pariSoma innovation loft. coworking and tech events.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

6:30pm @ pariSoma

Ideakick Trailer from Trevor Goss on Vimeo.

WHAT IS IDEAKICK?

“Startup ideas on steroids!”
- Ideakick attendee

Ideakick is a community that springboards budding entrepreneurial ideas and concepts.

Think of Ideakick as a thinktank for your business ideas. You can pitch a business idea that you’ve been thinking about or are currently working on. Gain valuable feedback, industry insight, and/or connect with someone interested in working on the same idea.

SCHEDULE:

• 6:30 – 7:30 Networking
• 7:30 – 8:30 Ideakicking*
• 8:30 – 9:30 Hanging out

Ideakicking: Anyone who is interested may present an idea they have been thinking about or working on to the group. The presenter gets a total of 10 minutes and will typically use 2-3 minutes discussing the idea itself. For however much time is left, others in the room will ask questions, provide feedback and actively brainstorm. We’ll time each presentation and at the end of 10 minutes, we’ll move on the next presentation.

WHO SHOULD COME:

• You have an idea: People who have an idea, want to share it with others, and would like to get some feedback
• You have a skill set: People who have a specific skill set and are looking for a project to get involved with where they can apply it
• You have a desire to build REAL relationships: People who are interested in doing more than just networking. It’s better to have 1 friend than 10 acquaintances.
• You’re an Angel Investor or VC!

Find us here:
Twitter: @Ideakick

IdeakickSF is brought to you by the following:

IdeakickSF is the San Francisco chapter of Ideakick.org and is organized by Trevor Goss, Nicole Imhof and Dana Rosenberg. Currently, there are other chapters of Ideakick in Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, Vancouver, and we’ve got more on the way.

Ideakick was started by Trevor Goss in August 2010 in San Francisco as a way for people with ideas for new products or companies to present them in a group setting and get some early feedback on their concepts.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011 @pariSoma

6:30pm – 8:30pm

Join pariSoma and TechCentralSF as we host “60 second spots” mixer. Listen to elevator pitches, network with the startup community, and have some drinks. We’re currently looking for startups to pitch at the event – so contact us asap to secure your chance to pitch

Demoing companies include:

VidCaster is an easy way to create a video site on your domain. It gives you an intuitive interface for adding videos, customizing your site, and distributing your videos to other devices and sites.

Tupply is the micro ads service that helps you to find or supply anything in a natural, social way. Do you really know all you want…

Stanzr is Interactive short-message chat for Businesses seeking to host conversations for customers and prospects online.  Our goal is to deliver real-time conversations for businesses struggling to get and keep a captive, excited audience.

Giftdrop is a social gifting tool that empowers users to effortlessly leverage their social network to raise funds for any occasion- weddings, birthdays, social causes, or if your laptop got stolen and you need some money quick! It’s the perfect substitute for the traditional wedding registry. Most couples would rather receive cash from a five minute process than waste all the time needed to fill out a registry only to receive a bunch of china and a collection of serving trays , most of which they’ll never use. Also, Giftdrop supports the creation of surprise group gifts, perfect for the birthday of a friend who would rather have their friends chip in for one big ticket item than another pair of socks from grandma.

TryMyUI is a simple, remote usability testing tool that deliver videos of real users navigating your website.  It takes 5-10 minutes to setup a test, and within an hour or so, you get a narrated video and written answers to your survey questions.  You see the user’s screen, mouse movements, and key strokes.  You hear the user “think aloud”.  It’s web-based so no software download needed.  PC and Mac supported.

JetJaw is the easiest, fastest, most accurate way for you to engage customers – at the moment of their experience.

JustShareIt is an eco-friendly company facilitating peer-to-peer vehicle sharing such as cars, boats and recreational vehicles with keyless exchange. By encouraging sharing, we create a trusting community while reducing ones’ carbon footprint – with less wasteful consumption, less congestion and less pollution. Our patent pending hardware and software technology includes a webcam that integrates with mobile platforms, allowing us to be adaptable and scalable to our members’ needs. We provide a secure framework that includes seamless technology, comprehensive insurance and an integrated monitoring system. To us, access to vehicles is more than transportation – it’s about adventure.

betwyx is a social media address book designed to help you “get your life together.”  Our iPhone app automatically organizes all of your friends’ social feeds making betwyx the fastest, easiest and most convenient way to stay connected with your friends.

Gunshot Digital – Digital Marketing Agency in Los Angeles servicing clients in LA, San Francisco, New York and Chicago. Our interactive boutique stands for its rare and actual marriage of both front-end splendor and back-end technical wizardry. We leave the jargon out, get the brilliance in and execute to perfection. You can be assured of Big Agency work without the Big Agency Price Tag. Our services include: Creative Graphic Design, Social Media Marketing, Strategy & Analytics and Websites & Applications.

Wednesday July 27th

8:00am – 5:30pm

@ St. Regis Hotel, San Francisco

Come to the 2nd annual edition of San Francisco PR Summit Conference top media influencers will be present for one day of intense panel discussions, keynotes, break-out sessions, workshops and networking.

Join us as panelists discuss, debate and shape ideas in the areas of social media, public relations, public affairs and the future of business communications. This conference will explore how business and public relations organizations can go beyond the clutter to create impactful campaigns and real-world coverage. Our panelists & keynote speakers provide key intel on the best-in-class communications programs. What works? Why and how? Attendees will be engaged and participate in an open dialogue and conversation with panelists, with ideas shared and solutions created.

Who’s Coming: Startup Founders, Tech & Social Media Guru’s, Media Consultants, Public Relations Professionals, Brand Managers, Marketing & Business Development Directors, Press, Bloggers & Students.

Panel Topics:
* Panel Discussion Topics Include:

• How to Marshal & Inform Bloggers in the Most Effective Way?
• Influencing The News Cycle In Real Time!
• How to Supercharge Your Social ROI: Measuring In A Digital Environment?
• Audience Directed Content: How to Message Media & Consumers on Emerging Technologies and Platform Devices? (Mobile, Tablets)
• The Press Release is Dead! (A Conversation)
• PR For Startups

Workshops:

• Increase Sales , ROI, Cost-Effective Pubicity!
• Viral Game Mechanics in Action
• How to properly use social networks alongside your website.
• Rockstars and Pornstars: Effective social networking and fan engagement techniques, tricks and tips, from some of the unlikeliest of personalities.

Included for attendees:

• Gain entrance to all sessions (including workshops),
• Have free WI-FI internet access,
• Free continental breakfast, lunch, snacks and(coffee/tea/beverages)
• Onsite post event cocktail and networking event.

Here are your results for the pariSoma Startup Ping Pong Tournament, sponsored by Microsoft. After 6 long rounds, with the first 3 rounds as single-elimination win or go home, two finalists emerged: @traver from @lithiumtech against @MarcManiez from @twitter.

….but Congrats to the one & only winner…. @atraver and we hope you enjoy your Windows Phone 7!

If you are looking for a shared office space, or an alternative to loud, noisy and unsecure coffee shops to get your work done, chances are that you are looking for a coworking space. Finding the right coworking space is very important, because work is where we spend a majority of our waking life.

So what should you be looking for when seeking out a new coworking space to join and collaborate and bring fun back into your work life again?

Coworkers at pariSoma (San Francisco)

1. Blazing-fast High Speed Internet!

If you think that Internet access and speed is given, then you might be in for a surprise. Lot of coworking spaces, especially the ones that just get started, sign up for a lower monthly plan. On top of that, if the existing coworkers are using up a lot of bandwidth, mostly due to the nature of their projects (this is especially true with startups) then internet speed might be slow and could become a deal breaker. So definitely check it out.

2. Conference Space

Startups, Freelancers and small business owners certainly have the need to have meetings frequently. Even if it is over Skype or over the internet, you still need a quite enclosed space. So make sure the coworking space you are checking out has atleast 2 conference rooms, and that they have a propery booking facility that is stictly adhered to.

3. Tiered Membership Plans

Like a Gym membership, you would want to first “try out” a space before diving all in and committing to a long term contract. Almost all of the reputed coworking spaces have a tiered membership plan that allows you to choose something as short and inexpensive as a day pass, to a full fledged yearly membership and several things inbetween. So confirm with the space managers that there are various membership options available to you.

4. Day Pass / Trial Pass

Most coworking spaces offer 1 FREE “drop-in” per person. The goal of this is to allow you to check out the place, get a feel for the peeps and decide if this place is for you. So take a day or two off and work out of the coworking spaces you are checking out and then decide.

5. Awesome Community of Coworkers

At the end of the day, coworking is all about collaboration and community. So it is very important to be working with a group of like-mannered or like-minded people. So if you do the trial run, you will get a feel for this. Make sure you find a coworking place where the people are nice and friendly and appear to help one another grow and succeed, because success and failure are both very contagious.

Written by blogdoctor

I am the editor-in-chief at oObly a tech blog based in San Francisco, California.

Follow me on Twitter

Boulder Digital Arts recently held a Coworking Open House in which they offered the general public a peek into their new coworking space and also hosted the opening-night reception of BDA’s new Mid-Winter Digital Art Show, with lots of great new art showing off the walls of  their recently-expanded 6,000 square foot facility.

BDA shared 5 things that they learned from their Coworking Open House, and here they are

1. Choose your initial coworkers carefully and invite them to be “guests of honor” at the open house.
2. Solicit the talents of your community.
3. Think carefully about the flow of people through the space.
4. Think about creative ways to handle the management of food, beverages, and clean up.
5. Get a smart, attractive girl to DJ.

I know that #5 is definitely a no-brainer, but the rest are not so obvious, so if you are curious, check out the detailed ‘Lessons Learned‘ blog post here.

Written by blogdoctor

I am the editor-in-chief at oObly a tech blog based in San Francisco, California.

Follow me on Twitter