#ifdef

NoonHat is a pretty cool concept. During a CED event that I attended a while back, one speaker encouraged everyone to have lunch occasionally with someone outside of their inner circle; preferably outside of their industry. That seems to be Brian Dorsey’s motivation for NoonHat as well.

It’s pretty good advice for two reasons. We benefit from the constant exercise of pushing the boundaries of our personal space. Meeting new people and sharing experiences is like many other skills; the more practice you get, the easier it becomes.

Another is that as technologists and entrepreneurs, we should always be on the look out for pain points. Unfortunately, nails are the only problem gleaned from a group of people all holding hammers. So expand your contacts and increase your understanding of other peoples’ daily grind. It’s likely that early NoonHat adopters will be techies, but over time, hopefully the word will get out.

NoonHat encourages you to bring a friend which sounds like a perfect idea if one-on-one discussion with someone you just met makes you squeamish.

Unfortunately, no one was available for my first attempt. I’ll keep at it by choosing every other Thursday as my NoonHat day and try again the first week of September. If your NoonHat shadow falls across Raleigh or Durham, then let’s do lunch.