Innovation through Inclusion: Cultivating Community in Tech

In this community-minded episode of Nomad Futurist, hosts Nabeel Mahmood and Phillip Koblence welcome Paul Hammer, the co-founder and host of Uptime Punks, a digital transformation-focused podcast that interviews tech experts from Europe and all over the world. With a background in tech events and marketing, Hammer leverages his skills in events with tech.STARS, an event series centered on building community in tech.During the episode, Hammer discusses the ground-up approach to changing tech events to reach through the generational gap and draw in younger tech enthusiasts:“If you have an event, which runs the same way for 10, 15, 20 years, you're not going to change it. You might change the packaging and the colors of it, but the inside is still the same, and this is something that can't be changed. You need to find somebody who gives you the backing and the support. I think this is worth a shot. Why don't we try to do something completely different?”.Hammer shares how he was inspired to innovate the setup of tech events:“I was always passionate about communities and bringing people together. There's nothing that brings you more than bringing people together and seeing people smile. For me, it's a reward when people make connections and take knowledge away from it.”Hammer’s passion lies in making space for the younger generations in tech and allowing them to innovate and lead the industry in new directions:“Let's put these young people on stage and let them express how they actually feel. I think this will be a jaw-dropping moment for a lot of executives in the tech industry. Let's empower them and put them on the stage and let them talk, and everybody should listen to them because they're the leaders of the future.”Hammer highlights throughout this episode how his background, surrounded by different cultures, ages, and classes of people, inspired him to center these differences in his event planning. By opening up the tech industry beyond the same people who have been involved in it for the past decades, everyone can benefit from the diversity of experiences that the tech industry can promote through centering different ages, backgrounds, and groups of people.