Portland TechCrawl is back with modified in-person event

After an all-virtual event last year, the Portland TechCrawl is back with a modified in-person event Sept. 9.

Instead of a crawl through different company offices — which is the traditional event — this year it will be a community party at White Owl Social Club in Southeast Portland. From 5 to 10 p.m. Participating companies will have tables set up around the perimeter of the outdoor event, said Stanford Scriven, organizer of the event and managing director of Newmark.

The event is capped at 400 attendees and there are a handful of tickets left. Proof of vaccination will be required for entry at White Owl Social Club. The event is following the venue’s requirements and will use whatever rules are up to date.

Like previous years, the organizers of the TechCrawl started receiving emails earlier this summer asking if the event would be happening again, Scriven said. Because of that, the organizing group decided to once again hold the event. However, it would again be adjusted because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We get the push from the community,” said Scriven about the decision to move ahead this year. “Secondly, we need events. We need to commune with each other; right now more than ever. It’s been a tough couple of years. Events like this are key to keeping the community together.”

The TechCrawl started in 2012 and has grown from a loose community celebration to bring awareness to the growing number of tech companies in town. It’s now also a big job fair where companies could introduce themselves and their space to potential employees.

A typical year would see about 40 companies, usually in and around downtown, open their doors to thousands of people who would wander through for drinks, snacks and conversation.

However, with the Covid-19 pandemic, the event has shifted. Last year it was virtual and had 15 companies participate with about 300 attendees.

In addition to Newmark, the other main sponsor of the this year’s event is digital marketing company Logical Position.

That event was successful, and organizers were pleased, said Scriven. However, they had hoped this year's return to in-person would be a step back toward some normalcy.

“We took a poll of participants, and it was pretty clear that the method was to have a block party-style event and not go to offices,” he said. “It’s outdoors, we are not entering offices and (we wanted) to make everyone feel comfortable to do this event that is really important to the community.”

There are 13 companies that will have tables for recruiting. There are some spots left for companies to sign up. Scriven said that with the emergence of the Covid-19 Delta variant has made it harder to get some of the bigger companies in town to make the event a priority, or there are internal rules against in-person events.

Here’s who has signed up so far: