Technology Expo on July 9, 2015 at the Radisson Hotel in Santa Maria, CA from 5:00pm – 8:00pm.  See attached Flyer.  We will be featuring over twenty-five leading  technology based manufacturers covering Audio, Video, CCTV, Networking, Digital Signage and Control Systems to name a few.  Quintron Systems is inviting Central Coast Businesses, Governmental Agencies (both local and Federal), Education Facilities, and the general public to come experience an afternoon full of cutting edge technology, food and networking.

We will also be hosting several classes throughout the afternoon including:

  • Sound design and troubleshooting for live music venues, hosted by JBL
  • Analog vs IP based surveillance systems, hosted by Vivotek
  • Interactive Collaboration systems for huddle and classrooms, hosted by Kramer Electronics
  • Emerging technology for boardrooms and classrooms, hosted by Extron Electronics

This is your time to discuss what matters to you!

For more information and class times please contact Yolanda Clark at 805-361-8313 or please visit our website: http://quintron-isd.com/media.

Yolanda Clark

QUINTRON SYSTEMS, INC.

Administrative Assistant- Integrated Systems Division

2105 South Blosser Road

Santa Maria, CA 93458-7311

Office: 805-928-4343 x 313

Quintron Tech Expo Flyer