Boston TechJam 2016 brings together everyone with a love for technology

Boston TechJam 2016 is the fourth annual technology expo exclusive to the city. 

A typical citizen of Boston walking past the City Hall Plaza in Boston on June 16^th would have had to have glanced over and see the large white tents displaying various company names, the smell of food trucks and lively music being played.

Boston TechJam, an annual gathering of startups, national companies and avid technology users, took place in the historic City Hall Plaza. The event turned out to be the largest in the event’s brief history.

The event welcomes everyone with exciting music

Upon walking through the entrance, and being greeted by the friendly workers of the event, attendees will notice the plaza has been set up as a high tech carnival of sorts. White tents are placed all around the plaza, with each company being represented.

The 2016 Boston TechJam was sponsored by Monster.com, Rocket Software and Harpoon. Harpoon was also selling their wide variety of beer to the attendees.

The alluring smell of fast food from the local food trucks made the guests and representatives hungry for grilled cheese, offered by Roxy’s Grilled Cheese or sausages sold by the Sausage Guys.

Matt Ducett, a representative of Monster.com, took the stage to welcome all guests:

“We’re here because we represent the heart of the tech scene,” Ducett proudly told the crowd. “Monster started here in Boston nearly two decades ago and we were one of the first startups in the country.”

The love for technology and the startups urge to spread the knowledge of their products and services matched the enthusiasm of Ducett and his company’s statement.

Three musical acts performed on the stage, each with a unique music variety. The Subway DJ played techno remixes of popular songs, East Coast Soul covered classic Motown and R&B songs and the Bad Rabbits brought their creative sound to the 2016 Boston TechJam.

A new feature for this year was each area of the plaza was split up into its own district named after parts of Boston. The area where startups were selling their products, like Wayfair shilling their t-shirts, is called Haymarket for example.

Security and backup startups had a major presence

Boston TechJam is home nearly a hundred different companies showcasing what they have to offer the growing technology world. Every startup appearing at the expo had a simple game and/or raffle to bring in the crowd. In some cases, there was a mascot outside of the booth, such as Black Duck Software having a dancing duck.

Black Duck Software was also one of the many security and backup companies attending the 2016 Boston TechJam. In fact, security and software protection companies had the biggest presence at the expo. Black Duck protect open source software for its developers and users. Mimecast, who were giving out novelty sunglasses, offers e-mail server and account protection for small businesses and even offer some cloud protection.

Ipswitch is another security based startup company who protects cloud services. For their exhibit at Boston TechJam, the company had guests take pictures with themselves holding a sign with what they thought Boston Tech was about.

Dave Seuss, the Senior Content Manager at Ipswitch, has been with the company and has attended three Boston TechJam events.

“We [Ipswitch] are based in Lexington,” said Seuss. “But when we come to the Boston TechJam we always feel like we are a part of the technology scene.”

Other startups had unique booths and offers

Additional companies attending include Hollister Staffing, who had a basketball game similar to the ones seen at an arcade. Mark Hollister, the founder and CEO of the company, says Hollister Staffing is deeply involved with the technology world in Boston.

“We offer jobs in human resources and sales, but technology jobs are our biggest market,” Hollister said. “I have been doing this for nearly 28 years and the scene keeps on growing.”

Evergage was one of the many companies who represented the personalization platform and design side of the Boston technology scene. Evergage allows its clients to create unique pages for any kind of use. The company has allowing anyone to network with them for potential jobs.

Pixability, who had VR video games at their booth, has a background in video advertising.

“You know those annoying ads that play before YouTube and Facebook videos,” asks Stephanie Amancio, the Talent Acquisition manager of the company. “Pixability tries to find the best ad for a certain demographic.”

Guests could see how the Boston tech scene is home to a wide range of companies who provide unique services and products. In today’s day and age, it is interesting to see.

The Urban Beach provided some much needed relaxation

New to this year’s event is the Urban Beach, which was set up as a would-be ocean side boardwalk. Urban Beach is where the food trucks were parked and slushies were offered. There were even a few hammocks that resembled abstract artwork for tired TechJam goers.

Boston TechJam also represents national companies

Amazon.com, Verizon and Comcast were three of the major national companies who were present at the event. Amazon actually had two separate booths, one for their Amazon Robotics department and one offering jobs. The job offering booth was actually showcasing a new slogan for Amazon, dubbed “We Pioneer” reflecting the online shopping giant’s new formats in technology.

Boston TechJam 2016 is a blast for everyone involved and attending

Starting at 4 in the afternoon and going on until 10 at night, the 2016 Boston TechJam is a great time for all of those who attended. It was also a chance for anyone to network with some of the biggest and brightest companies from around the area, as well as enjoying what they had to offer.

Colin Barry

I like honey roasted peanuts because they are delicious. I also like the Metal Slug games and X-Men comics because they are awesome.