Building communities helps improve internal communications, helps us pursue our passions, and encourages us to learn something new. As we head into summer, let’s dive into what makes communities tick with our experts Felix Zeltner, Jerry Li, Denise Hayman-Loa and Alex Lindsay. Register today!

Congratulations new college graduates, all nearly 4 million of you (BS and AS degrees) in the United States. 2023 may be a little dicey for tech graduates, thanks to post-pandemic rightsizing and cooling macroeconomics.

Bright spots? Services industries are hungry for employees. Other tidbits? San Jose hires the most newly minted graduates, while Houston lets their new incomes go furthest. And according to Axios, 4-year-college enrollment remains flat while community colleges are having a moment.

And then there’s the old English major joke:

How do you tell the difference between an English major, a Math major, and a programmer?

Answer: Ask them what "!" is.

Marc Andreessen famously wrote that “Software will eat the world.” But hardware is the master chef, preparing the ingredients for success, meaning that chips with AI chops are going to be coveted, even hoarded.

For decades we’ve associated Intel with cutting-edge chips, but today’s crown goes to Nvidia for specialized processors that can speed up AI. Nvidia doesn’t actually manufacture chips; they design them for manufacture elsewhere. Last week the company hit close to a trillion-dollar valuation. Chips that can handle the processing requirements of new generative AI systems are in short supply, and almost all of them are designed by Nvidia.

“It’s Iike toilet paper during the pandemic,” said Sharon Zhou, co-founder and CEO of Lamini, an AI company, in a Wall Street Journal article about chip hoarding. For the moment most of the chips are being gobbled up by big cloud-processing companies, but trust us, we’re about to see a new generation of GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) and CPU (Central Processing Unit) machines for personal use as well.

The subject of meetings and how to improve them is the equivalent of “Ten Ways to Slimmer Thighs” in the magazine world. The topic never gets old, but always has a new twist based on the latest gadget or tech. We learned a lot about holding effective meetings while we were in quarantine. Wired explored how to make ‘em shorter and more tolerable. It starts with agendas and built-in timers and ends with really quick birthday celebrations. Try it and tell us what you think.

We long for community, but it's data that helps steer us in the right way. Forward-thinking companies are getting serious about their tech-forward, digital-first approach to events and meetings. Community Brands, a provider of meeting services, held a data-filled gem of a webinar introducing their newest study called “Advancing the Next Generation of Events.”

Tools for the Week and Tips for Using Them
Tip: I’ve been trying out so many AIs that my subscription bills could skyrocket. Most of them offer a free trial and then start a monthly fee after a few weeks. I make a careful note in my calendar about when to unsubscribe.

Tools
This week it’s all about conversion, SEO and landing pages. Event and meeting creators should take a close look.

• ThunderContent is a generative AI suite that helps you write copy that’s SEO optimized so you’ll have improved open rates.
• Unbounce optimizes your landing pages based on its intelligence.

For more on what we’re up to, especially our consulting efforts, click here.