Next MinneDemo to be held November 12th at 7pm and will be held at: Intermedia Arts, 2822 Lyndale Ave South in Minneapolis. (via MNInteractive).
MIMA Summit Packs The Depot
As practically every man, woman, and child in the Twin Cities must know by now, the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA) held its annual conference Wednesday, themed “Feed“. These folks are marketers — they know how to hype, as they’ve been telling us for what seems weeks now that the event was sold out. Prior to that, they promoted that it would sell out and the positioning was…so click and pay, friends, or you will never be able to live with yourself.
As you can see from Phil Wilson’s Unsummit post, there were those who ignored the hype and chose to do their own (free) concurrent event at a nearby pub, thank you very much. (Okay, many of them were too cheap to pay the big MIMA fee.) And the MIMA folks actually cheered them on (even from the stage the day of the two events), since they felt bad they couldn’t have accommodated more people. But the venue — the very nice Depot downtown — could literally take no more. (MIMA has vowed to find a bigger site next year though that won’t be easy — maybe the Convention Center?) This year’s attendance, I believe, was something north of 700. MIMA’s membership is now about 950, but the Summit’s attendees also included some non-members and invited speakers, of course. 
So, how did the event go? This was my first year attending (they have not given press passes to us lowly bloggers in the past), so I went courtesy of my employer, to do some serious working of the crowd. My assessment: the hype didn’t quite meet the reality as far as the overall content, as quality conferences go. But this is an association, after all, not a professional conference producer. And don’t we all kinda forgive a certain percentage of marketing build-up most of the time? Nonetheless, the logistics were handled quite well, and my hat’s off to the MIMA officers and their band of volunteers who pulled this thing off. (I’m sure they’ve worked out a lot of bugs over the several years they’ve sponsored this event.)… [Read More…]
UnSummit ’08…More Than a Summit Alternative
As noted on it’s website, “UnSummit 2008 is an technology+marketing conference created to serve those unable to get tickets to the the MIMA Summit on Oct. 1, 2008.” Though maybe not the intent of organizer Don Ball, it was also for those who didn’t want to pop for the rather spendy registration fee for said MIMA Summit, simply didn’t want to go, or were drawn to a more intimate setting. Whatever the motivation, the daylong event held at the Local Pub in Minneapolis was quite the success.
The day was set in the increasingly popular “unconference” format where the agenda naturally evolves around a given topic or question. Some fifty interactive and social media enthusiasts spent the day addressing a wide range of topics. Three separate “spaces” played host to discussion and presentations on How Traditional Agencies Can Move to Digital, Social Media Reality Check, New Possibilities in Video, Marketing Heresies, Community Management 101,The Future of PR, and a session addressing the lofty goal of Measuring ROI of Social Media…nope, we didn’t quite figure that one out. Dang!
Innovation 2008
Here’s an announcement of a conference that’s not specifically focused on internet and web technology, but instead is one that undoubtedly would be of interest to Minnov8 readers, people who compete and participate in areas in which policy and thought leadership set the course.
This conference, held on the Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota, will bring together academicians, policy makers, business leaders, scientists, educators, artists, students and the public to discuss solutions to the major challenges facing the United States revolving around science and technology policy, including innovation, energy security and sustainability, health sciences policy, and our ongoing economic competitiveness in a high-tech, highly-educated global marketplace.
The goal of Innovation 2008 is to bring scientists together with policymakers and the public, to help move the United States toward policies that are better informed by scientific realities, and to help scientists, engineers and the scientific community as a whole become more engaged in the political process. The conference will also explore ways to bridge the divide between science and the broader culture as a way to broaden public appreciation of science.
Learn more and register here.
Accelerating the “Aha” Moment
Defrag is the first conference focused solely on the tools and technologies that are leveraging the “social” aspect of software to accelerate the “aha” moment. Defrag is not a version number. Rather it’s a gathering place for the growing community of implementers, users, builders and thinkers that are working on the next wave of software innovation.
Minnov8’s own Graeme Thickins has attended Defrag in the past and said to me a few weeks ago as I contemplated attending, “You will LOVE this conference! The attendees are the cream-of-the-crop” and I’ve since learned that people like Doc Searls, David Weinberger, Clay Shirky and others I follow make Defrag one of their must-attend events.
Eric Norlin, one of the three organizers of the conference, is a former Minnesotan and has extended a $300 discount to Minnov8 readers. Register here and put in the code “m8“.
Minnesota High Tech Association Tekne Awards
Each year the Tekne Awards shine a spotlight on Minnesota’s technology industry. Drawing over 1,000 attendees, including our state’s most influential businesses, political leaders and individuals, the Tekne Awards honor advancement in technology areas including advanced manufacturing, information and medical technologies, and biological sciences. Join us as we come together as a technology community to celebrate innovation in Minnesota’s tech-based economy by recognizing Tekne Award finalists and recipients!… [Read More…]
Minneapolis Alt.Net User Group Formed
Minneapolis is getting a new affinity group of .Net developers called Alt.Net. Jamie Thingelstad just gave me a heads-up to his post about this group, knowing that some Minnov8 readers might like to attend.
What is “Alt.Net”. From their site:
At it’s purest, the driving force behind the ALT.NET developer community may be described simply as “The pursuit of happiness.” While Microsoft has provided developers with a powerful framework and a bunch of very good tools and packages to build upon, it often feels like too much effort was put into a “one-size-fits-all” design philosophy that can make it complex, tedious, or just plain impossible to do things that don’t follow Microsoft’s prescribed approach.
With other development platforms and languages offering so much choice (Java and it’s many quality open source offerings) and elegance (Ruby on Rails with its “beautiful” code and “convention over configuration” philosophy), .NET developers longed to craft cleaner, more elegant solutions without having to leave a framework that has so much to offer.
ALT.NET is about following your own beliefs about application design, and using the .NET platform to support your ideas, rather than retro-fitting your ideas to the platform.
Jamie had his eye caught by the logo, reminiscent of the old Grain Belt sign that used to caste its shadow over Hennepin Avenue. The moment I hit Jamie’s blog and then Alt.Net’s site, it caught mine too.
As a kid, we used to go down and pick up my grandparents from the Great Northern Railroad depot (my Grandpa worked for the railroad for 44 years and had lifetime free travel on it) and that sign was the first thing I recognized and, of course, Grain Belt was my first beer at 15, so fun logo for your site guys!
Mobile Marketing Workshop
Minneapolis based space150, a full service digital creative agency, is hosting a Mobile Marketing Workshop on Monday, August 11th, at the Fine Line Cafe (map) in downtown Minneapolis.
With mobile poised to make the leap to a viable advertising medium, space150 feels that this is the perfect time to discuss new technologies, relevant trends and best practices.
The event is free, but space is limited so advance registration is required.
Thirty Semifinalists Named in ‘Minnesota Cup’ Business Plan Competition
I attended and Twittered a bit at a reception Wednesday evening, June 25, at the grand, old James J. Hill Library in downtown St. Paul. (You remember old J.J., don’t you, the Bill Gates of his era?) It was an event to honor the startups who made it to the next round of the Minnesota Cup, an annual, statewide competition that seeks out aspiring entrepreneurs and their breakthrough ideas. The 30 lucky semifinalists were selected from a record of 840 entries in this fourth and largest year of the competition, and will vie for prizes that include $50,000 in cash for the first-place winner. An interesting tidbit I picked up at the reception: about 10% of the 840 entrants were Web 2.0 related.
Scott Litman, cofounder of the event, told me the competition this year was the toughest ever, and that many plans that might have made the cut in previous years didn’t. He also told me that, unfortunately, many entrants may have had great business concepts, but they were not understandable — the submissions were either poorly written, or riddled with so many acronyms and buzzwords that the judges flat-out did not know what the heck the submitter was talking about. (So, take heart, rejectees. You may be great at selling your ideas verbally — now work on the written word.)
Here’s how the Minnesota Cup site states its mission: “We’re looking for the next great entrepreneurial success story in our state. This competition is for all entrepreneurs, whether your breakthrough idea is high tech or no tech, whether you are just putting your ideas into a business plan or if you’ve been out building your venture.” Well, I wonder if it’s possible that any who entered, and especially the chosen semifinalists, could really be “no tech” in this day and age? That would be hard to imagine. And, in looking over the list, there’s nary a one that would seem not to rely on technology in their businesses. (Although some without a website certainly have the aura of no-tech at this point, perhaps awaiting prize money to build? And what’s with all the student semifinalists being listed with no websites?) As for the lack of a requirement that the business be new, i.e., that older startups can also apply, I know at least two on the list are four to five years old and still chasing $50k. Ah, hope springs eternal. Here’s the full list:… [Read More…]
Innovation Seminar in Bloomington
Turning Your Innovations into a Successful Business: Attracting Venture Capital and Business Partners While Protecting Your Innovations. This free seminar will take place on Tuesday, June 17th from 7:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. at the Hotel Sofitel in Bloomington, MN.
This year’s sponsors include The Innovators Network and the Minnesota High Tech Association. Andre Carter, Author and President of Irimi Corporation; James J. Paige of Nikolai & Mersereau; James T. Nikolai of Nikolai & Mersereau and Dan Mallin of SDWA Ventures will be presenting. All local technology firms and interested persons—whether you’ve already obtained a patent on your innovation, have a patent pending, or are considering submitting a patent application—will benefit from attending this event.
To Register, please visit this page.
Cost: FREE with complimentary breakfast
For more information call Melissa Moskal at 202.420.7484.