IgniteCincinnati, Finally

The Ignite concept is coming to Cincinnati, finally.  Not to be confused with the excellent grant program, IgniteCincinnati is:

A night of presentations with a twist. 14 presenters each get 5 minutes to talk about their subject. 20 slides that auto advance after 15 seconds. It is quick, fun, smart and fills the Know Theater. Our next one is January 20th.

To qualify this, I should say that these type of short-format talks have been going on in the area for a while now time under different names.  Whether you call it Ignite, Pecha Kucha Night, Open Mic night, lightning talks, jolt talks – the events are always fun… AND educational!

I love these events. I try to make them whenever they occur, and hope to see you there on the 20th. 

Register for IgniteCincinnati.

Coworking in Cincinnati

I had a good time at Cincinnati Social Media's Open Mic night.  Unfortunately, I only caught snippets here and there of the talks.  The audio in the venue was poor in general, and the people in the back of the room were interesting to talk to, so I spent a good deal of time doing that instead.  Apologies to the organizers.  But it was the first event of its kind around here and I think the next one will be better.  I think it should be in an auditorium-like setting as opposed to a bar, so that the audience is more captive. I know, why don't I organize it, right?

One speech in particular caught my eye: Beyond Free Agent Nation by Brian Lecount.  In it, he discusses the slow transformation of the American workforce. Some 18-month old data that he quoted stated:

• 8.3 million independent contractors comprise 16% of American workforce.
• 74 million 1099's were sent out (2008?)

It was a great talk and pointed out the many challenges of this newfound trend.  For example, many who make the leap to independence underestimate how much time is spent on administrative work. 

And then there is coworking, a trend that is sweeping the nation. According to Wikipedia:

Coworking is an emerging trend for a new pattern for working. Typically work-at-home professionals or independent contractors or people who travel frequently end up working in relative isolation. Coworking is the social gathering of a group of people, who are still working independently, but who share values and who are interested in the synergy that can happen from working with talented people in the same space.

Brian had some strong opinions about coworking, in particular, how it was missing real business development.  Community is great and all, but how much value is that network really building?

In any case, if you haven't heard, I am involved in a coworking movement that has started in Cincinnati.  Go to the site and take the survey.  Coworking spaces are popping up all over the country.  In some cities, it's simply about renting desks, and that's okay.  But in other cities, it is having a real transformative effect on these cities in how people with ideas get together and make their cities better.  Hopefully, in Cincinnati, it will become the latter.

The Cincinnati Enquirer Show Its True Priorities

I was disgusted by the Enquirer's response to the laying off of 101 employees, including the entire staff of CiNWeekly.  If you haven't read it yet, go read it now, and then come back while I highlight the salient points.

Done? Here is the salient point: Advertisers, we are still worth spending money on. Buy ads from us!

I understand everyone has to make a living.  But this is a bit of salt in the wound. I expected the post to be apologetic.  But there was no apology.  I expected sympathy. No sympathy towards its former employees or their families was mentioned.  Not even a little regret.  Here is what I read:

Naysayers have predicted our demise many times over those years, but today The Enquirer reaches 64 percent of local adults every week, or 803,800.

Look at our reach, buy ads from us!

Enquirer Media does not have an audience problem. Nearly two-thirds of the market will read our newspaper this week. It’s the economy.

Look at our reach, buy ads from us!

And, we’re more than a newspaper. Enquirer Media reaches 83 percent of the adults in its core market every week with one of our products. Moreover, it reaches those people nearly five times.

Look at our reach, buy ads from us!

We work for our advertisers. The newspaper and digital initiatives continue to provide the same strong results for our advertisers. We help them understand and employ today’s technology to grow their business and reach their goals.

Look at our reach, buy ads from us!

We have talented, flexible employees. And we still have, by far, the largest local footprint in terms of content gathering, print and online audience, promotional capability and sales capability.

Look at our reach, buy ads from us!

There was some other statements made, but that was all I read.

Streetcars & Pecha Kucha

Some short notes on a couple items in Soapbox this week. First, an excellent opinion on the streetcar.

It should be noted that the proposed Mill Creek Expressway/I-75 project will essentially add one single lane of freeway in both directions of I-75 between the Western Hills Viaduct and Paddock Road, while also revamping on/off ramps, and will cost an estimated $642.5 million. That's an extra lane of freeway for 7.9 miles, plus revamping interchanges.  ...In addition to the $642.5 million Mill Creek Expressway project, the Through the Valley project will engage in an additional widening exercise from Paddock to I-275 at the cost of an additional $149 million (at least).

...Coincidentally enough, if the full stretch [of the streetcar] to the zoo and back were implemented, it would be a route of roughly 7.9 miles, the same stretch of widening on I-75.

So we have critics carping on the profligacy of spending $185 million versus a whopping $800 million for freeway widening.

 

The second item I noticed was about the apparent success of the first Pecha Kucha night in Cincinnati.

"PK Vol. 1 was such a huge success," says official organizer, Greg Lewis. "It demonstrated that the same desire that got PK started in Tokyo six years ago is present here in Cincinnati today."

Uh, I don't mean anything negative, but I know that technology groups around the region have been doing these presentations for last two years.  They may not have been as flashy, and certainly none were in as cool a venue as the CAC, but they have been around.  You may have heard them mistakenly referred to as Machu Pichu talks, or Pikachu presentations, but PK has been present in Cincinnati for a while now.  So thanks for participating.  :) 

Third Least Popular? Sure.

The Enquirer points out a Pew Research Study on Social & Demographic Trends that place Cincinnati third from the bottom of a list of cities people would most like to live.

I started this post by trying to point out the flawed methodology in the study, as I usually do for negative reports.  But the methodology was pretty solid.  So I looked at the part of the phone survey that gathered data for this list of cities.  The question went like this:

As I read through the following places, just tell me your first reaction: Would you want to live in this city or its surrounding metropolitan area or NOT want to live there?

First, …[INSERT ITEM; RANDOMIZE]

READ IF NECESSARY: What’s your first reaction? Would you want to live in [INSERT ITEM] or not want to live there?
IF RESPONDENT SAYS THEY CURRENTLY LIVE IN THIS AREA, PROBE ONCE: “If you had a choice, would you want to live there, or not want to live there?”

So it really becomes a gut answer.  I say a name, you give me your first reaction.  And when I think about what my answers would be, all the superficial reputations I have for cities, good or bad, bubble to the top.

When I hear...	I immediately think of...
New York City	Way cool, way hard to live there.
Cleveland	Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. River caught on fire.
Dallas	Hot, flat, crowded. Um, Texas.
Minneapolis	Quite nice. Lakes and forests.
Orlando	Hot, flat. Disneyworld. Lots of young people.
Portland	Hippies wearing hemp and riding streetcars.
Sacramento	Hot, flat, desert. Near Tahoe.
St. Louis	Uh, they got that big arch.
Pittsburgh	Very scenic. Hills and rivers.
San Diego	Beach, beach, beach. First line of defense from Mexico.
Detroit	Robocop.
Houston	Even hotter than Dallas.
Las Vegas	Desert. Water shortages. The Strip of course.
Los Angeles	Way cool. Sprawling. Traffic.
San Antonio	The Alamo. The Riverwalk. Um, Texas.
Philadelphia	East coast, but not too east coast. Still expensive.
Phoenix	Desert. Retirees.
Seattle	Beautiful scenery. Lots of childless couples with dogs.
Tampa	Beach. Retirees?
Washington, D.C.	Lots of interesting things going on. Expensive.
Atlanta	Big city. Southern hospitality.
Baltimore	Inner harbor. Armpit of Washington, D.C.
Boston	Scenic waterways. Lots of young people and colleges.
Chicago	Scenic lakefront. Big city. Midwestern sensibilities.
Denver	Mountains, mountains, mountains.
Kansas City	Funny that Kansas City is not in Kansas.
Miami	Expensive and pretentious. Pro athletes. Celebrities. Nice weather though.
Riverside	Riverside? California? Isn't this just part of L.A.?
San Francisco	Gay people. Liberal bastion. Technology.

 

I put those up very quickly. Now what about Cincinnati?  Obviously, I'm biased, but if really tried to pretend I was an outsider, what are the first things that spring to mind?  WKRP.  Rain man. Conservative.

And that's the problem we, and the likes of Detroit and Cleveland, face.  Of course, Cincinnati is a great place to live for all sorts of people.  But how would you know?   That's the work that's never finished. 

So I believe that Cincinnati might finish third from the bottom in a survey like that, even if I know it's not true. 

OTRTweetup

Made it down to the OTRTweetup last night at Below Zero lounge. I stayed for a couple hours but unfortunately could not continue the party at Lav-o-matic and then Twist (seriously, don't these people have day jobs :) ).

There's a lot of overlap between the local Twitter crowd and the local blogging crowd, so it was good to see some of those folks again. And of course it was good to meet some new tweeps!

I totally did not even think about bringing my camera, which is unusual. I guess it's been a tough week. But there are pictures out there if you look hard enough. Thanks to @kate_the_great and @AmyInOhio for organizing.

See some OTRTweetup and #cincitweetup tweets.

No Dial-Up For You

From CityBeat:

The Cincinnati Enquirer's Web site has experienced a double-digit drop in traffic since its parent company recently forced a format change that many users have complained is slow and cumbersome.

Slow and cumbersome? Really? I think people are being unreasonable in demanding a website that is not a mile long, does not scroll on forever, and contains less than a whopping 1.1MB of files [YSlow on Cincinnati.com]. Seriously, people. That's what broadband is for.


In any case, I do not envy print media like Gannett these days. They have their work cut out for them. I believe that "newspapers" will thrive and succeed in the Internet age, but the profits will definitely never be as big, and the newsrooms never be as crowded as they once were. The heyday of newspapers as we are familiar with them are long gone.

But at least they are trying to change, rather than just suing and charging everyone to keep things the same like some industries.

Everyone's Famous! Blogger Bash 2008

It was the second blogger event IRL in almost as many months. Or as Bob put it, Blogger Bash 2008 at AVS ART downtown was another chance for all of us local bloggers to meet and be socially awkward together. This time, Sarah accompanied me.

It was a blast. The keg of Stella didn't hurt either.

There were plenty of people there that I met at the Blogger Convention in July. Chatting with some of them for a second time somehow made a big difference. It was as if now it was confirmed that they were real people, and that the first time was not some huge internet prank on me. So, yeah, it was great to see Dan, Kevin, Shannan, Brian, and of course Bob, who put it all together, again.

There were some folks at the Convention that I did not get to meet then. But recognizing them at least made it easier to introduce myself this time. So I'm sure I'll run into Julie, Kate, and Sean again.

There were some folks from Cincinnati.com. Talked to Polly Campbell for a while about - not dining, but - education and the Enquirer. And met Alex, who just moved to Cincy, and whose blog I just found right now as I type this (yes, it's a skill). His blog is hilarious, though I noticed he hasn't updated lately, unfortunately. Alex: welcome to our fair city, try not to compare it to Boston because Boston is dumb. And I recognized this chick, but I didn't actually talk to her.

And I met some completely new people! Like Kasmira and Laura. And Sarah (who I'd actually met before) and Megan from the Know Theatre.

At this point, you may have thought the same thing Sarah thought last night as we left: "Wow, lots of women bloggers." Indeed.

More coverage (BTW, the best Blogger Bash recap most definitely goes to Kate):

• Kate's Random Musings
• Mommy Bits
  
• 5chw4r7z (lots o' pictures)

Soapbox Covers It All!

Soapbox continues to be a source of great conversation. I don't possibly have the time to write about each of these stories individually, but they all struck me at one point or another. So I'll try my best to combine all commentary into one post here.

New report on Ohio tax reform sees $6.3 billion in new investment

Now, in the second year of a five-year rollout, state officials say the net payoff is that Ohio now offers companies the lowest new capital investment tax structure in the Midwest.

Interesting. Wasn't this one of Bob Taft's last acts? I seem to remember grocery stores complaining about low margins. If the claims are true, though, it was a smart move.

SoapDish for July 29, 2008

I have liked the new Fountain Square plan from day one. (Sorry, no documentation to back that up.) I have been mostly pleased with how it's turned out, given the limited land area, and suspect that once the trees grow bigger, however long that might take, it will begin to look like some of the more popular spaces around the country. I still think the ice rink could be bigger, and the rotating, multi-color lights will get old pretty soon. And I wish we could knock down the Fifth Third building.

I like this line from Casey Coston:

I never quite understood the crusty complaints about the makeover, the most articulate of which seemed to boil down to something along the lines of “we used to be able to see the fountain while zooming by on 5th Street in our car….now we have to actually get out of our car, and we’re not happy about it.”

A Streetcar Named Renewal: If We Build it, Will They Come?

Another good streetcar story - I don't think it has anything new for those who have followed the streetcar development. But it does a great job in knocking down some common criticisms:

Another misconception: streetcars are glorified taxis, or buses. Why fix it if it ain’t broke?

Chirch has this to say, “A bus line is merely “red paint on a telephone pole, or a little aluminum sign. When you put down streetcar rails, you’re actually making a commitment… something psychological happens.”

...And perhaps the biggest misconception: all funding must come from the city, for which we shall pay dearly.

In fact, city officials and grassroots fundraisers are busy courting private, state and federal donors to help foot the bill for this $182 million project. The city will dish out $60 million, but has decided against instituting a sales tax.

To put this in perspective, Dohoney says, “we invested $40 million-plus in the Convention Center, $40 million-plus in Fountain Square…[and] we’re talking about a $600-800 million dollar development on the waterfront.”

More Cincinnati Bloggers Convention

More recaps of the 1st Annual Cincinnati Bloggers Convention.

• Queen City Survey
• Building Cincinnati
• Die Fledermaus
• More from Kelly to the Max
• JoeWessels.net
• Keepin' it REAL Estate
• Juliet & Juliette
• Not Really A Book Blog Book Blog

Internet Week Cincy?

I noticed this on Soapbox a while ago:

Cincinnati will host its first "Digital Non-Conference," a creative forum for those working in digital media and technology in the advertising, branding and marketing communications fields, November 14 and 15 downtown... Organizers say the atmosphere will be light, casual and fun and the working focus will be on all things digital.

For some reason, it reminded me of Internet Week New York.

Internet Week New York is a week-long festival of events saluting New York's thriving Internet industry and the many talented companies, organizations and innovators creating the future of online media!

Could something like that be pulled off here? Internet Week Cincy? What would it look like?

Anyway, that weekend is far off, and I didn't even see a name for it. I just wanted to put this up here so that later I can say I thought of it already :) .

Cincinnati Bloggers Convention 2008

Well, I thoroughly enjoyed last night's 1st Annual Cincinnati Bloggers Convention. It was by far the best Cincinnati Bloggers Convention I've attended. And it wasn't just the free food and booze.

I have a hard time meeting too many new people at once. I also have a hard time with cold introductions. Put those two together, and I actually feel good that I got to meet Kevin, Dan, Barry, Matt, Shannan (a.k.a. Marty's wife to me), Ashish, Liz, and of course Albert. (If I met you and don't remember, please accept my apologies.) And it was good seeing Kelly, Bob, and Chris again. (If I already knew you and didn't speak to you, please accept my apologies.)

I didn't get to meet everyone I had hoped to meet, but there's always next time.

Over on Cincinnati Blog, Brian asked if there's something that we all shared, something that makes people become bloggers. Interestingly, in the short speech that Albert gave near the start of the evening, he expressed his pleasure at gathering the most intelligent people in Cincinnati in the same room. I think I'll go with his answer.

More coverage from around the local blogosphere.

• Clark Street Blog
• wine me, dine me (in cincinnati)
• Kate's Random Musings
• Stacked (our host)
• QueerCincinnati
• 5chw4r7z
• Cincinnati Blog
• Journey Is The Reward (great photos of the Mercantile)
  
• Kelly to the max! (who I believe was the only one to blog during the convention)
  

At the start of the evening, General hobnobbing commenced.

The end of the evening. Kelly is talking to someone or another.
That big tub on the table had been filled with beer and wine at one point.

I thought this weird, floating,
"Being John Malkovich" doorway was neat.

Blogospheric

Soapbox Cincinnati has a feature story on the local blogosphere. If you're blog-savvy enough to be reading my blog already :) , the story probably won't tell you anything new. You already know the reason most people start a blog: because they have opinions.

I did like this observation:

The Cincinnati blog scene, and it is a “scene,” in the sense that bloggers tend to make references to one another, repost their friends’ articles and link their favorite blogs within their own space, is vibrant and prolific.

I try not to get involved in the "scene" aspect of it – it's my social hermit nature – but it's inevitable. Speaking of scene:

Will you be attending the First Annual Cincinnati Bloggers Convention at the Mercantile Library downtown on Thursday, July 24, at 6pm? If so, I'll be there too. Introduce yourself if you like. Just look for the tall Asian.

InOneWeekend Update

Here are some updated links:

• Full Business Courier article. (The previous one was only a teaser.)
• National press release.

The World Is Awesome

This isn't local, but the video made me smile. It's only a minute long.

via Pop Something.

A Cincinnati Visitor

I randomly came across this Toronto resident's blog post about his visit to Cincinnati. There are some funny lines and some pictures of familiar places.

Cincinnati Photo Diary.

CCV Preparing For Election Year

I guess with no anti-gay, anti-lesbian agenda on this year's ballot, the Citizens for Community Values is feeling a little need for attention. Which would explain why they called for a press conference in front of City Hall denouncing CityBeat for accepting money from legal customers in return for gasp publishing ads! What is this business they call "advertising," and why has nobody ever told me it was illegal before?

This is wrong on so many levels, it's comical. Allow me to enumerate.

1. CityBeat is guilty of nothing but accepting payment for ads, which of course lots of people do. Even if their customers were not legal, wouldn't the job of arresting and prosecuting them fall onto the shoulders of law enforcement? Why would anyone expect CityBeat to police its advertisers? Wouldn't that be the job of, um, the police?
2. The letter sent to CityBeat from CCV is lacking. As CityBeat points out, there is no where to send a reply as they request. Also, it is signed by 39 people, most of whom are reverends and pastors I've never heard of, the chief of police, county sheriff, and some random attorneys. I wonder if any of those reverends and pastors have ever told their flocks that the federal government introduced AIDS in the black community.
3. I'm not fan of prostitution. I think it's exploitative and a general drag on neighborhoods, but as they say it's the oldest business in the world. But if I was a fan, I certainly would not look in CityBeat to get my kicks. If the CCV was really concerned about this, they should target the Yellow Pages, the internet, and the late-night TV ads that run while I watch syndicated episodes of Friends at 11 pm at night. They should work with the law enforcement privately, perhaps with CityBeat's help. Vice squad usually doesn't hold a press conference at City Hall when they are preparing a bust. To this point, this line from the letter is laughable:

   "...it has been brought to our attention that the adult classified ad sections of both your weekly print edtion and your online edition have become primary avenues through which the sex-for-sale industry in greater Cincinnati markets their destructive services."

Many good comments over on Cincinnati blog about this (this one in particular). Also, see the Cincinnati Dealer's take.

Soapbox Cincinnati

I've paid attention to Soapbox Cincinnati for several weeks now, so it's safe to say that I think it's a great thing. The development and innovation news always have the scoops, and do a great job of summarizing the story in a paragraph or less. (I find myself unable to read more than a paragraph of anything these days. Hmmm.) And the first ever feature story mentioned Zipscene.

But the best part of the whole site are the blogs. Every week, a local guest blogger writes 2-3 posts about the city. The posts vary, but they all share a common trait: optimism.

Some of my favorite blog posts are this very optimistic post, this post focusing on technology as a growth engine, and this tale about a fictional business traveler visiting Cincinnati.

I try to be judicious in cluttering up my sidebar with links, but I've added Soapbox Cincinnati.

Make Cincinnati Weird!

Looks like Make Cincinnati Weird has undergone a heavy makeover, and transitioned to a traditional blog format. And there's some recent posts too!

Cradle Of Brands et. al.

Earlier, I had asked, if we are the Cradle of Brands, then where are all the conferences and expos? I can give you one answer to that now. Over on Soapbox, I saw that, DMI, the Design Management Institute will hold its 20th Brand/Design Conference in Cincinnati on June 11, 2008. Now, I don't know what kind of conference this is. All I know is that it's neat to see Cincinnati alongside Singapore and Paris in the list of other cities holding DMI conferences.

Continuing this random thought of city boosterism, I came across this CincyTech blog. An older post relates a quote from Tim Draper of Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

Tim Draper of Draper Fisher Jurvetson (the most active VC on Sand Hill Road) once talked about Silicon Valley being the digital media hub, L.A. being the entertainment hub, and Boston being the biotech hub. When asked about Cincinnati, he responded that we are the “Marketing hub!”

I'd heard that quote before, but I'd never had anywhere to link to. Also, in the version I heard, he mentioned New York as being the financial hub.

And lastly, I'd been meaning to write something about this Enquirer article about a local industrial design company, Kaleidoscope, that started a blog that is trying to share the knowledge the company has acquired about sustainability of design and services to lead to a better world. Past posts include topics like "Dangers and Remedies for Multitasking" and "Surf community launches a wave of sustainability initiatives." But I never got around to it. So I'll just throw it in here and say: love the title.