Meetup

Just received the note below from the NY Tech Meetup organizer. Looks like there is a power outage at the IAC headquarters in NYC. I've tested a variety of the IAC Web services and all seem to be running fine - I wouldn't expect any hosting at the IAC hq anyway. I guess all of those $10 payments weren't enough to keep the lights on.

Dear NY Tech Meetuppers,

Very sorry to have to relay this news but tonight's NY Tech Meetup is CANCELED due to an emergency power outage at IAC.Everyone will automatically get a refund today or tomorrow.We tried to find a replacement venue for tonight, but couldn't find anything for all 400 of us at this late notice. Again, our August Meetup is CANCELED. Please spread the word to anyone you know who's planning on coming.The next NY Tech Meetup will be September 2nd.

Stay tuned for details.
dawn

SAI has a story on this outage as well.

Last night at the NY Tech meeting, the companies who presented came back on stage for a 5-minute panel discussion. Below is a video of their advice for startups in NYC. The panelists included:

• AlleyCorp (Kevin Ryan, CEO)
• DailyCandy (Catherine Levene, COO)
• Etsy (Rob Kalin, CEO)
• Huffington Post (Betsy Morgan, CEO)
• IAC (Joey Levin, SVP/M&A)
• The Ladders (Marc Cenedella, CEO)
• Meetup (G.Whalin, CTO & M.Voskoboynikov, Lead)
• Mimeo (CEO Adam Slutsky)
• Thumbplay (VP/BD Chris Phenner)

view the video »

What would a NY Tech meetup be without some Meetup shilling? Meetup showed off a new design for the Meetup groups which includes a "new" design along with the ability to force pre-payments for events and a location service to help you find a location to hold your meeting. Caroline McCarthy called the demo, "Impressive."

They also announced that the site will soon be available in Italian and that they will be crowdsourcing the other language translations. As we know, "crowdsourced" really means "free labor."

They also demo'ed the Meetup Alliance which was demo'ed at the NY Tech Meetup back in December.

Meetup got a bonus two minutes to demo and instead of the normal signals that manager Dawn Barber provides to leader Scott Heiferman to cut them off at the five minute mark, Dawn made facial reactions and hand movements to suggest that Scott should let them go on. So not only did Meetup get to present again at Meetup, they got bonus minutes as well!

view the demo »

Normally the NY Tech Meetup (the big one) is held on the first Tuesday of every month. This month it's been moved a week back and the location has also changed, it will now be held at Cooper Union. As I started to put together the calendar for our weekly post, I noticed something -- there are a good number of events next Tuesday evening. There are always conflicts it seems on Tuesdays, next week is no different. If you are new to the NY tech scene, check out our Tech Meetup coverage, the most extensive multimedia coverage anywhere.

Scott Heiferman is Meetup's CEO and also Organizer of the NY Tech Meetup. I am confident that he looked at his company's event calendar and noticed all of the other events listed below also scheduled for next Tuesday. I want to believe that May 13th was the only day open for the entire balance of May at Cooper Union. It's still certainly disappointing as it forces all 700 of us who attend the NY Tech Meetup monthly to choose only one event to choose.

Here's what's going on next Tuesday in NYC:

• Alfresco 2.2 and Advanced Content Management - 6pm - first meeting for this new CMS
• NYC Women in Media & Technology - Perfecting Your Pitch - 6pm
• Web2NewYork - Startup Demos - 6pm
• NY Tech Meetup - 7pm
• StartupAlpha Startup Launch Party - 6pm (unfortunately we won't be attending this one as Donna forced us to give her a 100% absolute RSVP which I am never able to provide)
• NYC Videoblogging - 7pm - I was really looking forward to checking out the Rocketboom studios along with the presentation from Jake and Amir of CollegeHumor
• Update: Wine Man book signing - 7pm
• Update: New York City J User's Group - 6:30pm

My job to each of you says attend the NY Tech Meetup to provide you with the video coverage of the startups. I'd like to support Peter at the Web2NewYork and cover those startups as well. And as I noted above, I'd like to hang out with Andrew, Joanne and the videobloggers at the new Rocketboom studios.

Which event do you plan to attend?

Tonight was the March installment of the NY Video Meetup. The idea is to bring together people interested in online video. I found tonight boring at best. In any event, here are videos of each presentation with my Twitter recaps. Unfortunately due to the layout of Webster Hall, the videos will seem like you are sitting in the first row of a movie theater (popcorn optional). view the videos »

Here are the tech events in NYC for the week of February 4th. Please leave a comment or send in a note to add other events to the list.

Monday

• YouTube Meetup - 6pm

Tuesday

• NY Tech Meetup - check out our previous event coverage including exclusive video
• Post NY Tech Meetup Networking

Wednesday

• Money:Tech Conference - 2 days

Thursday

• Money:Tech Conference - 2 days
• OMMA Mobile - $695 for the day
• Open Coffee Meetup - 9:15am
• Java Meetup - 6pm

Last night was the Advertising Club Meetup of NYC held at Google's NYC Headquarters. Each of the main departments at Google presented a five-minute overview of the latest happenings in which we learned that "All Your Ads Belong To Us". Below are videos of the entire evening broken up into nice, easy-to-manage segments.

continue to watch the videos »

There's an upcoming meetup for the NY Advertising Group on January 28th that I think might be worth ya'all checking out. It's at Google NYC HQ and has some of the Google team on a panel discussion.

From the announcement: Google is leading an integrated marketing revolution with search, mobile, radio, video, television, maps, email, social networks and more. Six Google Execs will lead a discussion on the latest from Google in advertising and integrated marketing.

Our format will be a panel discussion followed by Q&A. Panelists include:

• Tim Castelli, New York Director
• Patrick Grandinetti, Agency Lead, East Region
• Long Ellis, Head of TV Sales
• Joe Anastasi, Team Manager - Google Audio
• Laura Nissenbaum, Team Manager, Google Print
• Karen Cahn, You Tube Specialist

Register quick as there are only 37 slots still available! There is a $5 fee per person. Perhaps we can get a CN discussion afterwards at the Chelsea Market. Please only register if you plan on attending.

On the calendar this week are the Web2NewYork (New York Web Entrepreneurs) on Tuesday and the Mashable MashMeet meetup also on Tuesday. The MashMeet is also combining with New York Web 2.0 Social Networking Tech Meetup and the NYC Entrepreneur / Small Business Networking. I am guessing there will be a huge turnout for the MashMeet as the other meetups have a large majority of heavy drinkers and now the drinks will be free.

Goodness we need some new, better names for these meetups, dont'cha think?!?

As for the MashMeet - don't be afraid to wear CN colors or show your CN pride. I will be there wearing my CN pin and will have some giveaways for other loyal CN readers. We will be entering the enemy camp so watch out for any potential shenanigans. Use Twitter to warn others when needed. I will hand out a code sheet at the event.

Additional NYC meetups this week include:

• WebDesign - Monday
• Photoshop Users Group - Wednesday - at the new Apple Store!

Leave others in the comments!

I'd like to share/propose five suggestions to improve the NY Tech Meetup. I've attended a good number of the monthly event and you can review my past coverage. Many people have shared comments about the meetups with me and I have some suggestions as well on how to make the monthly meetup even more effective. These are all minor tweaks which could have a great benefit for the group as a whole. I have already addressed several times the need to improve the actual demos themselves, these suggestions are for the overall Meetup.

Suggestion #1 - Vary The Meetup Leader

I'd like to see variety in who is the evening's leader. I'd love to lead a meetup and I am sure there are others as well. It's not to say Scott is doing a bad job, but the meetup is about NYC tech and there's many people (company professionals, bloggers, journalists, developers, etc.) who could rotate around too. My proposal is to have a different leader each month.

Suggestion #2 - Location

This is something I've heard several times since the move to IAC over the past two meetings. Most have shared with me that the location is very inconvenient. I think the Cooper Union spot was easier for public transport overall.

Suggestion #3 - Remove $5

Considering this is the largest tech meetup, I don't understand how we can't get a sponsor each month to take care of the door fee. Assuming 500 people show up x $5 = 2500, get a sponsor to pitch in that amount and they get one of the 5 minute demo slots. This might make the meetup feel less rigid.

Suggestion #4 - Missed Meetings Results in Probation

This meetup is always overbooked, yet not everyone shows up. I suggest a policy that you get one miss, after that you are prohibited from signing up for the following three months. This way those who signup will actually attend and those who don't will no longer be allowed, thereby leaving slots open for those that do want to show up.

Suggestion #5 - Increase the Networking

Better nametags would be a good start - would be nice to have a professionally-made nametag with name, company info, etc. and color-coded so others know what we do. At a minimum, color-coding would be great. Also, instead of putting names on the post-demo portion of the meetup, list the company name. Lastly, add a space for those hiring and those seeking in the after-demo portion. Combined with color-coding, this will allow parties to matchup as needed.