Why event and conference organizers don’t talk to each other is beyond me. Intel, Microsoft, TechCrunch, SF Music Tech and DEMOfall all had events on the same three days earlier this week in the San Francisco Bay Area.
While the attendees may not be identical, there are plenty of people, press included, who wanted to be at two or three of them.
Coordinate marketing teams, coordinate. The industry wants you to. Really.
I was scurrying back and forth between events, starting with the early agenda at TechCrunch Disrupt on Day one where they had a fabulous line-up, including Greylock and LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman and Mike McCue of Flipboard(both in a fireside chat format), followed by founder Stories with Andrew Stalbow, Rovio and Tom Conrad from Pandora. Also on day one was Doug Leone of Sequoia Capital, Paul Graham of Y Combinator, Peter Thiel with the Founders Fund, and Max Levchin.
The start-up alley was glittered (literally) with start-ups from various parts of the globe, some so early stage that their product wasn’t “quite ready” yet…..that means of course, neither was their pitch.
“Some” had it nailed down however and were doing their best to get the most of their $2K or so investment to have a pod on floor. Ford even had presence on the floor, hiring this guy to create posters from a template that was designed by UK artist Jonny Wan.
The template was a two color process that included the Ford logo and the TechCrunch Disrupt imprint.
The stellar line-up continued throughout the week with the Rise of (Profitable) Open Source Hardware panel where John Biggs moderated a session with Joshua Brandon Myer (Applied Platonics), Steve Hodges (Microsoft Research), Luke Soules (iFixIt.com) and Eric Wilhelm (Instructables).
Education was covered as well so we saw the latest from K12’s startups, hosted by education incubator
co-founder Geoff Ralston. Sadly because I was running back and forth between the other side of San Francisco and Santa Clara, I missed a fireside chat Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers John Doerr, a serial entrepreneur and investor Silicon Valley and the rest of the industry adores.
I had fun talking to Happy Toy Machine’s CEO Scott Schube who walked me through how to design my own toy, a stuffed bear in this case. I called my creation magic sauce naturally and here’s a photo of my end result, an adorable brown bear with floppy ears.
On the afternoon of the last day, TechCrunch Disrupt Alumni companies were allowed to present their latest, which I tweeted about: Badgeville, Qwiki, Miso Media, Sonar and GetAround all had new announcements. Last year’s presenters (and winners) did their unveiling shortly before a Marissa Meyer interview with Mike Arrington, who remarked to her that he has probably interviewed her more than anyone in the past several years.
Shortly thereafter and before the judges (Roelof Botha (Sequoia Capital), Matt Cohler (Benchmark Capital), Ron Conway (SV Angel), Marissa Mayer (Google), Hadi Partovi (founder and investor), unveiled the winners, Erick Schonfeld got a tad sentimental over Arrington’s departure, reminding the packed room that it would be the last time the “entire team” would be together.
Here’s a link to the ultimate guide which is full of content, the panels, speakers, agenda and photos.
Below Startup Battlefield Finalists pose backstage at Day 3.
Below Nick Halstead of DataSift.
(Above two photos by Araya Diaz/Getty Images for TechCrunch). For more photos, including Start-up Alley, refer to TechCrunch’s flickr stream.
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
