I often ponder why I moved back to the great Pacific Northwest after studying (& playing) in the California sun?! It's definately not the weather. It must be the air-waves or caffeine they put in the water...or entrepreneur zing in the gas. Maybe it's the amazing sunsets on a summer evening?

Whatever the case, Scientific American thought Seattle was it, voting it the top city for technology. Now, if we could just get a network of angel investors up here!

We hear all the time about city and governments lobbying for improvements in their local resources. Libraries included. You would think it would be all about acquiring new books or computers. Nope. In this day and age of Social Media, corporate downsizing, and working virtual, libraries are fast becoming small meeting havens. Think about it. It's quiet; no loud Starbucks in the background. It's resourceful; plenty of free wi-fi, clean bathrooms, and newspapers and magazines to browse. Finally, it's free.

For the community of Niles, Illinois (just outside Chicago), they seem to be in the heat of battle. Their library is due to be receiving some funds and the town is up in arms on how to spend it. Books v. meeting space.

These are just the types of problems we like to see!

Not all accelerators, incubators, and co-working dens are created equal. Depending on who you ask, there can be debate on the similarities and differences between all three. The latest comes from Jason Johnson, one of the founders of the Founder Den, a co-working space in San Francisco. To quote Jason:

"Most co-working spaces lack a curation process which we saw as important to creating a dynamic, iron-sharpens-iron community, similar to the traditional private clubs which appealed to the entrepreneurs of prior innovation eras (steel, railroad, oil, etc.). In New York, SoHo House and The Core (while less of a co-working space and more of a lounge) appeal to entrepreneurs. With Founders Den, we sought a unique, differentiated model of one-half private club and one-half co-working space."

Read the entire NYT story here.

Coffee retailers and distributors are beginning to feel the pinch on operating expenses from escalating coffee bean prices as featured in this Inc. article. As a result, coffee houses are forced to create new ways to generate revenue. Anyone say meetings?

In a move to promote more social events, Meetup today announced "Meetup Everywhere" - a new portal for organizations to sponsor and initiate worldwide meetups. Within hours of launching, several sponsored meet ups from Seth Godin, Groupon, and others had worldwide meet up movements.

We happen to meet with Scott Heiferman, CEO of Meetup yesterday at TechCrunch to talk about the demand for social events...and venues. According to Scott Heiferman, there are nearly 50K Meetups each week! Youzzaa...that's a lot of get togethers!

Congrats, Scott & Meetup on the launch!

TechCrunch DISRUPT kicked off today in New York City, running thru Wednesday night. This is the first TechCrunch conference to venture East and has a lot of New Yorkers wondering if this will become the norm, since there's been lots of conferences that have both lived and died in New York City!

eVenues is here to compete in the StartUp Alley. We received a FREE ticket after winning The Funded's Founder Showcase event last week in Silicon Valley. The most interesting point about DISRUPT is the actual venue where the event is being held. It's being held in the old Meryl Lynch trading building, 80,000 square feet once used by their traders. It's a little eary...these floors used to hummm...just like the movie with Boilerroom with life and activity. Now, it's sparse and bare...until TechCrunch (Heather) found it and turned it into a national event venue.

Now that's what we at eVenues like to hear and see! The reuse and repurpose of a space for the better-ment of the economy and industry! So far the conference is working in this space, with breakout rooms for VCs (once trading manager offices), eating/networking areas, and long cooridors shoot-out areas.

Stay tuned for more news updates!

April 21, 2010 article in MI Reporter

R7M Executive editor Jessica Heasley traveled to Microsoft headquarters on a mission to find out how one of the industry’s oldest tactical events departments changed its course to become a strategic powerhouse. Here, an exclusive interview with general manager-events and studios Jeff Singsaas and director-event marketing Kati Quigley on the evolution of event marketing.

http://vimeo.com/9191807 

Coffee shop chains are beginning to "smell the coffee" (NPI). There seems to be a movement developing in busy coffee houses across the land where shops are beginning to ban "laptop loiters" who are preventing customers from pulling up a chair while they drink their jo. Granted, some of the loiters are probably legitimate customers, but many have long overstayed their welcome. Who knows where this will lead, but New York is beginning to get tough. Does anyone know where I might find a room?

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/trends/new_york_coffee_shops_hate_on_laptops_123679.asp

In a recent article by Connie Bochieri of ProMedia.Travel, Think Globally For Strategic Meetings Management: But Implement Locally to Achieve Service, Savings, sends a much needed affirmation and message to all professionals that stop spending the bank on conferences/events and start playing it smart. It's too bad a national crisis took everyone to realize this.

"The lessons learned from corporate travel globalization include implementing the process components that created the most efficiency and yielded savings and service enhancements, similar to the evolution of global corporate card data capture, TMC consolidated reporting and online booking strategies."

There's always both good and bad that fall out of these revolations. In this situation, the good is the more innovation we will see come from technology/service companies scrambling to keep their firms going and find any loose dollars being spent from the recovery. Of course, the bad is less spending and weaker economies in key markets.

http://www.procurement.travel/news.php?cid=strategic-meetings-management-savings.Mar-09.3