One of the most common questions I get from people who know about Six Apart is “What the hell do you actually do there?” These days, that question’s easier than ever to answer, but it involves explaining one of the goofiest parts of my job: My title.

You see, these days my business cards describe me as “Chief Evangelist”. On the plus side, it’s the first time in the history of the company that I’ve basically only had one job (though I still help out with as much stuff as I can), but on the downside, the title is fucking ridiculous. I hate the word “evangelist” as a description for people who advocate technology not merely because of its religious connotations, but also because it implies a degree of proselytization that I’d like to think I don’t participate in. Most of the time, my job is really just simple education.

Unfortunately, there’s no better title to describe this kind of work. So, evangelist it is, and the title has stuck. The last time I saw Guy Kawasaki, I made sure to mention that it’s his fault I have a title that makes no sense outside of Silicon Valley. Fortunately, it should be a lot more fun the next time I see Guy, which is at the Global Network of Technology Evangelists event next week. GNoTE is an interesting organization that is just getting started. At its core, it seems to be a group of people who recognize that technology can have a great impact on people’s lives, but only if some of us are dedicated to explaining technologies and in helping make them accessible to a wider range of audiences.

If that sounds interesting to you, and you can get to Santa Clara, join us on Monday for GNoTE’s inaugural event. (More event details are on Upcoming,) I’m very flattered to be in the company of counterparts from Yahoo, Amazon, Microsoft, and Sun, among others. As a bonus drinking game, you can take a swig every time the word “evangelist” or some variation thereof is mentioned, and walk out of the place blind stinking drunk!