Technology evangelist

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Not to be confused with televangelist.

A technical or technology evangelist is a person whose job or role it is to promote technologies, usually new technologies. This may be, officially or unofficially, on behalf of a company or organisation, or on a personal basis, for instance open source evangelism. An evangelist promotes the use of a particular product or technology through talks, articles, blogging, user demonstrations, recorded demonstrations, or the creation of sample projects. The word evangelism is taken from the context of religious evangelism because of the similar recruitment of converts and the spreading of the product information through the ideological or committed.

In the context of commercial enterprises which attempt to develop or foster a cult following and religious-like fanaticism, the term evangelist can become an unofficial, or occasionally official, role or title. The first specific technology evangelist role was created by Guy Kawasaki in the late 1980s, a time at which he was working for Apple Computer and the Apple Macintosh was first being marketed. The job is often closely related to both sales and training but has specific skills related to technology marketing and convincing a potential buyer or user to change from older methods to newer. Technology evangelism is sometimes associated with an internal employee assigned to encourage new ways of doing things within a large organization. The marketing aspect of the role was strongly influenced by Geoffrey Moore and his books concerning technology adoption. Notable technology evangelists in the commercial arena include Jeff Barr, Don Box, Guy Kawasaki, and Robert Scoble.