An interview with Diana Prechter of TodayInAustin

I first met Diana Prechter seventeen years ago when I was a waiter and manager at the Magnolia Café south, which she and her husband Kent Cole own (along with the other Magnolia Café on Lake Austin Boulevard). Diana and Kent know more than a few things about creating interesting spaces that are very Austin-centric. Diana also owned Prima Dora, a gift store. And now, moving from bricks and mortar, she and Ruth Framel have put their web development skills together to create TodayInAustin.com, which aggregates all the good things going on in Austin on any given day. I recently caught up with her via email to get her take on building community in Austin.

Spike Gillespie: What’s the purpose of TodayInAustin?
Diana Prechter: We want to be an entertainment web site that is simple to use and represents the broadest range of interesting events. Our web site reflects who we are: a couple of Boomers who have more free time, disposable income, and who want to know what our options are for entertainment without too much internet socializing or advertising getting in the way.

Spike: In a recent interview, you said it took about a year to get up and running. How do you get the word out?
Diana: I don’t think you can ever underestimate the power of word of mouth advertising. Little by little, the word is leaking out about our site. We’re getting close to 300 subscribers who want to get some thread of news from us daily. We’re thrilled and we anticipate more growth.

Spike: Do you see TIA as a community building tool?
Diana: Whereas other entertainment web sites are good at promoting art or music events, we are the only one I know of that’s inviting businesses to enter the “entertainment” calendar. We include any organization that has a bricks-and-mortar location and fun events for the public. That means that we need the participation of business and arts organizations to support what we are doing. The more they participate and cross-promote each other (and us) the better for all of them.

Spike: You’ve had a lot of business success in Austin, not just financial success, but also success in creating distinct, memorable locations. Did you and Kent accomplish this more in a learn-as-you-go fashion or did you have really specific goals and strategies?
Diana: Let me just say that the Magnolia Cafes only reflect who Kent, I and our employees are. We’re not very slick. We’ve never hired a fancy consultant, never even let a professional decorator give us (much needed!) advice. The permanent painting on the wall at the South location was done by an employee, the hanging dinosaurs by a customer, and the cooks in the kitchen are much better cooks than Kent and I. I would say that Kent has been an excellent leader and has a great sense for managing resources; but equally important is the idea of “strength from below” for our business. We’re there to clarify the vision for the Magnolia Cafes and provide our employees the resources to best serve the needs of our customers. We are so very grateful for the unique Magnolia Café community of employees and customers.

That sense of gratitude and community working together is the foundation for TodayinAustin as well. Ruth and I work hard, for no pay, learn-as-you-go, but ready to be in a place of giving something back to a community that’s been very generous and loving to us. And we are daily learning from the community and from “the ether” and trying to integrate what we learn into TIA.

Spike: When people visit TIA do you think they feel more overwhelmed by the possibilities or relieved there’s a way to sort them out?
Diana: Simply put, our goal is for people to feel relieved! It’s got to be simple for me to enjoy this information. I would never go to 2 or 3 web sites to find out what’s going on today, and Austin has over 100 of them. We are trying to sort the information in a simple way and we are evolving in response to the community. TIA offers an elegant solution. TIA does the reading and filtering from over 100 web site feeds. On a single day, there may be only 5 events or more than 25, but you can see them all in a few seconds in a Reader. Click on them to go to the web site that published the information.

Offering a mobile solution is also part of keeping it simple. People can be on the go, out in the world, and ask “what’s fun to do now?”  Our events look great in mobile devices like the iPhone and Blackberry.

Spike: Some people view the web and the wired life as isolating, others view it as a real community builder. At LaunchPad Coworking we look at it both ways — we’re building a space to help folks who do a lot of work virtually to have a physical space in which to commune. You’ve been online a long time — what’s your take on the online life and web as a tool/community fosterer?
Diana: Coworking sounds like it will be a great idea for some people. I hear about people who work at home and they (1) eat too much, (2) are too distracted, or (3) can’t stop working. Well, I sort of fall into that last category. Personally, I like being alone, and can concentrate for hours without hardly breathing. I need a support group for exercise!  Also, I’m beginning to feel repetitive stress injury at my desk and keyboard. Could I rent a space at the coworking office already equipped with some ergonomically correct desk/char/keyboard? Maybe I’m a candidate for a coworking space. Probably if I could read an online profile of the other co-workers who’ll be sharing the space, to understand what they’re hoping to gain, that would help me figure out if there’s a buddy for me in the group, overlapping my personal strengths and weaknesses.