Lunch and Learns, Me, and being Vegan

How many of you have ever attended a “Lunch and Learn”.  For those of you not familiar it typically will involved a Partner, Vendor or someone with some information to share, and often involves food (Usually Pizza or Sandwiches).

Here are the typical conditions following lunch and learns “Wow, you mean there’ll be free food? Sure I’ll come to the lunch and learn!” or “I’m interested in that topic, but I love free food!”

Yes, those are very true and strong conditions when it comes to lunch and learns.   Now let’s shift the tables a bit, and you become me.  Hi, I’m Christopher and I’m vegan, and I love people and technology.  So what does this mean?

If I am attending a lunch and learn, it is NOT for the food.    When I attend these events it is because I want the “Learn” component of the lunch and learn.  Even when it’s a subject that I know implicitly, it also has it’s value of my ability to ask questions (Both those questions I want to know the answers to, and those which others may not be asking but they really need to know the answers to and it isn’t being covered).   These same guidelines apply to user groups as well, which is to say, whenever I go somewhere it is RARELY if ever for the food.

Just think about that, if you ever see me at a Lunch and Learn, a TechEd Party, User Group meeting or who knows what – I am either there to learn, meet you, or educate in my ever so technical evangelist way, but I’m never there for the food, nor am I ever there to be the ‘know it all ass who wants to show you what I know’.  I’m more interested in what you know and if you have any questions or challenges, I love solving problems!

I did this before I did it for a living, and if I won the lotto tomorrow (Let’s make that Tuesday, for $180million please) I’ll continue to do it, because I care more about the education and growth of our community than I do anything else.   An attitude of growth, sincerity and caring matter far more to me than egos, or free food :)   Think about it the next time you meet a Vegan Technologist, we’re definitely not in it for the food ;)