Creating Change Through Innovation, Teamwork and TKW

Ray Cline, the visionary behind Libertas Consulting and Technology Worldwide, joins us for a compelling exploration into the intersection of communication and community enhancement. Discover how professionals in the cabling and technology fields can make a meaningful impact beyond their work, and learn about Ray's journey in transforming industry standards while nurturing a global network of 500 members. Through initiatives like TeKGiving, Ray shares how communities and the tech industry unite for worldwide causes that elevate technical installations.

In a standout segment, we share the incredible story behind a large-scale conduit installation at a school, where 50 dedicated professionals laid over 3,000 feet of conduit to support essential technology. This massive project highlights the importance of teamwork, coordination, and adaptability, spearheaded by the expertise of Justin Turpin. The school's flexibility and perfect weather conditions were key to the project's success, showcasing the transformative power of planning and execution in educational environments.

We also explore the essence of building community through events, where personal connections are cultivated beyond online interactions. Our discussions spotlight the excitement around Tech Fest and other initiatives, fostering resilience and empowerment through collaboration. From fundraising triumphs, like raising $10,000 in a week through donor matching, to lessons learned from hurricanes, this episode celebrates the strength of communities coming together for education and support, creating a ripple effect of small victories leading to a more connected future.

Chapters

• 0:00 Giving Back Through Technology’
• 13:28 Coordinating Conduit Installation for School
• 27:12 Building Community Impact Through Events
• 31:43 Empowering Communities Through Education
• 39:30 Resilience and Lessons Learned From Hurricanes

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey Wiremonkeys, welcome to another episode of let's Talk Cabling. Let me ask you something when was the last time you used your communication skills to better your community? Welcome to the show where we tackle the tough questions Submitted by installers, technicians, project managers, estimators, even customers. We're connecting at the human level so that you can connect the world. Thursday night, 6 pm Eastern Standard Time. What are you doing?

Speaker 1: 0:38

You know we do a live stream on TikTok and Instagram and LinkedIn and Facebook when you get to ask your favorite RCDD and you know that's me Questions on installation certification, design estimation. I even do project management questions, but I can hang up a truck. I drive my truck. It's 6 pm on Wednesday night, I don't want to get a crash. I record them and you can watch them at your convenience when it's safe to do so. Also, while this show is free and will always remain free, if you find value in this content, click on that QR code right there. You can schedule a 15-minute one-on-one call with me after hours, of course, and you can also go to my Linktree account and send some money that way as well. Course, and you can also go to my Linktree account and send some money that way as well.

Speaker 1: 1:31

So, as I said in the intro, you know, the last thing a lot of people want to do after they get off working all day long pulling cable is to go pull cable on the weekend. But what if I told you there's a group of people that not only did that, they were probably more than happy to do that on the weekend than they did during the day, because they were doing something to help make the community a little bit better. When was the last time you did that? Use your communication skills to help somebody improve their community. It's a challenge. So I want to welcome on tonight's show Ray Klein. Ray Klein is a recurring guest. Welcome back, mr Ray Klein. How are you doing, my friend?

Speaker 2: 2:12

Hey, hey, hey, happy, whatever time of the day it is that your listeners are listening to this. How are you, sir?

Speaker 1: 2:18

Oh, you're getting used to this whole podcast thing now, because you never know when they're listening.

Speaker 2: 2:23

Never, never know man. But the important thing is that they are listening, right yes, yes, the growth.

Speaker 1: 2:29

The show's growing leaps and bounds. It's um well small by other podcasters, but uh, I just hit 475 000 views on youtube. I'm coming in on 4 000 hours. I have like 15 audience members. So it's small by you know Joe Rogan's numbers, but you know I got a, I got a super niche audience.

Speaker 2: 2:52

So there you go, right, hey man you're doing great, so we appreciate all that you do.

Speaker 1: 2:58

Dang, I appreciate that and I appreciate everybody who listens to the show actually. So for those people who don't know you cause it's been almost a year since you've been on the show why don't you tell us a little bit about you and a brief introduction on TKW? And let's start from there.

Speaker 2: 3:15

Sure, my name is Ray Klein, I am owner and founder of Libertas Consulting, based in Warminster, pennsylvania, and I also started a nonprofit organization called Technology Worldwide with a few industry leaders a couple years ago about three years ago actually and the purpose of TKW is to give back to communities in need while raising the bar on technical installs. Right, we make everybody better, we teach each other by example and we elevate the industry of IT and low voltage and you know pretty much anything all things technology really, to be honest and we've got about 500 members across the world and we're growing too. Man, we're just like you. We're growing. Each time we talk, I feel like we can both talk about how much growth we've had since the last time we talked. So it's pretty cool.

Speaker 1: 4:12

Yeah, the ironic thing is see, a lot of people don't know this about me, but I'm really an introvert and I don't like talking about myself. So it's hard for me to talk about the accomplishments of the show because I feel like I'm bragging about the show. So it's hard for me. It's hard for me to talk about the accomplishments of the show because I feel like I'm bragging about the show and when I'm not, I'm just stating where the show is. But you know, I have a hard time doing that and I got to get better at that. I understand that, because that's how you get sponsors and you know this is true right.

Speaker 2: 4:41

Listen. If you want me to get on and promote you, I will you just let me know. We'll just. We'll have a podcast about chuck for chuck.

Speaker 1: 4:50

I'm in, absolutely let's do it, let's do it, man, all right let's go um. So you guys do an event once a year called text giving yep, right um. So give us a quick history what is text giving and how did that event begin?

Speaker 2: 5:03

Sure, so text giving was kind of like this brain child that I had about, um, you know, five years ago we didn't call text giving five years ago, we just got the name, uh, I think three years ago, um, so we call it text giving because it falls between, you know, north America I'm sorry America's Thanksgiving and Canada's Thanksgiving, and one of the guys that was in the community came up with this name like text giving, because we always do the project between the two Right, and this year we actually did it on Canadian Thanksgiving, which was kind of cool and kind of fun. But basically, in essence, it's it's our way of giving back. Our partners in the community, our vendors in the community, our members in the community all get together to do a give back project each year at a location that is chosen by people in the community. So back in right after Tech Fest, so I'm going to say May June, we allowed the community to submit applications to be the recipient of this project and then it was voted on by members of the community.

Speaker 2: 6:07

Ultimately we decided on La Escalita Bilingual Preschool down in Davidson, north Carolina, which is right outside of Charlotte, and the timing for this event couldn't have been more perfect, because they just had the hurricane rip through about an hour west in Ashburn, I believe, is the name of the town, or Ashbury or Ashburg. I'm completely sorry, but it was right outside of where we were. So it was really cool that we could go down there and give back to a community that literally was just devastated by a hurricane, completely separate from the hurricane, and we had already planned to do this, but it's just the timing that seemed to really work out, so it was great for us to be able to get down there and help them.

Speaker 1: 6:53

Yeah, I was looking at the press release yesterday, or maybe it was even today, I don't know, the days start to blur together after a while and it was really a major undertaking right. And it was really a major undertaking right, would you say this project was bigger or same size or smaller than some of your previous text givings.

Speaker 2: 7:11

So you know, from a dollar standpoint it was about the same as the last one that we did down in Baltimore, which was Mission Fit, but we had more people, we had new skills that we haven't done in other projects. So we had a lot of fiber work on this project, which you know. We've got a lot of fiber people in our community but we've never brought fiber into a project like this. We had a lot of conduit work because all that conduit had to be in. I'm sorry, all that fiber had to be in conduit, as well as all the work, since it was in a classroom. All had to be in conduit because everything was hard ceiling, brick walls. So you know, I wouldn't say the project was bigger by any stretch, but it was definitely newer to the community in regards to skill sets and size. I mean, we had over 50 technicians come down to help, which was incredible. It's definitely the biggest crowd we've drawn, for certain.

Speaker 1: 8:04

The previous one was Mission Fit. I attended that one. I didn't get to attend this one because of our hurricane and that caused some issues here and I couldn't leave the house for obvious reasons. But I did notice that you guys go through a process on how to select that. Can you tell us a little bit about that process and how did you guys land on? How do you say that? La Esquilita?

Speaker 2: 8:28

Esquilita I'm probably butchering it and I had the people on site tell me how to say it too. Yeah, the process is pretty straightforward. We basically just have a form that you fill out. It's got to be sponsored by somebody in our community, meaning they have to have some kind of tie to the community, right? Because ultimately, whoever is facilitating this has to be our sponsor locally and our boots on the ground, right? We need somebody that is going to help us run this project.

Speaker 2: 8:57

So we had about a dozen submissions this year and they were all voted on by people in our community. We gave everybody the opportunity to explain what their charity was, why it meant something to them, and it was really really close this year, but we did end up going down to Laos Goleta, and you know the project was really cool, right? It is a bilingual preschool that was started maybe 11 years ago and they started by renting a small space in a church and now they're in the Ada Jenkins Center running out two classrooms for their you know, for their children, and they're about to outgrow that space as well. So they too, just like your podcast, and our community is growing and it's really cool to see. And I think, I think this project, if you ask the people that attended it, it had the most impact.

Speaker 2: 9:51

Right Like it. It hit your heart, like it tugged at your heartstrings. And and I think it was really nice is the kids were there on Friday. So those of us that started Friday, we got to spend some time with the kids and it was, you know, it's. It's just so rewarding, like, honestly, you get to see your impact immediately. Right so it was, it was just something it hit.

Speaker 1: 10:10

Different is what a lot of the guys keep saying and from and and correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure and just because you guys selected las calita, there was some chatter. I heard that one of the other ones that was nominated didn't get get selected. They got awarded some or some of the some of the members also even still did some stuff for them and they got like a grant or something too right yeah.

Speaker 2: 10:33

So, um, dan Higdon is, his project was second, like he missed it by one vote. But when we talked about his project and that's out in Illinois, or, I'm sorry, indiana, um, we talked about his project and that's out in Illinois, I'm sorry, indiana. We talked about his project and his project really needed more of a consulting presence and it needed more of like smart right, run that on his own and help them in a more effective way than 50 guys from across the world could do. So he helped them on his own, did some grant writing, helped them apply for a grant and they got a $50,000 grant. So all of the things that we would be able to do for them he's going to get donated by this $50,000 grant. So a small subset of us are going to go out and actually help him with that project.

Speaker 2: 11:25

This year too, we're kind of doing, you know text giving one and a half or 2.0, whatever we want to call it for the year.

Speaker 2: 11:31

But you know, I just want to applaud Dan for that, because he still took the initiative and he still came to do the project at La Escalita.

Speaker 2: 11:39

But like he still had the drive and the heart in him to say you know what. They weren't chosen, but I'm still going to sponsor this program and I'm going to help them in any way I can. So, even though the project isn't a TKW text giving project, we've got a guy in our community who's a leader in our community that is just going out there and saying you know what, I'm going to do it too, and I'm going to go out there and I'm going to get it so like I'm. You know, I say the word humbled a lot in a lot of the talks that I give and anytime I talk about TKW, the word humbled always follows every conversation. And just the pure heart that this community has and the pure, you know, just dedication to our mission by every member of our community is just something that I'm so humbled by every day, by every member of our community, is just something that I'm so humbled by every day.

Speaker 3: 12:25

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Speaker 1: 13:06

So it's not just one company that got the gift of communications, and I say I remember too that he also looked at a couple of their systems and found ways to save them money. So they got the grant and they also lowered their operating costs as well too. So that's actually a really good thing. So let's get back to La Escalita.

Speaker 2: 13:28

What were some of the major challenges and installations that you had to complete there at that school. So it was a lot of conduit work, right. I mean, the entire site was was had to be prepped with conduit for every drop, for every speaker that we installed, for every AP, for every camera, every wire that we ran in that property, and that facility is all in conduit because it's a classroom. So before anybody could actually do any of the wiring or cabling or hanging of any equipment, all of the conduit had to be put in place and we probably installed, oh God, 2,500, 3,500 feet of conduit throughout the property. Wow, A lot of conduit, a lot of conduit, and it was twofold, right.

Speaker 2: 14:10

So it was for all the devices that got installed. But it was also there's three properties on site and we wanted to give Ada Jenkins a gift too, because they are the facility that this classroom happens to be situated in. We donated the fiber to their complex so that as they grow and they expand, they can now use a good, strong fiber backbone in all their properties, because they didn't have that before, yeah, so now they've got that, and that obviously had to all be put in conduit. So that was probably the challenge.

Speaker 1: 14:44

Now you're making me feel really bad that I missed this because I have been chomping at the bits to do a show on conduit. I ordered conduit for the podcast studio like six months ago and it's still sitting on the floor in the new studio.

Speaker 2: 14:57

Oh, that's funny. Yeah, justin Turpin man, I give that guy all the credit in the world. He's out of Connecticut and Justin has been with me since the very first one. Credit in the world, he's out of Connecticut and Justin has been with me since the very first one Back when we did the museum, you know, five years ago. Justin is a conduit, bending Lord of Lords Like he. Just he took it upon himself to really just run with it, man, and without him, honestly, I don't think this project would have been done.

Speaker 2: 15:33

Yep, it's an art form, that's for sure, and that's a lot of things that a lot of low voltage people don't have. So, you guys, when did you show up, like on Friday, all of the conduit that we laid out? We're like you know what. We could add another outlet here, or let's give them another data jack here, because we're all like you know, maybe they'll want to put a printer over there at some point, right? So we started adding a bunch of conduit in places that we didn't plan on, but at the end of the day it was just a benefit to them. So you know, we were doing conduit until Sunday, unfortunately.

Speaker 1: 16:03

But you know we made it happen. Now was this you just had the kids were there on Friday, so how did that impact the operations of of all the 50 workers that you had there?

Speaker 2: 16:13

Yeah, so we had a small subset of people on Friday so we might add a dozen people there Friday. The core of everybody came on Saturday. So you know it was beautiful out. So the school was nice enough to say hey look, if you want to work in this classroom, work in this classroom. We'll move the kids to the other or we'll put them outside and let them do some outdoor learning. So the school was so great and they just moved the kids around and kind of kept them away from us and some of the kids wanted to work with us. So we've we've got some footage somewhere the kids using to work with us. So we've got some footage somewhere of the kids using the tools and we've got some really cool footage coming out soon. It was so much fun.

Speaker 1: 16:56

And you guys were blessed too because the jet stream dipped down to the south. It's funny because when it happened I was thinking great, because it's going to keep away those other hurricanes away from us. But that made some really nice conditions for you guys, because you guys coming from uh, you know canada and the northeast. Let me just say it gets a little warmer when it gets below the south of the mason dixon line, so you guys were blessed with some some pretty beautiful weather there. You know, while you're working, we yeah, it was perfect like it.

Speaker 2: 17:18

It had to be in the 70s. Maybe never got, you know, past the mid 70s. The entire time Crystal clear, like perfect, ideal weather to do this project.

Speaker 1: 17:29

Yeah, so I saw in the press release. You know it said you had 40 professionals, but you said you were closer to 50 and over 800 hours. Being a former project manager, I know what it takes to coordinate such a large group of people working. Talk to us a little bit about how that coordination happened and how did you keep it? So you kept everybody working and motivated.

Speaker 2: 17:51

Yes, I mean honestly, the working and motivated part was really easy. So we use an application. It's the same application that we use for TechFest. We force people to kind of register and check in just like you would any other you know trade show or event. That way there's always a schedule. People can always look at a schedule on their phone. The app was great enough for us to put the full schedule in. The details are where people needed to be A floor plan. Even though we had printed out maps, there were floor plans still that if you wanted to just check on your phone real quick, like, okay, where is this AP going, you can look on the map on your phone.

Speaker 2: 18:28

But the work was never a problem. We had meetings each morning so you would get in there first thing, you know, Saturday morning and we had a kickoff meeting and we basically said look, choose your team. Do you want to be on structured cabling, fiber, Wi-Fi, AV, what do you want to be on? And that's your team. Stay there, go there, and if at any point in time you want to change or you want to jump to another team, come talk to us and we'll give you work to do. There's so much tertiary work that needs to be done. We gave them two AV carts. Somebody needed to build a bunch of AV carts, right? There's stuff that you can still do that maybe isn't, you know, the pulling of the cable, the terminating of the cable, but there's still so much other work that needs to be done. I mean, just think about the number of boxes that we had that had to be broken down and thrown out, Right? So, at the end of the day, no matter what you're going to be busy, there's an, so there's a.

Speaker 1: 19:21

there's a old adage, and this kind of ties back into my faith Many hands makes light work. So and it sounds like you guys had a lot, a lot of that covered, right.

Speaker 3: 19:30

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Speaker 1: 20:42

You guys also did a full wireless survey, a full wireless survey as well. How important are those types of surveys to ensure the success of the project?

Speaker 2: 20:53

So I stress this so often to so many people and you see me sometimes if you follow me on Facebook or LinkedIn, I shout it from the rooftops If you're putting in more than two APs in a facility, you need a survey because you do not know where they belong, what the signal to noise ratio is, you know what channels you should be setting these APs on, Like. It is so important as soon as you install multiple APs in a property that you take a survey, and that was one of the biggest challenges that this entire facility had. Facility had. All of the APs that were put in by the third-party IT company that supports them currently was a hodgepodge of equipment. It was a hodgepodge of we're just going to put the APs where we think we need coverage and in a classroom scenario, we say it's built just like a prison because classrooms have floor-to-ceiling concrete walls. Signal does not travel through brick and concrete walls very well. It's almost as bad as water. Water is the only thing that is worse than a brick wall. So when you've got APs inside a classroom and then APs outside of a classroom, they're still going to see each other and they're just going to make a lot of noise.

Speaker 2: 21:58

So what the Wi-Fi survey allowed us to do was walk the entire property. Then it gave the blueprint for Ada Jenkins and for us that says okay, all of these APs are here, let's move these five APs here. Let's move an AP here to there, so that we can have better coverage throughout the entire property and you can roam properly. The Wi-Fi that we put in in the classrooms now allows them to go from classroom to classroom, to their gym, to their outdoor areas, without dropping coverage now, where they couldn't do that before, and it does not interfere with the Wi-Fi that's already in place now, because we've given them the blueprint that says here's where we are. This is what our Wi-Fi is configured to do. Here's how you need to configure yours in order to play nice with us, and it it's. It's so imperative and and I urge your listeners to spend the money on a proper wireless survey it will save you so much more money than you'll ever spend on the survey.

Speaker 1: 22:55

What did you use to do the wireless survey?

Speaker 2: 22:58

Echo we used. You've you've met Rob a few times. Rob Rob from Redefined Solutions, he does all of our surveys now and he uses Echo and he absolutely loves it.

Speaker 1: 23:10

Nice. So they got new wireless, they got new conduit, they got some structured cabling jobs. What else did they get?

Speaker 2: 23:17

So they got all new cameras. So Ubiquity we partnered with Ubiquity on this one and Ubiquity donated the entire network infrastructure. So they gave us all the wireless access points, the network infrastructure. So they gave us some of their new switches, their newest router and they gave us their newest NVR, which was really nice of them. So they got two door intercoms so that they can see who's coming in and out of the doors. I think they got seven or eight cameras.

Speaker 2: 23:47

So there's cameras in the classrooms now. There's cameras outside of the classrooms now, because with everything you have with schools, now you want to make sure the kids are safe, right, and you want to be able to see them. And now they've got cameras everywhere so we know where the kids are at all times. And PDK and AsA Abloy donated all the access control. So now you have to be buzzed in to be let into a classroom. There's keypads, so now the doors are always locked and it's another level of safety for the kids in the school and the teachers in the school. The doors are locked. You can't get in now unless you've got a fob or unless you've got a code. So the school, the doors are locked. You can't get in now, unless you've got a fob or unless you've got a code. So now, you know.

Speaker 1: 24:30

Hopefully we can keep the kids safer that way. So it wasn't just low voltage technicians that showed up. You actually had manufacturers donating some stuff as well. You already mentioned a couple. Were there any other manufacturers that donated materials?

Speaker 2: 24:39

Yeah, so Vertical Cable donated all of the wire. So all of the wire that you see in all of our projects was generally donated by you know our partners. But all of the wire was donated by vertical cable. So all the patch panels all donated, all the wire all donated. All the keystone checks, faceplates, anything from that structure, cabling, standpoint, all the fiber panels, everything was vertical cable. So you know we love vertical cable. They've been so good to us since the beginning. Panels, everything was vertical cable. So you know we love vertical cable. They've been so good to us since the beginning. You know other donors. You know members of our community donated all the Sonus equipment, the speakers.

Speaker 2: 25:11

Trend Networks, mike Grindell, was on site with us again. Mike loves being a part of text giving and we've got a video coming out soon. You know they have a fiber splicer now right, I did hear that. Have a fiber splicer now, right, I did hear that. So TKW had in its hands the only splicer that Trend Networks has produced in our hands. So all of our team got to play with it, learn how to use it, give them some critiques, some things that they're going to change on the splicer, going forward Like it's just. It's a great partnership that we've got with trend and and we again humbled like we we've got access to products that nobody else has right now because of this community and the relationships that we formed. It's cool, it's, it's something, something special.

Speaker 1: 25:59

Yeah, one of the one of the core principles of TKW is community over competition, and it sounds like you nailed it not only in not only in the installation side, but also on the manufacturing side, which is that's kudos there, because you know, when it comes to manufacturers, they're usually cutthroat towards each other, and for them to come together and donate and work on a project, that's a testament to your mission and what you were doing there. That's a testament to your mission and what you were doing there.

Speaker 2: 26:29

So how did this mindset shape the way your organization operates and the way that your members approach that project for Thanksgiving. So one of the things about this project that I think I'm the happiest about and the most proud of, obviously other than the work, was about half of the people that came to Thanksgiving this year have never been to a TKW event. So we met some new people that we've never met before. Uh, people that have been, you know, in our slack community, been on facebook with us, whatever it may be, but we finally got to put some names to faces I'm sorry, some faces to names that we've just been talking to and you know it. It was cool because now the people that came to that event are like, okay, when's the next one? We'll be there, and it's not even a question of when it is or where it is. It's sign me up, I'm already in.

Speaker 2: 27:12

And, honestly, when you come to one of our events, you really see who we are as a community. I can talk about it all day. You can talk about it all day, how you know how cool we are or how great the things that we're doing are, but until you are literally in the trenches with us and you're seeing the the kids in this particular case, benefiting from the work that we're doing. You really don't understand that impact that we're having. I got to tell you I've been in this community.

Speaker 2: 27:39

I started this community five years ago or three years ago. Five years ago, three years ago, three years ago and I still don't understand the impact that we're having. It's when our vendors and our new members come in and be like we just want to be a part of this, it clicks in my head and I'm like we just want to be a part of this. It clicks in my head and I'm like we started something really amazing. And now it's just like I have this goal in my own mind, that I'm like I have to live up to this pedestal that just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger every year. And we're learning that it's not the big things, it's the little things. Right, it's being able to be in a room with 50 people in a community and say you know what? We did this and let's celebrate this together, and it's long lasting and it's got a big ripple effect, so it's cool.

Speaker 1: 28:27

It's. You should pat yourself on the back because you're making a huge impact in communities across the country. I know that, like you did in Baltimore, this one in Las Esquilitas I know you were talking at one point, maybe trying to do one in the middle of the country so you're making impact everywhere. But a lot too, because I'm connected to the Facebook group and stuff and I see the pitches. You guys, even if you get done, working together all day long and sweating and getting each other's ways and stuff. You went and hung out at night and got to know each other in a social setting. I just think that's just absolutely cool. I mean absolutely cool.

Speaker 2: 29:08

So what does the future look?

Speaker 1: 29:09

like oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 29:12

It's like you know, it's one thing to talk to people on the Internet. It's one thing to get to know each other on Slack or on Facebook or whatever may have you. It's another thing to sit in a room with a guy and break bread literally break bread. That is one thing that we do is we always go out to dinner. We want people to know each other outside of the. Hey, you're a camera guy or you're access control guy. I want to know who Chuck Bowser is on a personal level. And these are the opportunities that make those things happen and that, I think, is what our partners and our vendors love the most. They're getting to know what do you really want from your manufacturer? And, honestly, we just want to be heard honestly.

Speaker 1: 29:58

And it's, it's, it just works, it really works yeah, you, like I said, you know what you do. There is, um, you're kind of already somewhat friends, although I would call you know. I mean there's a core group of people that you guys you've been to a couple events together. You kind of know each other. But when the new people coming in and then they see that for the new people coming in, they're creating lifelong friendships that's going to help them well beyond the end of Thanksgiving 2024. And so that way, when they got an issue with something like, hey, you know, I've never dealt with NVRs, hey, I'll give, I'll give Ray a call because I know that they did that at Thanksgiving. So, you know, you create those types of relationships that are just going to, you know, help you all the way around. So what does the future look like for the TKW's efforts for further text giving and stuff.

Speaker 2: 30:46

So apparently we're helping Dan with text giving 1.5 or 2.0. We haven't decided what we're doing out in Indiana, so I mean, I'm really looking forward to that one. I'm again I said it earlier I'm just so I'm so proud of him Like he is doing. He's doing God's work, literally. It's impressive and I'm I'm super proud of him, so I'm excited to.

Speaker 2: 31:14

You know, jump in a car, jump on a tech fest is our event and it's being completely rehauled this year. Um, so we took everything that we've learned in the last two events and where we're changing up and giving our community what it is that we feel that they really want to see, and it's it's not been done before, just like text giving. It's not been done before. Tech fest, it's not been done before. So I'm super excited about that. For next year We've already blocked that off. It's in April, nashville again. I'm really excited about that and I'm looking forward to that. Funding the next Thanksgiving, wherever that may be, and that's really up to our community. Where do they want to go, doesn't matter, we'll go wherever they want us to be want to go, doesn't matter, we'll go wherever they want us to be.

Speaker 1: 31:56

So for the new person who is just listening to and hearing about you guys, first time we kind of explained text giving Give us a brief synopsis of TechFest.

Speaker 2: 32:04

Yeah, so TechFest, it was the brainchild of something that happened at text giving right. So it was. Mick was installing an access control panel at Baraka Church, which was one of our text-giving projects a couple years ago, and we realized that people were just standing around him watching him wire this panel and while he was wiring the panel, he was teaching them. He's like, hey, you know, this is why I do this and this is PDK, this is how I use PDA control boards and this is how I make things work. And we realized, one, get a camera on him and two, you know, he had a dozen or so people around him that maybe jumped off a ladder, they were pulling cable and they're like, oh wow, this is really cool.

Speaker 2: 32:45

We now want to build an event around that where we're teaching others how to do these things, except now we're getting the manufacturers involved. So PDK is already committed to being there. So we're going to give PDK a lab, just like we had at the last event, and they're going to be training people on how to install access control with their systems. And then we're going to take that a step further and show integrations with vertical cable, with getting that cable certified by Trend Networks by bringing in, you know, asa Abloy Strikes into PDK software, tying all of our manufacturers together. So, instead of going to a trade show where you can go shake the hands with, you know, the marketing people at Vertical Cable and the marketing people at PDK, you're going to have the senior level VPs or the senior level product integrators and people that are actually building these products at these events to show you how these things work.

Speaker 2: 33:41

So this is it's not a trade show, it's a learning experience, and now you'll be able to come to TechFest in Nashville and learn how to do these things and leave with skills and one of the things that I hope to be able to work with you, and we've not announced it, so we can talk about it right now and then you can edit it out if you want. But we want to get this accredited with Bixie and we want to get it accredited with other places, so that now, coming to TechFest, you can now have an accredited skill set that you can take, because in order to stay certified excuse me you need accreditation hours and we've realized that. And what better place to do that than TechFest, where you can get accredited in so many different avenues and that is like it's. Every year we step up our game and every year we do something new, and this year, at TechFest, this is where we're going. We want to make sure that we are known as an educational community that constantly gives back in ways that no one else is doing it.

Speaker 1: 34:45

Yeah, I'll help in any way I can. Yeah, help you get that accreditation. It's a process, but it just shows the value of the content and so people like they're not going to be like, okay, I'm just going to go spend two days, like you said, listening to marketing people. No, this is an educational thing where you'll actually come out with CECs for whatever credential it is that you may have. So, yeah, absolutely I'll help with that. I'd love to do that. So for the listener who might be listening to this show and they might want to give up, you guys are a 501c3, right, the nonprofit so people can donate money to you and write it off in their taxes Although I could have a whole little show on but you really should be giving away money even if it's not a 501c3. But you will get tax credit if you do it Right. So how can people get involved other than, let's say, they want to do more than just give you money? How can they get involved?

Speaker 2: 35:42

Well, we definitely want people. You know it's it's funny, and, and, and my PR person's going to kill me for saying this, but I'm going to say it anyway, because I say it all the time. I want you to be involved, I want you to be with us, I want you there in the trenches with us more than I want your wallet. Truthfully, I would rather you come out to an event and see what we're all about than open up your wallet and never know where it's going. But the truth is, we need that wallet to make things happen right and at the end of the day, so we fundraise.

Speaker 1: 36:08

You're preaching to the choir. Right now you are preaching to the choir.

Speaker 2: 36:12

I know, At the end of the day, one of the things that happened and I don't know if you saw this, but I'm really taken back by it as well. We've fundraised for one week for this project and we raised $10,000 in one week, and it was because people in our community stepped up and we said look, here's our goal, we need $10,000 and here's how we're going to do it. We did what's called donor matching. So one day, Ray Klein would say I'm going to match 500 bucks and up to 500 bucks. Whoever donates Ray's going to match it. And then the next day it was a Jeff day and it was a Pierce Smith wick and a you know, a Dan Higdon and then a Dave Johnston, and it, it, it just 10,000 bucks in one week.

Speaker 2: 36:53

And at the end of the day like I was impressed and, again, humbled, right. So I think we're pretty good at the fundraising thing. So I want people to really see who we are. But, like you said, we are a 501c3 and all of your dollars are tax deductible deductible but you can see that it's going to a good cause. You can see the projects that we've done.

Speaker 2: 37:17

But in order to get involved with our community, it's really simple Just go to our website, technowledgeorg, and that's T-E-K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-Eorg, and you'll see there's links to join Tech Knowledge and you'll see there's links to see past text giving projects and you can physically see all of the work that we're doing. Joining our community is free, you know. You can go to, like I said, links on our website or you can go to jointechnologyorg. You fill out a couple of questions and you're in our community. You can see our map.

Speaker 2: 37:49

Once you're in your community, you can see where our guys are all across the country. So if you're in Nebraska, you can see who else is in Nebraska with you or who's close to you wherever you are. So you can set up meetups and it's great. I mean honestly. Our community is free, has been free since the beginning. The only thing we've ever asked for is that when we do these projects like text giving, that it's all hands on, like get on a plane, come help us out and at the end of the day, you're going to love the work that you do. So.

Speaker 1: 38:24

Well, I appreciate you know not only everything you do for the industry, that TKW does for the industry, but also everything you do in the better communities and you're setting the bar low-voltage installers and technicians to kind of look up for. You're kind of like the shining light in the distant east. What's that bright light coming up?

Speaker 3: 38:43

That's TKW you might want to join them.

Speaker 2: 38:47

Nah I appreciate that.

Speaker 1: 38:48

That's right, not a problem. I appreciate you coming on the show. We look forward to tracking along with you and and like I said, I've already got April booked out on my thing. So so you know I definitely want to be a tech fast. That's, that's, that's, that's a given, and and I'll try not to miss text giving next year. I apologize this year, but you know, it just was not in the car for me to leave the farm this year.

Speaker 2: 39:13

Hey, I understand man. Honestly, I'm just happy that you're okay. We've got a lot of friends and family down in Florida and what was coming at you was terrifying and I know you're still not in the greatest situation in your area. But I'm glad you're okay. I'm glad the podcast is still going. I'm glad all your animals are okay. I'm glad your wife is okay.

Speaker 1: 39:34

I'm glad all your animals are okay. I'm glad your wife is okay. I'm happy to see you. Man, Truthfully, there's power in prayer and there's a lot of lessons learned from previous hurricanes that helped us get through this one even better. Every hurricane we get better and better and better.

Speaker 2: 39:50

You guys are resilient. There's no offense, but it's about it.

Speaker 4: 39:54

That's it for this episode of today's podcast. We hope you were able to learn something. Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss out on future content. Also, leave a rating so we can help even more people learn about telecommunications. Until next time, be safe.