Archive for the 'Conference' Category

You can find me in the Burgh…

Published by Jackie Vesci October 25th, 2007 in Pittsburgh, Conference and Creative Treehouse. 1 Comment

Saturday, October 27, 2007 I will be attending the Artistic Evening for the La Roche Global Solutions Conference @ the Creative Treehouse in Bellevue. The evening starts at 7:00pm and will feature poetry and art from students of La Roche College, as well as LIVE performances by Sean Atkins, Monkey Face with Steve Jarrett, and the Jim Dandies (with Josh Sager on keyboard, guitar and keytar -blogger at Star Dot Star Comics). $3 donations at the door will benefit the Brother’s Brother Foundation of Pittsburgh.

Tuesday, October 30, before the 7 DEADLY SINS PARTY @ PETER’S PUB, Pittsburgh Young Professionals will host a Halloween Bash @ Town Tavern on the Southside from 6:00pm-9:00pm. The cost is $30 per person, which includes an OPEN BAR and an array of assorted appetizers - tossed salad, BBQ chicken wings, vegetable spring rolls, and Town Tavern’s own mini-burgers. A prize will be awarded for the best costume.

Then, hop in a cab and come to Oakland for the 10:00pm Devil’s Night Celebration at Peter’s Pub to benefit the National MS Society!

More to follow!

Cera[m!x] Pittsburgh and the NCECA Launch Reception

Published by Jackie Vesci August 17th, 2007 in Art, Pittsburgh, culture, exhibits, Community, Conference, Pittsburgh Cares and Volunteer. 0 Comments

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This morning I volunteered through Pittsburgh Cares at the NCECA Launch Reception (National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts), working the registration table. Unique ceramic magnets made at the Bidwell Training Center, one of which is pictured above, were given out to the guests - which included Bill Strickland, the NCECA 2008 Conference keynote speaker and President & CEO of the Manchester Bidwell Corporation, Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato, regional arts organizations and educators, press from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, WPXI, and WHIRL Magazine, to name a few of the 100+ in attendance.

The NCECA Launch Reception served as a precursor to Cera[m!x] Pittsburgh and the NCECA 2008 Conference, a “regional celebration of diverse expressions of contemporary ceramic art being developed by a consortium of arts organizations, artists, educators, universities, and exhibition venues to raise awareness of ceramic art in Western Pennsylvania.” The NCECA will hold its annual conference at the David Lawrence Convention Center from March 19-22, 2008 - which expects to bring 5,000+ to the Pittsburgh region.

Next week, I will be volunteering through Pittsburgh Cares for the MBC Administration Conference (also held at the Bidwell Training Center) and at the Oakland Furniture Sale. Please check out the Pittsburgh Cares website, and consider signing up for upcoming events on the Service Projects Calender. Volunteering provides the opportunity to improve the community, network, and share your ideas.

August 2007 - PodCamp Pittsburgh 2 and Other Events in Pittsburgh

Published by Jackie Vesci August 1st, 2007 in Fun, Pittsburgh, marketing, Community, technology, Conference, Entrepreneurs and PodCamp. 1 Comment

PodCamp Pittsburgh 2 - a free technology / new media conference held downtown at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh August 17-19, 2007. That’s right, FREE. Learn about blogs, vlogs, audio podcasts, web video and new media monetization.

Sign up to register for the event at the link provided. If you have experience with new media, you can also sign up to lead a session.

Questions about new media, design, content, web development, etc. can/will be answered by experienced professionals during the sessions and in the Mentor Lounge open throughout the conference.

Want to learn more? Consider attending the following August events, each falling on Thursday nights leading up to the conference (many PodCamp attendees will also be at these events):

August 2, 2007 @ 5:00 p.m. - Geek Night @ Church Brew Works

August 9, 2007 @ 5:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. - Blogfest 11 @ Finnegan’s Wake

August 16, 2007 @ 5:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. - Entrepreneurial Thursdays “New Media Entrepreneurs” Panel @ Altar Bar

Note: You will find free food and discounted drinks at most of the above events.

-Thank you to Jia Ji, Community Relations at Guru.com, for the breakdown of August events

Also, don’t forget Doughnuts and Art 2.0, a.k.a. DNA 2.0 will be held August 25, 2007, 6:00 p.m. @ the Creative Treehouse - the weekend following PodCamp Pittsburgh 2

Final note - check out an upcoming Refresh Pittsburgh meeting @ the Creative Treehouse, a community of designers and developers in Pittsburgh

Any questions email me at jvesci@gmail.com or feel free to post a comment. August will be an exciting month for the Pittsburgh online community!

Carl Kurlander’s Advice to Pittsburgh

Published by Jackie Vesci June 25th, 2007 in Career, Pittsburgh, culture, movies, Community, technology and Conference. 0 Comments

“Pittsburgh. It’s the city that built America with its steel, cured polio, opened the world’s first movie theater, invented everything from aluminum to the Big Mac, and inspired hometown icon Fred Rogers.” 

-From the “About the Film: A Tale of Two Cities” section of the website for Carl Kurlander’s new documentary

The Sunday, June 24, 2007 issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette highlights an opinion piece entitled “Pittsburgh - We can make it here” by Carl Kurlander (follow the link to read the article online).  Kurlander, a Pittsburgh native most famously known for writing the hit film “St. Elmo’s Fire,” recognizes the potential for greatness in Pittsburgh with the many resources - the universities, great old movie houses, WQED, the Carnegie Mellon Entertainment Technology Center, Pittsburgh Filmmakers, Civic Light Opera, Pittsburgh Public Theater, etc. - and explains that someone “has got to sew all this up…to get everything to work together to transform these nonprofit resources into a lucrative business.”

His advice is precisely the idea I have in mind for starting a business.  I want to combine the local talent and resources available in abundance and transform Pittsburgh into a city with an entrepreneurial focus.

Where do we start?  Kurlander says, “Invest in talent.”

To put his advice into perspective, he invites readers to think back to the city one hundred years ago when “this was the Silicon Valley of the Industrial Revolution.”  He notes that “back then if you were 22-year-old Charles Hull with an idea about the process for making aluminum or 21-year-old George Westinghouse with the idea for an air brake, you came to Pittsburgh to get your ideas funded.”  In 1905, Pittsburgh was arguably the best city in the world for entrepreneurs.

In 2007, Pittsburgh natives find success utilizing their creative talents elsewhere, as Kurlander explains.  Rob Marshall, director of “Chicago,” grew up in Squirrel Hill and attended the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama.  Mt. Lebanon native Terri Minksy created the TV series “Lizzie McGuire.”  Bernie Goldmann, who also grew up in Squirrel Hill, produced “300″ and George A. Romero’s “Land of the Dead.”  Today, when the “entertainment industry makes more than the steel and automobile industry,” it is time for Pittsburgh to invest in retaining more local creative ventures.

Currently, Kurlander works as a Visiting Distinguished Senior Lecturer for the University of Pittsburgh and has been finishing a documentary about Pittsburgh reinventing itself called, “My Pittsburgh: A Tale of Two Cities.”  In the film, he points to the flourishing Pittsburgh of the past and legendary Pittsburgh talent Andy Warhol, Gene Kelly, and August Wilson to remind Pittsburghers of the rich artistic legacy cultivated in this city.  He summarizes his message concerning Pittsburgh’s future in four points: 1) Pass the film incentive legislation, 2) Take intellectual property seriously, 3) Bring the talent back, and 4) Invest in emerging talent.

Kurlander has taken great strides to facilitate the process of retaining local talent by creating the organization Pitt in Hollywood and co-founding the Steeltown Entertainment Project, each an effort to promote more interaction with the entertainment industry and emerging artists in Southwestern Pennsylvania.  As part of the initiatives of the Steeltown Entertainment Project, Kurlander wants to launch the Steeltown Film Factory, where emerging artists can attend workshops and participate in competitions to work with successful Pittsburgh-native film and television mentors and create up to three short films about Pittsburgh.

At the end of the Post-Gazette article, Kurlander leaves readers with these thoughts: “WHAT PITTSBURGH NEEDS MOST OF ALL IS A HIT- a film, a TV show, an Internet company to take off.  But to get that hit, we must do what people in Hollywood and Silicon Valley do and what has worked here in the past with manufacturing and medicine - take a variety of bets on talented people with good ideas.  Growing a sector requires:

  • Mentoring from experienced professionals who have a track record of success
  • Exposure to an entrepreneurial community who knows calculated risks are what it takes to launch an idea
  • Venture capital to make sure that idea happens in a timely way and has exposure to the markets”

I know there are many efforts to transform Pittsburgh into a profitable artistic center, one of which being the upcoming event PodCamp Pittsburgh 2, a community “unconference” to learn about blogs, vlogs, audio podcasts, web video, content networks and new media monetization.  The event will be held at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh August 18-19, 2007. 

I will be attending the second planning session this coming Thursday, June 28, 2007 @ 7:00 PM, held at the Creative Treehouse in Bellevue.

Advancing artistic endeavors taking place in Pittsburgh, PA is one of the main ideas at echoflip.com.  As soon as I come up with a way to turn the ideas into a lucrative business, as Carl Kurlander advises, I will be sure to share it here with Pittsburgh and the world.  If anyone has anymore advice for me or other young aspiring entrepreneurs and artists in Pittsburgh, please post a comment.

eBay Live! 07

Published by Jackie Vesci June 22nd, 2007 in Career, marketing, exhibits, Community, cell phones, technology, eBay, Conference and Seth Godin. 0 Comments

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Free customized business cards and business card holder received at eBay Live! 07

eBay held their 6th annual eBay Live! conference June 14-16, 2007 in Boston.  With 178 seminars in total, each attendee had lots of activities, classes, and speakers to choose from.

Since my brother and I had never used eBay,  or Paypal, Skype (both eBay companies), and pretty much every other tool concerning eBay, we started off the conference at the orientation, then went to Skype 101, and ended the first morning at Selling Basics: Paypal Payments.  eBay thankfully had structured the conference for an entire range of users from the very beginners (us) to the very advanced.

Here is a little lesson for those readers that are also unfamiliar:

Skype is software free to download from the site that allows you to talk over the Internet to anyone in the world for free (Skype-to-Skype) using a headset or any form of speakers and a microphone (note: most webcams have a microphone).  For a fee, you can also call any mobile or landline phone and use advanced features such as voicemail and call forwarding.  It is available in 28 languages and used in almost every country around the world.  The service makes online communication simple and efficient, particularly for small business owners (such as with eBay stores), and even provides features for webcams, conference calls with up to 9 users, and file sharing.  To give you an idea of the amount of users on Skype, at 10:30 AM on June 14, 2007, there were 9,025,169 users online.  The instructor cited 196 million Skype users in total.

Paypal lets anyone with an email address send and receive money securely, easily, and quickly.  There are 3 account settings: Personal (free), Premier, and Business.  To sell on eBay, a user must sign up for a Premier or Business account.  The service has acquired 100 million account members worldwide and is available in 190 countries.  Note: you can manage 8 different IDs with one Paypal account, which also is helpful to small business owners.

Other noteworthy items concerning the conference:

  • Seth Godin gave a speech about marketing and the spreading of ideas.  His presentation alone was worth the entire cost of admission to the conference ($60 since I registered early).  It was that remarkable and warrants its own post - coming soon.
  • Stair Advertising - my new favorite marketing tool

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  • Cell Phone Charging Machines - Saw the machine below for the first time at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.  I have a feeling I will see it a lot more in the future.

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  • Free conference CD - eBay gave each attendee a CD which contains the presentation slides for most of the seminars to review or in case you missed one and would like the information.

I only attended the conference on Thursday and part of Friday (it ran Thurs-Sat night).  For the time I spent, I got some great ideas and as a result, signed up to sell on eBay, opened a Paypal account, downloaded Skype software, and now I want to be an intern for Squidoo (more to follow concerning my Squidoo lens and vying for an internship position, but please check it out in the meantime!).

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