The Highland City Club and dojo4 are teaming up to give a handful of local technology startups an opportunity to present to the club’s Investment Circle lunch this month. The startups will get a chance to tune their pitch and reach out to some potential local investors, and members of the club will see a side of Boulder they may not have seen before!

All of the startup participants have been selected for this event. If demand is strong, expect another event like it!

The event is on Thursday, March 24. Lunch is served at noon, presentations begin at 12:30 and end by 2pm. Please plan to stay for the whole event. Cost: $20.

Seats are quite limited, and an RSVP is required. RSVP to RSVP@highlandcityclub.com.

[disclosure: I'm a founding partner at dojo4.]

If you missed Ignite 11 last night, picture this: cool evening air breezing through the open doors of a sold-out Chautauqua Auditorium; bright dusk showing between planks in the walls; the entire structure buzzing with an eager audience primed with tasty beer. The lights dim. Andrew Hyde taking the stage to fire up the largest Ignite in the world.

Consider the history of the place: Built in 1898 to house the Colorado Chautauqua’s first season, the building has been in continuous use since then. From its earliest days it hosted all manner of cultural exhibitions, music and silent films and traveling speakers. Lectures covered “current events, travel and stories, often with a comedic twist.”

The crowds attending early Chautauquas came there to participate in civic life. They came to discuss “great ideas, new ideas, and issues of public concern.”. They came for authentic, in-person encounters with their neighbors and with the great minds of the day. They came for community.

But the twentieth century charged ahead. Our cars, radios, and televisions made those early meetups seem quaint. The stage moved into our living rooms. Our neighbors could hardly compete with professional entertainers. Our local dialog was downright provincial compared with the great national conversation. Lucrative industries grew around the packaging and transcontinental distribution of cultural experiences. Many great things came to be; and, quietly, when we weren’t paying attention, many of the Chautauquas disappeared.

Well, we all know the rest of the story. The century turned. What was old is new again. Countless communities of interest have awakened for the first time, and our old geographic communities are shining through the dust of neglect. Inexpensive technology tools have reminded us that we have a voice — a beautiful voice. Our words, music and art are important again. Our neighbors are interesting again.

So: Andrew took the stage at Colorado’s Chautauqua Auditorium to fire up the largest Ignite in the world. The lights dimmed. The old building breathed with summer evening air. Bright lines of sky connected over us like a luminous web.

Of all the many Chautauquas once operating in the U.S., only a handful have survived through the decades, including the one perched in the park above Boulder. And there we were last night with our travel stories, our comical twists, our music. Our great ideas, our new ideas, our issues of public concern. Our local breweries. Our backflips. Our homegrown scene.

This is just the beginning. It’s good to be back.

(Late Friday edit: BarcampBoulder 4 is cancelled due to weather.)

Almost a year ago, I attended a session at BarCamp Vancouver ’08 called something like, “How does BarCamp apply to the real world?”

It’s a great question.  In my experience, the talking we do at an event like BarCamp is merely a part of — maybe even the start of — ongoing conversations that bounce around town, generate excitement, and spark new important/awesome/hilarious endeavors.

For example: At BarCamp Boulder 3 last year, Andrew Hyde held a little brainstorming session about how to get CU involved in the local startup scene.  He was having all sorts of trouble finding the right person or group to talk with.  We all offered ideas, and I bet most of us recalled that conversation now and again over the winter.

Some of us, it would seem, kept thinking about it and working on it.  Here we are on the eve of BarCamp Boulder 4, not even a year later, and CU is just finishing up its  first-ever CU Entrepreneurship Week.  Governor Bill Ritter is scheduled to speak this afternoon on campus about the “Entrepreneurial Ecosystem.”

As everyone reading this blog knows, Boulder has received national attention of late as an example of the entrepreneurial ecosystem.  BarCamp is one of the great watering holes of that ecosystem: Smart, engaging people come out, have a drink together, let their ideas mingle, and leave with new energy and plans.

It’s worth pointing out that BarCamp isn’t just about starting businesses or writing code: It’s about us.  It’s about living here in Boulder (or Northern Colorado, or the Rocky Mountains, or whatever).  It’s about things that we care about and work on, and connecting with others who care about or work on them too.  So if you have a topic that needs some attention, or an idea that needs some scrutiny, or a magic act that needs some volunteers, bring it.

BarCamp Boulder 4 kicks off tonight at 6 p.m. with beers (provided by Techstars), conversation, and maybe — by the looks of things — some snowy adventures.  Tomorrow morning we’ll have bagels and coffee (provided by Hop Studios) and start the sessions at 10 a.m.  Everything happens at 1375 Walnut, lower level.  Admission is free.  Sign up here so we know how many bagels to buy.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

(Not sure what a BarCamp is?  Wikipedia knows.)