Last week I promised to begin a series focused on the people who will be playing key roles in the Austin Interactive Initiative, or Aii for short. In order to give a fair representation of the organization and movement, I need to start with the person who is one of the most vocal and active evangelists for Austin’s interactive community and who will be very much at the center of the Aii – Steve Golab.

Steve has spent his entire career integrally involved in the interactive community of Austin.  His journey started while he was still a student at the University of Texas almost two decades ago. There he piloted the College of Engineering’s Multimedia Lab. He is an original founder and partner of FG SQUARED – the second G in the company name – and he now serves as CEO and President.  In his current role, and as the title of this post declares, Steve is an active evangelist for the interactive community of Austin.

In the interest of full disclosure, Steve didn’t know that I would be writing this post. In more than seven months working with him he has never read a post I’ve written before it was published. That level of openness and trust, in my view, is a solid indicator that Steve understands that a collaborative approach to business can bring out people’s best and most effective thinking. This willingness to solicit and allow everyone’s point of view, and then strive for the mutual benefit of the community, gives Steve real credibility in his efforts on behalf of the Austin interactive community.

Aii, as Steve envisions it, will provide a vehicle for the community and create the “bigger pie” from which everyone can benefit. For those of us who are believers in the power of collaboration, community and conversational communications, Aii is a welcome development in the Austin  business community.

To kick-start the process, Steve has been working with some well regarded community leaders in Austin to put some initial thoughts on paper and to create a plan for a gathering of community members and local leaders who want to work together.

In my conversations with Steve, it’s clear that he is genuinely concerned about the global economic situation and the pain it has caused our local economy. He’s somewhat taken aback, given the level and amount of creative and technical talent in Austin, that we’re not receiving the recognition that other communities and cities do. Our city is more than a great place to hold SXSW and it occurs to him, and to many of us who are working with him, that we need to better communicate to the rest of the world the depth of resources that exist right here in the Central Texas area.

Following are the specific bullet points that have been developed for the purpose of beginning a conversation:

1.  Aii is an economic development movement in the Central Texas region that aims to help make Austin be better recognized by global business communities and media outlets as an epicenter for Interactive and Social Media.

2.  By working together in a collaborative manner, customers will be attracted to the whole of the talent that resides and works in the Austin area and that focuses on interactive and social media.

3.  To accomplish this, the Aii would establish an active online community where stakeholders can communicate and collaborate around the issues of economic development as they pertain to the Austin Interactive community.

Please join the conversation and comment.  In the true spirit of community, all who are affected or interested are invited to get involved.

Twitter Contacts -

Aii (http://twitter.com/atxii)

FG SQUARED (http://twitter.com/fgsquared)

Steve Golab (http://twitter.com/stevegolab)

Mike Chapman (http://twitter.com/mikechapman)

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