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Tag: WebVisions

Get your (Twitter) war on* with WebVisions at Beer and Blog Portland

Rick Turoczy on April 15, 2009

Twitter Wars at Beer and BlogWebVisions—the awesome event that brings some of the best and brightest Web types to Portland every year—is hosting Beer and Blog Portland this week. And like many hosts, they want to do something that makes the event memorable.

So they’re standing up and presenting? Not exactly. They’re hosting Twitter Wars between technology factions. The prize for he or she who dominates all contenders? A free pass to WebVisions.

What are the topics about which the warring factions will argue for dominance? Well, there will be:

Tons and tons of pulse-pounding action. In a giant mud pit. We’ll sell you the whole seat, but you’ll only need the edge. And all that.

This may actually be the first Beer and Blog where geek blood is spilled.

[UPDATE] With special guest stars Ken Brady and Frank Gruber (maybe).

Beer and Blog with @kenbrady and @frankgruber

Now, I’m fairly confident that I’ve got a good understanding of the topics over which the folks will be fighting. But then I get a little foggy on how the whole “Twitter War” thing works. (Me == Not so bright.) But I’m sure that once I’ve had a beer… Oh wait.

Anyway, it should go something like this:

Each panelist will have one minute to state their case, followed by 3 minutes of free-for-all. People can comment and vote via twitter the entire time.

To Vote: Tweet !v and a comment with the and/or @panelist included. This will vote for a hashtag, panelist, or both. A person can only vote once for a hashtag or panelist, subsequent votes will be ignored, but their comments will be saved. A user can vote separately for a hashtag and a panelist to write a longer comment.

To comment: To comment only, leave out the !v and just tweet your comment with the and/or @panelist included.

Got it? Good. Explain it to me when you get there.

Who will be on the panels? Well, that’s up to you, my crowdsourcey friend:

Nominate yourself or someone else for a panel by tweeting “@TWarsBeerBlog I nominate @username for #Topic.” (But, seriously? Whatever you do, don’t nominate @username for anything. That guy has a temper. I’m just saying.)

What do you win? A free pass to WebVisions is up for grabs for each of the battles. Not feeling battleworthy? Do you feel lucky? Well, do you? Because you also have the chance to attend WebVisions for free by answering one question. And I won’t battle you, at all.
As always or almost always, Beer and Blog will be at the Green Dragon. Hope to see you there (so you can explain the whole Twitter War thing to me). Visit Upcoming to RSVP.

* With apologies to “Get Your War On.”

Attend WebVisions for free

Rick Turoczy on April 10, 2009

WebVisionsWho—would you say—are the top three visionaries in terms of the Web?

That’s what Portland’s leading Web event—and honestly one of the leading Web events, period—WebVisions wants to know.

And if you’ve got an answer, it could mean something for you.

Simply submit your answer to that question before May 7, and you could be waltzing into WebVisions, May 20-22, free of charge.

The winning entry will receive a WebVisions conference pass plus a pass to the workshop “Mental Models” with Indi Young of Adaptive Path. The runner up will receive a free WebVisions conference pass. Third place? You’ll get a WebVisions t-shirt. So that you can pretend you attended WebVisions.

Come to think of it, even if you don’t win, you’ll want to pay to attend. Why? Because WebVisions features more than 50 incredibly cool speakers, like Mark Frauenfelder of BoingBoing.net, Jared Spool, Indi Young of Adaptive Path, Jeff Croft of Blue Flavor, search engine guru Vanessa Fox, Molly Holzschlag of Molly.com, Chris Pirillo, and Armin Vit of UnderConsideration.

Plus there are a ton of amazing Portland-area speakers, as well. Who? Well, check out the who’s who of WebVisions this year.

I know! I can’t believe it either. So cool.

So what are you waiting for? Just submit your top three Web visionaries and you could be headed to WebVisions for free.

Don’t say I never gave you nothin’.

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9 Portland tech events for your spring and summer geeking pleasure

Rick Turoczy on March 26, 2009

Summer geekingConcerned you’re going to get bored this spring and summer? Worried you’re not going to have enough geektastic events to keep yourself entertained? Worry no longer, my friend. There are a ton of good tech events just around the corner.

Like what, you ask? Like these, silly goose:

InnoTech (April 22-23)

“We have secured Keynote Presenter Rahaf Harfoush, New Media Strategist, Member of Obama’s Social Media Team, & Associate Director of the Global Cooperation Initiative at the World Economic Forum, to present on Thursday, April 23, 2009. We have Scott S. Ballantyne, former VP General Manager, Personal Systems Group, Hewlett Packard kicking off this year’s eMarketing Summit @ InnoTech and we have a Windows 7.0 Sneak Peek session at InnoTech as well.”

For more information, visit InnoTech.

BarCamp Portland (May 1-2)

“BarCampPortland is an unconference for the Portland tech community, produced BY the Portland tech community. Interesting topics, cool people, great networking opportunities, wifi, and more! Building an active tech community in Portland, Oregon.”

For more information, visit BarCamp Portland.

WebVisions (May 22-23)

“Explore the future of Web design, user experience and business strategy for three days of mind-melding on what’s new in the digital world. Get a glimpse into the future, along with practical information that you can apply to your Web site, company and career.”

For more information, visit WebVisions.

Open Source Bridge (June 17-19)

“Connecting developers across projects, languages, and backgrounds. Open Source Bridge is a new conference for developers working with open source technologies and for people interested in learning the open source way.”

For more information, visit Open Source Bridge.

Ignite Portland (July 16)

Take 6 on Ignite Portland. “If you had five minutes on stage what would you say? What if you only got 20 slides and they rotated automatically after 15 seconds? Around the world geeks have been putting together Ignite nights to show their answers.”

For more information, visit Ignite Portland.

Internet Strategy Forum Summit West (July 23-24)

“The 6th annual Internet Strategy Forum Summit conference is set for July 23 & 24, 2009. Confirmed presenters so far include Forrester Senior Analyst and Web Strategist blogger Jeremiah Owyang and Web Operations Management guru Lisa Welchman.”

For more information, visit Internet Strategy Forum.

Inverge (September 10-11)

“Inverge brings presenters and attendees together from a variety of professions and disciplines to explore changes and opportunities presented by the increasing digitization of media, the democratization of distribution and the proliferation of connectivity into new areas. The big picture is revealed via the unique integration of disciplines at the event. The presentations are high-level, informative and conceptual, pointing the way toward the future and facilitating advanced professional development.”

For more information, visit Inverge.

LinuxCon (September 21-23)

“LinuxCon is a new annual technical conference that will provide an unmatched collaboration and education space for all matters Linux. LinuxCon will bring together the best and brightest that the Linux community has to offer, including core developers, administrators, end users, community managers and industry experts. In being the conference for “all matters Linux”, LinuxCon will be informative and educational for a wide range of attendees. We will not only bring together all of the best technical talent but the decision makers and industry experts who are involved in the Linux community.”

For more information, visit LinuxCon.

Linux Plumbers Conference (September 23-25)

“The Linux Plumbers Conference was created to bring together the key developers involved in Linux plumbing – the “Linux plumbers” – and give them an opportunity to discuss problems face-to-face, both within subsystems and across subsystems. Participants include invited attendees, speakers selected through an open, competitive review process, and students. Registration is open to the general public as well.”

For more information, visit Linux Plumbers.

Phew

And that’s not even counting all the awesome non-techie stuff and all the cool weekly events we have going around here. Not to mention the fact that I probably missed some other interesting tech events. Because I have a tendency to do that.

So don’t worry about getting bored, sugar. There will be plenty for you to do.

(Photo courtesy Aaron Hockley. Used under Creative Commons.)

Lunch 2.0 at WebVisions

Rick Turoczy on February 22, 2009

As previously teased, WebVisions will be hosting a Lunch 2.0 on May 20, the first day of the conference. WebVisions runs May 20-22 at the Oregon Convention Center.

This Lunch 2.0 will be free to all, even if you’re not planning to attend the conference. Of course, if you are interested or are attending, this will be an excellent opportunity to get a sneak peek at the conference.

May 20 is the workshop day of the conference, so this will be a chance to rub elbows with the workshop attendees and presenters, e.g. Jason Grigsby and John Keith of Cloud Four who are presenting “Performance Optimization for Web and Mobile” in the afternoon. Assuming they show up early for Lunch 2.0.

Now I’ve guilted them a little, accidentally. Did I mentioned that Jason’s presentation at last year’s WebVisions was outstanding? He even brought Voodoo Donuts, which tipped the scales over Scott Kveton‘s session, which had to be at the same time.

Anyway, these are the types of speakers you’ll get at WebVisions.

Here’s the official conference about:

Discover the future of Web design, user experience and business strategy for three days of mind-melding on what’s new in the digital world. Get a glimpse into the future, along with practical information that you can apply to your Web site, company and career.

wv.pngHosts: WebVisions

Where: Oregon Convention Center, 777 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Portland, OR 97232

When: May 20 from 12 PM to 2 PM

Please RSVP on Upcoming so the hosts can get an idea of how much grub to get. If you’re vegetarian or vegan, drop a comment on the event page for planning, unless you don’t want to eat.

This will be the first Portland Lunch 2.0 hosted by a conference, and it should be an interesting mix of conference attendees, many from out of town, and Portlanders.

This crowd mix should provide some interesting conversation, as well as an opportunity to network outside your normal crowd. Of course, if you want to see the Norms of the Portland tech scene, I’m pretty sure they’ll be there too, next to the Cliffs.

Don’t forget these Lunch 2.0s, coming soon:

As always, big thanks to all the hosts who have hosted or plan to host Lunch 2.0. Drop a comment (or tweet @jkuramot) if you want information about hosting one. It’s easy.

WebVisions 2009 gets BoingBoinged! Oh wait, that’s “Boing Boing Ed.” Mark Frauenfelder

Rick Turoczy on January 20, 2009

WebVisions, the premiere Web design and development gathering that calls Portland, Oregon, home, has continued to draw a number of influential Web types to the Rose City, year after year.

This year promises to be no different.

So who did the WebVisions team convince to come speak here this May? None other than Mark Frauenfelder, the founder of Boing Boing, which—in addition to being a constant source of strange and wonderful things—remains one of the most popular sites on the Web.

Boing Boing

How popular? The substantial and dedicated reader base of Boing Boing always carries with it the potential of being “BoingBoinged“—akin to being “slashdotted” or hitting the Digg front page—where a simple link from the popular blog can send a server-crushing load of traffic to even the most prepared site.

This is a big win for WebVisions—and for Portland in general. Aside from thousands of local fans, Mark’s keynote is sure to draw attendees—and attention—from across the US.

And Mark’s not the only noteworthy speaker. WebVisions always manages to gather an impressive roster of interesting people.

So what are you waiting for? May 20 is only four months away. Get moving. To RSVP and see who else is attending, head on over to WebVisions on Upcoming. To register for the event, visit WebVisions.

WebVisions 2009: Pitch your panel, session, or workshop

Rick Turoczy on September 4, 2008

WebVisions continues to serve as Portland’s premiere Web design and development conference. And, in 2009, it could be our only major tech conference of the summer.

I mean, we already lost RailsConf 2009, and if the rumors of OSCON relocation hold true…

There was even rumors that OSCON 2009 will take place in another city (The Bay Area?)– even the Burgerville staff told me about the scuttlebutt. They were understandably bummed about it as they get plenty of customers during OSCON week.

… then WebVisions—as great as it is—has the chance to be even greater, next year. The belle of the ball, as it were.

So, don’t you owe it to your geeky self to participate? That’s right. I think you do, too.

And here’s your chance.

WebVisions has just opened its submissions for the 2009 event, allowing you to pitch the WebVisions team on your session, workshop, or panel.

What’s the difference, you ask?

  • Sessions are 1.25 hours long and address topics that reveal new directions, technologies, processes or approaches for the Web.
  • Workshops will be held on May 20th only, and are set up in a classroom format and run for 3 hours for a half day or 6 hours for a full day and should provide more in depth coverage of a topic.
  • Panels run for 1.25 hours and feature 3-4 speakers including a moderator. Panels should be fun, lively and informative, not a series of mini presentations from each speaker.

Don’t stress! You’ve still got plenty of time. Submissions don’t close until December 31, 2008. But I thought it would be a good idea to get you noodling on that about which you’re going to speak.

Because you are going to speak.

Now in its eleventh year, WebVisions will be held in May 20-22, 2009, in Portland, Oregon. For some feedback on previous WebVision events, see my roundup of posts from WebVisions 2008. For more information, visit WebVisions.

WebVisions 2008: Rounding up the posts

Rick Turoczy on May 26, 2008

WebVisionsWell, another WebVisions is in the books. And given that I wasn’t able to attend, I’ve been really happy to see a ton of write-ups on the event.

I can’t keep all this goodness to myself, so I thought I’d provide a round-up on all the comments and posts I’ve found.

Did you write something that I missed? I’d love to read it—and I’d love to link it up. Please add your post to the comments below, and I’ll add it to the list.

Webvisionary Awards to coincide with WebVisions 2008

Rick Turoczy on April 11, 2008

There’s a new award in town. Literally. Thanks to the Portland-creative triumvirate of WebVisions, Pop Art and 52 Ltd announcing the Webvisionary Awards, a new award designed to highlight exceptional work online. Winners are to be announced on the first night of the WebVisions 2008 conference.

The first annual Webvisionary Awards is accepting submissions of outstanding work in a range of categories, from mashups and pimped out personal pages to advertising and mobile. Entries must be submitted by April 30th and there will be a fee of $15 per submission.

The categories are extremely broad, so it will be interesting to see where this goes.

  1. Advertising
  2. Interactive Campaign
  3. Business
  4. Viral
  5. Experimental
  6. Community
  7. Blog
  8. Mobile
  9. Technical Achievement
  10. Web Application
  11. Mashup
  12. Games
  13. Video/Motion
  14. Educational / Resource
  15. Pimped Out Personal Page
  16. Student
  17. Best of Show

And while I’m not much of one for the flash mob mentality, I, for one, think it would be really nice to see some of the cool Portland companies around here get some of the recognition they deserve. Especially given the crowd that WebVisions tends to draw to town.

For more information on the award categories or to nominate your favorites, visit the Webvisionary Awards.

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