Let’s Innovate for Vegas

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: We deferred the Smarter Smart City Challenge from this year to January 2027 so we get a full year to enable and encourage everybody. In the mean time, since CityCamp was a source of some ideas and inspiration, why not add CityCamp to our 2026 agenda? LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundationCityCamp https://citycamp.comSmart City Vegas https://smart-city.vegasUnconference https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconference

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: These are not challenges like the Smarter Smart City Challenge, but the sorts of challenges an organization like ours, and maybe others, have to work around to get things done, to get the word out, and to get more people to reach an Ah Ha moment, lean in, and take part. LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundation

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: Our fiscal year of Civic Volunteer Winter is coming to end on 30 June 2026, and our empty director chairs have cooled off just in time for those considering joining our Board. What are we up to for you to consider? LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundation

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: Vegas is a strange place when it comes to inviting innovation. Well, the invitations are easy, it’s the RSVPs that appear to go missing… so let’s ponder some simple machines to help make this work. LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundationSimple Machines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_machine

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: Word on the street, actual skill and ability, human interest, a desire to elevate community, all of it can be done with Artificial Intelligence. Or can it? Should it? LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundation

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: It has been a while since we added a proper sequel to the Excelsior theme (there was an Excelsior episode entering our fourth year but also Part 1 and Part 2 prior), so let us collect a few of our current goals and initiatives and other such things for Part 3. LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundation

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: No, not cancelled, but our efforts to kick off the Smarter Smart City Challenge for 2026 here in Greater Vegas were met with exactly the sorts of things we need to work through to enable and encourage ideation, innovation, and implementation at scale. Let’s talk about it. LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundation

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: Our Purpose Statement is fairly clear, and specifically vague, but one of our Missions is to Cultivate a Culture of Innovation in the Greater Vegas area through collaborative pursuit of Community Elevating Initiatives by Civic Volunteers. Why is this a good idea? LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundation

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: During this civic volunteer winter, it seems as though it might be a good time to begin state-wide outreach to like-minded people and organizations who point their innovation efforts back into Nevada for elevation at scale. LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundation

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: The Smarter Smart City Challenge is still in the Early Sign-Up phase until we reach 150, and to be honest, we are still at zero. Seems like a good time to suggest some non-tech ideas for Challenge projects! LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundation

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: Talking about Innovation and all of these things is easy, actually doing it, or more to the point, convincing people to do it, is quite the other thing. LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundation

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: We have been trying out Luma as a calendar platform and of course LinkedIn, we know about that one. And remember, not everything is software. The case for building for purpose. LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundation

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: Holopin never responded to our outreach, so Open Badges it shall be, and this is important in general for reasons we will revisit herein. LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundationOpen Badges (historical) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Open_Badges

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: We are putting together the Smarter Smart City Challenge at the time of this recording, seems like a good time to connect Challenges and our Challengers Initiative… LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundation

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: The Smarter Smart City Challenge for 2026, slightly renamed and coming together nicely, will have people asking questions about the length of the challenge and the goals, not to mention how to participate. A good topic for today! LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundation

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: We are putting together the big hackathon series or challenge or whatever we end up calling it, and never more than now is getting the word out about something in the Greater Vegas area so apparently difficult. Yipes. LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundation

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: Getting ready for Smarter Smart City Hackathon 2026, the meta-planning phase is kicking off this week to set up for the real Hackathon series that will last through the year… LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundation

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: Office hours return to weekly, trying out a new event platform for optional RSVPs, but really we are looking for more serious calendar coordination, as you may have heard previously. LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundation

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: During this week of CES2026 let us ponder the replacement of LinkedIn for a social graph of expertise. LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundation

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: Star Trek TNG fans may be imagining the Captain uttering the title of this episode, as the year actually ends we are changing our approach to connecting with our audience. LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundation

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: We have looked into the near term, we have wrapped up a few things, but how about a quick retrospective of the last calendar year? LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundation

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: Hackathons are not always appreciated as the flexible innovation approach they could be, even by those who have participated in a hackathon. Let us discuss the possibilities… (Cover art photo from PennApps X, September 2014 taken by me) LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundationHackathon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HackathonSouthern Nevada Strong 2050 https://www.southernnevadastrong.org/

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: As this calendar year draws to a close, during this civic volunteer winter, the time is right to catch up on some of those less-shiny to-do items on the list… LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundation

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: Our Foundation Initiatives are all open source endeavors, and we really like to use open source tools to pursue them. What does that mean? LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundationOpen Source Initiative https://opensource.org/Open Source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: This is a holiday week, at the end of the calendar year, in some part of the civic volunteer winter, as we transition into more accomplishment-centric audio programs over aspirational audio programs (which may be produced now and then, and maybe some interviews and other discussion on occasion), let us take a moment to talk about STEAM and More. LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundationSTEAM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STEAM_educationLearning Styles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_styles

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: In recent weeks we covered switching the script, our mission statements, tuning up how we are pursuing everything in the near term, and now we can talk about the civic volunteer winter and how we can pass the time effectively while the season passes. LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundationAI Winter (for reference) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_winterPenpot https://penpot.app/

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: We have covered our Purpose Statement, which is fairly broad and vague by design, what we have not covered so much are our Mission Statements. LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundation

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: The Tao of Steve presented an interesting philosophy that we may need to adopt for our efforts in the near term. LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundationThe Tao of Steve https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tao_of_Steve

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: Our foundation is sounding a bit flat, some tuning is necessary, even essential, as we move forward in the Dark City that is Greater Vegas. LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundation

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: Civic Volunteerism is a tough sell, to be sure, but what about general involvement in the world of Innovation in, near, or beyond the Greater Vegas locality? Where are we headed? LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundation

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: Personally, I would like to see a return of the Hackathon here in Vegas, some for public projects and whatnot, others coincident with our Initiatives as we used to have, open for anybody and visible to everybody. LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundationThe Sprint Book https://www.thesprintbook.com/Hackathon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HackathonSmart City https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_city

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: We have not covered these in a while, and not really from the perspective of initiatives into the future. Let us change that today. LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundation

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: Badges? We don’t need no stinkin’ badges! Or, maybe we do? LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundation

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: Federation is all the rage, helping individuals and cohorts to connect across different types of technology platforms using open protocols and tools to decentralize participation and access. It is something we are leaning into heavily for our Smarter Smart City efforts… LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundationFederation (general) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FederationFediverse (communication federation) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fediverse

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: Another year, another Hacktoberfest, this time with some changes on their end, and some chaos in the world. Seems like a good time to put Project-ACT out there. LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundationProject-ACT.info https://project-act.infoAgileForVolunteers.org https://agileforvolunteers.orgHacktoberfest Home https://hacktoberfest.comHelpWanted tool https://helpwanted.devGitHubRepos tool https://githubrepos.online

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: Enable and Encourage, two words which appear in our own purpose statement and which are easy to gloss over perhaps, but I would argue these are integral elements of any effort to cultivate a Culture of Innovation, which you may have heard, we are in need of here in the Greater Vegas area. LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundationProject-ACT.info https://project-act.infoAgileForVolunteers.org https://agileforvolunteers.orgElementary Maker Space https://www.ksl.com/article/51370862/stepping-into-the-future-jordan-school-district-opens-first-of-its-kind-innovation-labInnovation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innovation

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: We have talked about our all-volunteer organization, that we pay zero cash for hard work and dedication, relying instead on other forms of reward and return on investment, not to mention our look toward deploying volunteer initiatives externally for potential monetization. LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundationProject-ACT.info https://project-act.infoAgileForVolunteers.org https://agileforvolunteers.org

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: Part of what we are trying to accomplish, and really a part of what any vibrant Entrepreneurial Innovation Ecosystem needs to look after, is ongoing cultivation of a Culture of Innovation, where novel ideas are met with curiosity, novel efforts are met with enthusiasm, and novel implementation is met with interest. LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundationProject-ACT.info https://project-act.infoAgileForVolunteers.org https://agileforvolunteers.orgThe Things We Make by Dr Bill Hammack https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/75598048-the-things-we-makeLost in Austin by Alex Hannaford https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199531956-lost-in-austinEureka https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eureka_(2006_TV_series)

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: A collection of various bits of update and novel notion as the summer heat meets a new school year and a calmed tourist season, no time like the present to examine community elevation on a civic volunteer basis… LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundationProject-ACT.info https://project-act.infoAgileForVolunteers.org https://agileforvolunteers.org

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: Another school year is beginning here in the Greater Vegas area, a perfect time to consider how civic volunteer initiatives might fit into a forward-looking curriculum and student experience. LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundationProject-ACT.info https://project-act.infoAgileForVolunteers.org https://agileforvolunteers.org

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: Call it a side gig, call it a passion project, call it twenty percent time, there are a variety of ways to redirect some volunteer time, effort, and expertise toward community elevation. LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundationProject-ACT.info https://project-act.infoAgileForVolunteers.org https://agileforvolunteers.org

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: Way back in Episode 4 the topic of AI first entered our episodic discussions, where are we today, moving at the speed of insanity this many months later… LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundationProject-ACT.info https://project-act.infoAgileForVolunteers.org https://agileforvolunteers.org

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: The common scenario is external contribution to open source projects, or lack there of, but what about any open initiative, whether yours or someone else’s, is it worthwhile to add time, effort, and expertise? LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundationProject-ACT.info https://project-act.infoAgileForVolunteers.org https://agileforvolunteers.orgWhy Nobody Does It Anymore https://medium.com/@ThreadSafeDiaries/this-is-why-nobody-submits-prs-to-open-source-anymore-e3d8d18d7b1d

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: Our foundation is focused not only on ideation, innovation, and implementation, but on developing the skills to do these, and more, individually and collaboratively. LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundationProject-ACT.info https://project-act.infoAgileForVolunteers.org https://agileforvolunteers.org

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: Perhaps you heard it mentioned in the movie, Up in the Air, or maybe you know it to be a real thing, this is what glocal means for our Foundation moving forward. LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundationProject-ACT.info https://project-act.infoAgileForVolunteers.org https://agileforvolunteers.orgGlocal https://www.dictionary.com/browse/glocalGlocalization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glocalization

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: A Latin word usually translated into English as “Ever Upward,” the path we hope to follow as we enter our fourth fiscal year, which happens to be just about the same as our fourth year as a Nevada Nonprofit corporation. The adventure continues… LinksInnovate for Vegas Activity https://innovateforvegas.orgInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.foundationProject-ACT.info https://project-act.infoAgileForVolunteers.org https://agileforvolunteers.org

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: The next episode of this audio program will be on the first day of our fourth fiscal year, a little over three years at this undertaking, so why not share a few end-of-year thoughts and notions? So here they are… LinksInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.orgProject-ACT.info https://project-act.infoAgileForVolunteers.org https://agileforvolunteers.orgMastodon for Vegas https://mastodon.vegas

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: The original forkening effort was implemented to provide an onramp of sorts for coders, in keeping with our Code for Vegas origins, and Creators, who may have felt not-being coders was an issue. We have since reimagined that with our rename and some restructuring, now we need to be more obvious about our Foundation itself. LinksInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.orgProject-ACT.info https://project-act.infoAgileForVolunteers.org https://agileforvolunteers.orgMastodon for Vegas https://mastodon.vegas

Show Notes Host: Dan Hugo Summary: We have talked about Cohorts, Motivation, and The Business of Civic Volunteerism in recent episodes, now the real challenge, advancing the cause or causes and making sure there is something to get Attention for (that was yet another recent episode) LinksInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.orgProject-ACT.info https://project-act.infoAgileForVolunteers.org https://agileforvolunteers.orgMastodon for Vegas https://mastodon.vegas

Show NotesHost: Dan HugoSummary: We touched on this a bit in a previous episode about Cohorts, but it is actually quite important, if you plan to form a nonprofit or similar business entity, to decide where the line between the business and the volunteering is and make sure that line is clear.LinksInnovate for Vegas Foundation https://innovateforvegas.orgProject-ACT.info https://project-act.infoAgileForVolunteers.org https://agileforvolunteers.orgMastodon for Vegas https://mastodon.vegas