Iowa Tech and Social Media Interactive Conference

In just a few short weeks, Iowa will be hosting the Iowa Tech and Social Media Interactive Conference (IOWAtasmic), one of the very fist large social media conferences to be organized in the state. On September 18-20th, 2009 in Mount Pleasant, Iowa on the Welsyan College campus, IOWAtasmic will provide a chance for businesses and individuals around Iowa and the midwest to take part in and learn about the ever growing social media revolution.

While many people think social media is just a fad, IOWAtasmic sets out to demonstrate to Iowans that it's not. The goal of the event is to bring new technology and knowledge to Iowa, as well as to showcase the existing technology and services already offered in the area.

The conference also sets out to prove that Iowa is not ten years behind the rest of the World, technologically speaking, and will attempt to highlight incentives and benefits of relocating or expanding into Iowa.

Event organizer Bradley Laborman, known as Bradman in the online world, says attendees will benefit from the knowledge of top tech and social media figures from the U.S. and Canada. The conference will consist of keynote speakers, local musicians, youtube celebrities, social media gurus and entrepreneurs from across the country.

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Get ready for Phoenix Design Week

Three months from now, the Phoenix design community plans to take over the city. Phoenix Design Week is a community movement dreamed up by a motivated designer named Mark Dudlik in an attempt to unite and strengthen the design community. His open letter gained immediate momentum and support, and further solidified the need to ignite a fire from within.

Phoenix is a city full of talented and passionate developers, artists and designers, and Phoenix Design Week will be the first large-scale effort to bring them together around their shared love for visual design. The event is will gather graphic and interactive design individuals, design firms and industry organizations to participate in a week’s worth of events to showcase what Phoenix Design has to offer the world.

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Phoenix OpenCoffee Club

If you're an entrepreneur or investor in Phoenix looking to meet with like-minded people over great coffee, then come out to Phoenix OpenCoffee. OpenCoffee is a weekly meetup intended to bring together talented entrepreneurs and local investors in the informal setting of a coffee shop.

The OpenCoffee Club was started to encourage entrepreneurs, developers and investors to organize real-world informal meetups to chat, network and grow. It originated in London by Saul Klein, a venture partner at Index Ventures. Since then it has expaned to over 80 OpenCoffee Clubs worldwide with the PHX version starting this past April.

Since the startup Community is beginning to sprout here in the Phoenix area, Curtis Miller at Flatterline thought bringing OpenCoffee to Phoenix would be a great idea. Curtis was inspired by a recent trip to Boulder, CO, where he attended an OpenCoffee Club get together. Seeing the Boulder startup community embrace such a vibrant event to discuss ideas, share problems, give advice and listen to each other made him motivated to bring this type of event to Phoenix.

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Lighting a fire under the Valley with Ignite Phoenix

Coming up in about a month is a somewhat new event in the Phoenix area known as Ignite Phoenix. Ignite Phoenix is an information exchange organized as a way to help foster and inspire Phoenix’s creative community. At the event, you hear 18 passionate speakers talking about their favorite topics or projects for just 5 minutes each. The lineup of presenters for each event is unique, and presentations will educate and inspire you, not to mention maybe make you laugh.

This event is for anyone who wants to hear new ideas and gain a new insight on what is going on in the minds of your fellow Phoenix residents. The presentations are informative for companies and entertaining for individuals. This event is an opportunity to hea ideas from outside of your normal sphere of influence. By mixing it up, new and exciting things can happen to not only you, but Phoenix as a whole.

Our Chief Nerd at Brice Cheddarn Development, Bret, has submitted a topic to Ignite Phoenix in the hopes of being selected as a presenter at the upcoming Ignite 4. His topic: The Nerd Hierarchy. With any luck, Bret will help Phoenix see the web through the eyes of a nerd.

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5 Ways to Use LinkedIn like a Nerd Would

LinkedIn is a popular social network of over 35,000,000+ experienced professionals from around the world. It is a social media tool that allows individuals and businesses a ways to find and collaborate with other qualified professionals. LinkedIn allows users to build a profile that summarizes their experience and expertise, and then share it with other users. Simply put, Linked in is a very powerful tool to inform the world about your own brand of Nerdness.

There are many ways that companies can use LinkedIn to help their cause. Several Entrepreneurs like Guy Kawasaki and Chris Pirillo have written several articles about the benefits and ways to use LinkedIn. The site even features a blog dedicated to the success stories of its users on how they made it work for them. So, we decided to come up with our own list of reasons individuals and companies should use and embrace the powerful online networking tool. Here are 5 ways to use LinkedIn like a nerd would:

1. To Brand Yourself or Your Business. Having a strong brand goes a long way, but it takes a lot to build up a brand and get it strong. A company has to develop credibility in its field and appear to have a strong presence. Having a strong network helps promote your brand. LinkedIn only reinforces the branding you’re doing elsewhere and helps increase your visibility.

2. Market Analysis and Research. Doing research is common for nerds. Every company and individual would benefit from doing more nerd-like research. And LinkedIn is a network that provides a plethora of information to research. It is a great way to analyze and benmark the markert. It is a great way to get to know a company or client and gauge its health. Not to mention, it is a great way to see what competitors are doing. On top of getting valid factual information, you also get other people's opinions through answers and recommendations. Use the vast amounts of information LinkedIn provides to your benefit.

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