Trevor Lohrbeer (Fast Fedora) @ World Domination Summit 2013

Writer

I blog at Fast Fedora and Lean Decisions.

20 years ago I wrote a travelogue about hitchhiking around the U.S. which is yet to be published.

I also wrote 4 chapters of Dynamic HTML Unleashed, an early book on what became Web 2.0.

Dancer

I won my first dance contest in 3rd grade—and haven’t competed since.

I’m strongest at Lindy Hop & but also do Charleston, Balboa & Blues.

I love dancing to hip-hop, Balkan, industrial, 80s, house and more.

And I still enjoy a good contra dance now and then.

Entrepreneur

SlamBook! was a home page add-on for teenagers that I sold in 1999.

New Orleans Web Design was a short-lived web design firm in 1999.

True Peers was a social network for professionals (ala LinkedIn) that I co-founded in 1999 & closed in 2001.

Agile Muse Development was a short-lived web development firm.

Lab Escape I co-founded in 2003, which I still run today.

Community Organizer

My current projects include:

Open Dashboard, a dashboard for community organizations

Startup Weekend Asheville, a 54-hour startup event this fall

Ignite Asheville, a lightning talk event we hold each February

In the past, I co-founded:

Meet the Geeks, a networking event for IT folk in Western North Carolina

The A.R.K., a multidisciplinary community arts space in New Orleans

CEO

I co-founded & run Lab Escape.

We sell heat map data visualization software to large and mid-sized companies to help managers gain quicker and deeper insights into their data.

Lab Escape turned 10 years old in June.

Circus Performer

I’ve performed with several circuses, acting as master of ceremonies, fire spinner and accountant.

I co-organized the 3rd Nomadic Festival, a circus tour that went from San Francisco to Boston.

I don’t spin fire anymore, but I used to do fire poi, fire jump rope, fire swords & fire eating.

Web Developer

My first home page was back in 1992.

In 1995, I landed in San Francisco & got hired by Maximum Information, a startup that developed WebC, an early web application frameworks.

Since then, I’ve programmed in Perl, Classic ASP, ASP.Net, JavaScript, Java applets, J2EE & PHP.

I’m now updating my JavaScript skills, then hope to finish learning Python & Django.

Traveler

I spent 3 years hitchhiking across the U.S. in the early ’90s after dropping out of college.

I’ve gone to Europe often—my father grew up outside Cologne, Germany.

My favorite international cities include Barcelona, Prague & Amsterdam.

Und, Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch.

Life Hacking

I love learning new ways to improve myself & my business.

I (mostly) eat a Slow Carb Diet, a diet similar to paleo.

I’ve used a standing desk for 3 years.

I’m exploring Followup.cc for task management and Fancy Hands for virtual assistance.

Decision-Making

Since 2010, I’ve been researching how we make decisions, to identify decision patterns that can help us make decisions faster & with better outcomes.

Last June, I launched Lean Decisions and published 50 articles on how to make better decisions.

Currently on hiatus, I still love learning & talking about decision-making.

Barefoot Running

Never a runner, I started barefoot-style running 2 years ago.

I’m slowly getting better. I now run continuously for 20-30 minutes at a time, 3-4 times a week.

I love learning new tips & insights, and plan to join in a run at WDS.

Quantified Self

I enjoy tracking data about myself, but I’m not a zealot.

I use a FitBit to track my steps & sleep and use MapMyRun to track my runs.

I have spreadsheets to track my resolutions & any health issues.

Games

I love games of all stripes: cards, board games & sports.

I play Carcassonne & Scrabble on my iPad, plus dozens of quick games on my phone.

I used to play Texas Hold ‘Em poker weekly & love German board games.

Exercise

I plan to live to be 100.

I never liked exercise, and don’t really now. But I force myself to do it.

I (try to) lift weights 2x a week, run 3x a week, dance 2x a week, and hike, bike & do yoga whenever I can.

I often fail.

The Science of Happiness

I love learning about positive psychology and the science of happiness.

I’ve been learning how to express appreciation better & how to create space for forgiveness.

I was learning to meditate using Headspace, but it dropped on the priority list.

I occasionally write a gratitude entry in my FitBit journal.

And Much More…

I love…Tom Baker best as Doctor Who (though David Tennant comes in a close second), TED talks (who doesn’t?), inspiring others & helping them think through problems, any TV show written by Steven Moffat or Joss Whedon, books by Anaïs Nin & Robert Heinlein, startups & economic development, coming up with new ways to meet people, Shiraz or Malbec, quality intellectual conversation and new adventures.

I Dropped Out of College

I went to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as a dual Physics/Biology major. I quickly switched to Math so I could take art & music electives.

When I ran out of art & music courses, I dropped out and spent 3 years living as an artist on the streets and hitchhiking across the country.

It was one of the best decisions I ever made.

My Age is 33…in Base 12

To be young, you have to think young. And I think I’m young.

To encourage the spirit of youthfulness, I often state my age in different mathematical bases.

In base 13, I’m 30; in base 15, I’m 29; and in base 19, I’m 21.

Find me at WDS & I’ll give you a younger age.

I Helped Test GPS

After high school, I got a job writing test software for ship & submarine navigation systems for the U.S. Navy.

The software I wrote graphed the data they were collecting while testing GPS—the same GPS used in our phones today.

It was my first data visualization job.

My Vision Is 2-D

I only see in two dimensions. My eyes have been crossed all my life. They don’t merge into a single image.

But there’s a bonus: one eye is near-sighted and the other is far-sighted. Since I only use one at a time, I don’t need glasses.

In fact, it means I won’t need reading glasses until I’m much older.

I Didn’t Drink Until Age 25

Until eighth grade, my father was a practicing alcoholic. As such, I avoided alcohol through my teens & into my 20s.

To avoid the social pressure, I used to tell people I was allergic to alcohol.

My first drink: absinthe in Prague.

I’m a 1st Generation German

My father was born at the end of World War II in a small village outside Cologne, Germany.

My mother’s mother came from Durbach, outside the Black Forest.

Through my father, I have dual citizenship by birth.

Lindy Focus (Dec 26 – Jan 1)

Each year I’ve attended Lindy Focus I’ve grown tremendously as a swing dancer.

This year will be my 3rd year. Besides the Lindy track, I’m taking Specialty Charleston & Lindy Hop Cross Training.

Transformus (Jul 19 – 22)

The former Southwest Regional for Burning Man continues in its 10th year in the lush forests of Asheville.

Find me at the Local Fauna theme camp at Transformus.

Business of Software (Oct 28-30)

Business of Software has both amazing speakers and amazing attendees, similar to WDS.

It’s the conference to attend if you work on the business side of software. This will be my 4th year.

Startup Weekend Asheville (Fall 2013)

Create a new business in 54 hours? You bet.

We’re organizing our second Startup Weekend in Asheville.

Coming from out of town? We might have travel packages.

MassTLC Innovation unConference (Nov 1)

One of the best unconferences I’ve ever been to. Over 800 people talking about innovation & entrepreneurship.

I missed last year, but will be there for my 3rd year this year.

Check out the web site for details.

OpenVis Conf (May 16 – 17)

A conference about data visualization on the web I attended up in Boston.

During the conference, I took the opportunity to learn the d3 data visualization library.

Check out the talks from this year’s conference.