Two Tech Towns, One Big Party -- but Who Knows How Much Talking

Tech Post, which looks at people and ideas driving the local technology industry, runs Friday on the WashBiz Blog, athttp://washingtonpost.com/washbizblog.

It was a melting pot of the Washington technology community.

Hundreds came from all sides: venture capitalists, Web developers, government contractors, online marketing pros, consultants and bloggers.

The goal of the Twin Tech Party was to bring together under one roof the area's two tech towns: the old tech consisting of government contractors and Beltway bandits, and the new tech consisting of social media players. In this case, they filled virtually every corner of Local 16, a spacious bar on U Street in the District.

There's no question that the goal was accomplished. The name tags on people's chests read Booz Allen Hamilton, LivingSocial, Clearspring, Core Capital, PNC Bank, Leverpoint, WilmerHale, Ozmosis. Here's what those companies focus on, respectively: government consulting, Web 2.0 development, online widgets, venture capital, retail banking, enterprise software, law, online health.

There was a question, however, of how much one side was talking to the other. But it was a step toward bringing these towns together. Bobbie Kilberg, head of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, which represents many old tech companies, shook hands with Elias Shams, founder of District-based Web search company Searchles.

The party was the brainchild of NVTC and a crew of new media types. It came three weeks and one day after two big parties were held the same night for the NVTC and for the new media community.

"It's about time they got together," said Limor Schafman of Arlington technology consultancy Keystone Tech Group, who has worked with new media firms such as Red Aphid and government contractors such as Scia Solutions. "I think particularly the NVTC group has a lot to learn from the Web 2.0 crowd."

Shana Glickfield, who works in public affairs and also runs the D.C. Concierge, an advice site for going out in the District, said organizers had thought about using different name tags for old tech and new tech. "You can put us in the same basket, but you can't make us mingle," she said jokingly. The idea was nixed.

Robert Neelbauer, who runs tech job company StaffMagnet, noted that the social media community is divided itself between PR types, bloggers and personalities, and hard-core developers.

Neelbauer said among the social media types, there's a race to be the person who brings together venture capitalists and start-ups in the same way that Michael Arrington does in Silicon Valley at his site, TechCrunch. "It's like a race for mayor of Techville," he said. "You have people who want to be the connect, the influentials, much like in Malcolm Gladwell's 'Tipping Point.' "

Art Swift, the new communications guy at NVTC, was proud of the event, and said the organization expects that it won't be an "isolated" happening.

"I've only been here five weeks and I've been able to co-create a party," he said. "We're re-examining how we do things [at the NVTC]. We don't need to plan everything six months in advance. It's a testament to the social media community how fast they got things out."

Another testament to the social media community was on display downstairs at Local 16. Sarah Lacy, a popular writer and a big personality in the Silicon Valley scene, was visiting as part of her "user generated book tour" to promote her recent tome about the Web 2.0 era, "Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good."

Lacy said that when she was planning her tour -- based on requests she gets from fans -- Washington was the first stop because it had an enthusiastic community that sent her messages in droves urging her to visit. Boston's tech scene, she said, is dead. New York's ebbs and flows. Washington's, she said, is on its way up.