Chris Pirillo
{{Short description|American businessman and television personality}}
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{{Infobox person
| name = Chris Pirillo
| image = Chris Pirillo speaking at Gnomedex in 2007 photograph by Kris Krug.jpg
| caption = Pirillo speaking at Gnomedex in 2007
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| yearsactive = 2000–present
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| website = {{URL|http://chris.pirillo.com/}}
}}
Chris Pirillo is an American entrepreneur and former television personality. He is the founder and former CEO of LockerGnome, Inc., a network of technology-focused blogs, web forums, mailing lists, and online communities that operated from 1996 to 2015. Pirillo was also a host of Call for Help, a call-in tech support show which aired on TechTV from 2001 to 2003. From 2001 to 2011, he hosted Gnomedex, a single-track technology conference.
Career
LockerGnome began as a technology mailing list in 1996, offering advice for operating systems and applications, software suggestions (with an emphasis on public domain and shareware software), and website recommendations.[http://www.lockergnome.com/about "About"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831220223/http://www.lockergnome.com/about/ |date=August 31, 2009 }} lockergnome.com Over time, the site expanded to incorporate content syndicated from LockerGnome's blogs for IT professionals.[http://www.lockergnome.com/it/ "IT Professionals feed"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090901223057/http://www.lockergnome.com/it/ |date=September 1, 2009 }}. lockergnome.com The associated web forum for technology assistance and discussion operated from 2002 to 2015.[https://web.archive.org/web/20150415072636/http://help.lockergnome.com/general/Lockergnome-Help-Forum-Closure--ftopict66973.html "Lockergnome Help Forum Closure"]. lockergnome.com[http://geekwith.com/ Geeks – Reviews, News, and How To!] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130610203347/http://geekwith.com/ |date=June 10, 2013}}. GeekWith.com. Retrieved on May 25, 2013.
Pirillo was the co-host of the show Call For Help on the former cable television channel TechTV from 2001 to 2003.{{cn|date=April 2025}}
Pirillo has authored several books, including Poor Richard's E-mail Publishing, Online! The Book, the latter co-authored with John C. Dvorak and Wendy Taylor.[http://isbndb.com/d/book/poor_richards_e_mail_publishing.html "Poor Richard's E-mail Publishing"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304041952/http://isbndb.com/d/book/poor_richards_e_mail_publishing.html |date=March 4, 2016}}. isbndb.com[http://isbndb.com/d/book/online_a01.html "Online! The Book"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304115557/http://isbndb.com/d/book/online_a01.html |date=March 4, 2016}}. isbndb.com
Gnomedex
Starting from 2001, Pirillo and his staff at Lockergnome organized Gnomedex, a single-track technology conference which began as an outgrowth of Pirillo's technology channels. Gnomedex explored new and emerging technologies with a primary audience of influencers, entrepreneurs and tech enthusiasts. The conference name is a portmanteau of Lockergnome and the now-defunct Comdex technology trade show, a major technology event at that time.
The first Gnomedex took place from 12-14 October 2001 in Des Moines, Iowa. From 2005 until the tenth and final Gnomedex in August 2010, it took place in Seattle, Washington.{{cite web|url=http://chris.pirillo.com/the-future-of-gnomedex/ |title=The Future of Gnomedex ~ Chris Pirillo |publisher=Chris.pirillo.com |date=2001-09-13 |accessdate=2011-09-17}}{{cite web|url=http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2010/08/qa_chris_pirillo_on_social_media_geek_week_and_the_last_gnomedex.html |title=Q&A: Chris Pirillo on the possible end of Gnomedex as we know it |publisher=Techflash.com |date=2010-08-09 |accessdate=2011-09-17}} A Gnomedex stage was included in the first Seattle Interactive Conference in November 2011,{{cite web|url=http://www.seattleinteractive.com/2011/gnomedex|title=sic2011/Gnomedex 2011|accessdate=2011-11-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111220013055/http://www.seattleinteractive.com/2011/gnomedex|archive-date=2011-12-20|url-status=dead}} after Jake Ludington reportedly convinced Chris Pirillo to continue the event.[http://www.geekwire.com/2011/gnomedex-returns-part-seattle-interactive-conference Gnomedex back from another near-death experience]
In March 2015, Chris Pirillo announced plans to revive Gnomedex sometime in 2015,{{cite web |url=http://www.geekwire.com/2015/chris-pirillo-bringing-back-gnomedex-tech-festival-to-seattle/ |title=Chris Pirillo is bringing Gnomedex back in Seattle — but don't call it a conference |newspaper=Geekwire.com |date=25 March 2015 |access-date=15 April 2015 |first=Taylor |last=Soper }} but this did not materialize.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Chris Pirillo}}
- {{IMDb name|1022052}}
- {{Official website|http://gnomedex.com}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pirillo, Chris}}