Events Roundup: 8 August meetups to keep you plugged in to Philly tech

Events Roundup is a Technical.ly column where we highlight events happening in the Philly area each month. Got a submission? Email us the details so we can consider it for our next roundup: philly@technical.ly.

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We’ve made it to August, folks, and as we continue to work from home, we can be thankful for 1.) air conditioning and 2.) the slew of virtual events that just keep coming.

Being at home doesn’t mean missing out, thanks this handful of virtual events we’ve collected this month. Looking to continue your education on racial issues? We’ve got you. Want to understand how the concept of this “new normal” could be a good thing? We have that, too.

And don’t even get me started on the handful of awesome events our Technical.ly team has been prepping for the rest of this summer in partnership with Amplify Philly and as our own summer series continues. Other good news? Philly Tech Week 2020 presented by Comcast, our weeklong event series that will be fully virtual this year, is next month.

So add these to your calendar and say a little prayer that we don’t have to figure out how to wear business casual in 97-degree heat this year.

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The Happening: Connecting innovators to make the better normal happen

Venture Café Philadelphia is participating in the first-ever global Thursday gathering — a virtual collection of all 10 venture cafes from around the world to talk about how innovators can be inspired to action by a devastating global pandemic. “Everyone wants to know what the ‘New Normal’ will be after this transformational year,” the event page says. “And as a convener of innovators, we want to shift the conversation to ask: How will we create the ‘Better Normal?'”

• Thursday, Aug. 6
• 2 a.m. to 9 p.m. EST
• Free, join here

Penn Boot Camps Virtual Demo Day

University of Pennsylvania’s bootcamp cohorts will show off their demo day projects virtually this month, with plenty of opportunity to network, talk industry trends and share feedback. Take a look at one of the program’s demo days from earlier this year, and what attending a virtual demo day is like.

• Thursday, Aug. 6
• 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
• Free, register here

Lunchtime Lessons: Personal Journey Mapping

Briana Clarke from ArtWell will lead this virtual lunchtime session hosted by Quorum virtual. The guided art activity aims to inspire reflection on attendees’ goals, the resources within and outside themselves, and how they can use them to help overcome obstacles.

• Wednesday, Aug. 12
• Noon to 12:30 p.m.
• Free, register here

Technical.ly’s 2020 Super Meetup

Like pretty much everything in 2020, this year’s Super Meetup is going to look different. We won’t be gathering a few hundred people for IRL meetups, networking and (let’s be honest, one of the best parts) fun food and beer. But don’t fret! This month, we bring you Super Meetup virtual, a trivia- and networking-filled afternoon as part of our PTW20 Summer Series calendar of events. Come for lightning tech talks and stay for the trivia — featuring computer history, internet culture and local tech community facts. And oh yeah, BYOB.

• Thursday, Aug. 13
• 4 to 5:30 p.m.
• Free, register here

In the Lab with Andre Brock 

If Lab is hosting a virtual event with author and professor André Brock, who will discuss the representation of race in social media and tech. Brock’s expertise is in racial representations in video games, Black women and weblogs, whiteness, blackness, and digital technoculture, as well as critical research on Black Twitter, per the event page. He’s the author of the recently published “Distributed Blackness: African American Cybercultures.”

• Thursday, Aug. 13
• 4 to 6 p.m.
• Free, register here

@in: The Conference For In-House Creatives

AIGA Philadelphia is hosting its third conference for in-house creatives, with a focus on how jobs have evolved and will continue to evolve as professionals grow and the industry changes. “It will be a day of insight and inspiration featuring dynamic and influential creative leaders speaking about design leadership, UX best practices, and more,” the event site says. The virtual conference is pay what you wish, with 50% of the proceeds distributed to the org’s scholarship fund.

• Friday, Aug. 14
• 9 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.
• Pay-as-you-wish, register here

Philadelphia Virtual Cyber Security Summit

This all-day virtual conference brings together executives in Philly, South Jersey and Delaware for the latest info on “how to best protect highly vulnerable business applications and critical infrastructure,” with the latest cyber trends. The day includes time for networking, presentations from area cyber security companies and multiple expert panels.

• Thursday, Aug. 20
• 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
• Free, register here

Amplify Philly @ Home: Part 2

This multi-week series with Philly’s SXSW crew, in partnership with PTW20 Summer Series’ Medtech Day, is bringing another day full of interesting talks — including one hosted by yours truly, with a prominent local woman in STEM — and performances. Check out one of last week’s Amplify Philly @ Home sessions about discussing fear at work with Technical.ly CEO Chris Wink and Seer Interactive founder Wil Reynolds.

• Wednesday, Aug. 26
• 1 to 6 p.m.
• Free, register here