Philly ETE: Mayor Michael Nutter makes surprise appearance [VIDEO]

In a keynote address to kick off the 7th annual two-day Emerging Technologies for the Enterprise Conference, LivingSocial Vice President of Engineering Chad Fowler talked about how to apply engineering systems thinking to non-engineering situations.

One thing he didn’t explain was how engineering systems thinking might help you react when Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter makes a surprise appearance to offer your introduction.

Philly ETE, organized by Chariot Solutions, brings together members of the enterprise IT  field from up and down the East Coast for two days of lectures and discussion from industry experts in Old City. This year, the conference again sold out with approximately 540 people registering, Philly ETE Co-chair and Chariot Solutions CMO Tracey Welson-Rossman told Technically Philly.

The first day of Philly ETE started with the excitement of Mayor Nutter, but it also ended with excitement of social trip planning site Ajungo winning Chariot’s first Project of the Year award, for producing the most innovative software in 2011. Self-service contest builder WizeHive and Peirce College won honorable mention.

Mayor Nutter addressed what seemed to be a genuinely surprised crowd of about 300 or more attendees at the Sheraton Society Hill grand ballroom, discussing the importance of the growing technology community in Philadelphia.

“The IT community is one that is continually thriving. It is an industry that grows, creates jobs and economic opportunity and develops innovations that are very very important for our city,” Mayor Nutter said. “We’re proud to have such a booming industry here in Philadelphia.”

You can see Mayor Nutter’s full introduction below:

In a talk titled, “Self Engineering,” Fowler went on to outline key engineering steps to apply to your personal health and relationship challenges: set requirement definitions, agile process, design, testing, measurement, and automation. He said he used these engineering tools in his effort to lose weight.

“I propose that we start thinking about our lives the way we do day to do as engineers,” Fowler said. “We are all actually looking for one thing, we are all looking for happiness, and that’s not a bad thing.”

Here’s video of Fowler explaining why achieving happiness is a complex system that can be addressed using engineering systems thinking strategies.

Though the day got a late start as a result of the Mayor’s guest appearance, the conference attendees spent the rest of the day attending as many of the ten available lectures as possible. In between lectures, sponsors had informational tables set up with t-shirts and pens galore.

Philly ETE offered a handy mobile app to help keep everyone on schedule.

The much awaited Project of the Year awards closed out the first day of Philly ETE before participants could head off to a happy hour sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark and a Tap Overflow after party sponsored by Relay and Monetate.

The event was livestreaming for those who were waitlisted. Not all of the presentation slides are available, but Alex Hillman, cofounder of Indy Hall, posted his slide deck online here.