The sun was out and the heat was blazing, but that didn’t stop a couple thousand tech pros from attending this year’s Propelify Innovation Festival in Hoboken on June 27. For the last eight years, Propelify has been an annual gathering and all-day conference for everything tech, AI and business—it’s even been dubbed as the “SXSW (South by Southwest) of the Northeast” by Forbes Magazine.
With opening remarks from New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and esteemed guests including JET.com founder and owner of the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves Marc Lore and author, speaker and entrepreneur David Meltzer, the air was ripe to attract talented attendees from across the tri-state area.
One particular talent pool that Propelify attracted was the worldwide group Jews in Tech (JIT). Led by a group of driven volunteers. With regional chapters in New York, Florida, California and Israel, JIT has become a vibrant online community that is ready to meet up in the real world.
JIT is a global 3,000-plus person community dedicated to supporting all Jews working in technology as they advance their careers and reach their personal and collective goals. It offers networking, collaboration and connections among its members. JIT’s vision is to empower all Jews to excel in technology, no matter where they are in their career.
With growing enthusiasm to have a community meetup for the New York regional chapter, JIT contacted Propelify and pitched the idea of hosting its own hour-long mini-meetup mixer while the main Propelify festivities were taking place. After several weeks of emails and phone calls, JIT was recognized as an official Propelify community partner and the networking meetup was slated for 6 p.m.
Aaron Price, the maestro behind the successful festival, said: “As the founder of the Propelify Innovation Festival and now CEO of TechUnited:NJ, bringing together community is extremely gratifying and personal. Our mission represents it—to empower entrepreneurs, innovators and instigators to build a better future for all. My roots in community trace back to my long career as an entrepreneur and, with the isolation that is common for founders, my need to be around other people who could help me with business challenges.”
Given how aligned the Propelify and JIT missions are, Price continued: “At Propelify we are proud to provide a platform for other community leaders to unite, and I was thrilled to welcome the Jews In Tech community this year. Whatever you’re working on, connecting with others to challenge your thinking, inspire new ideas and to help you in tough decisions, is always worthwhile and I’m glad Propelify and TechUnited:NJ play a small role in helping that happen.”
What was the deal? Any JIT member who RSVP’d for the meetup got to attend the entire Proeplify festival for free!
Propelify kicked off in the morning and by 6 p.m., not only did the scheduled RSVPs show up, but other Propelify guests walking by felt a curious energy and asked to join; both Jews and non-Jews were welcome. Even if the guests left the meetup just 1% closer to their goals, the mixer would be a success.
What made the JIT meetup stand out from other networking events was how its introductions and interactions were facilitated.
After 15 minutes of standard mixing and mingling, a circle was formed and the JIT guests began participating in a mandatory icebreaker session. After listening to a few welcoming words and reviewing the icebreaker rules, guests were given a maximum of 30 seconds to answer the following three questions: What’s your name? What do you do? What is your “big ask”?
Answering the “big ask” was a way for guests to make themselves a bit more vulnerable than usual, lowering their guard in a healthy way. By sharing what their personal needs were and giving dozens of listening ears an opportunity to become a resource, each individual had their moment to be in the spotlight. This created a natural opportunity for the participating guests to jump in, offer help and continue the conversation after the icebreakers were completed. This exercise was productive for both the “I” and the collective “we.”
Mosher Heller, fintech founder and CEO of Anywaypay, an app that lets you unify all the payment methods that you have into one link, postponed his trip to upstate New York just to attend the meetup. “Once I heard that Jews in Tech was having an official networking event at Propelify, I canceled all other plans that day,” he said. “This was an event I knew I had to be at.”
Also in attendance was New York City-based JIT board member Itamar Gil. After the event, Gil expressed: “I had a fantastic time at the event, where the engaging icebreakers and networking opportunities allowed me to form meaningful new friendships. I look forward to attending more of these enriching gatherings in the future.”
As the mixer came to an end, Propelify started their happy hour and prepared for their drone “fireworks” show. In just one meaningful hour at the JIT meetup, “Jewish Geography” was played, friends were made and new connections were forged for Jews, gentiles and all tech professionals alike.
If you are a Jew who works in and around tech and would like to be a part of our community, head to jewsintech.org and request to join.
Ari Sohn is a New Jersey-based eCom tech entrepreneur, business event consultant and MC, and the New York regional head of Jews in Tech. He can be emailed at: [email protected]
