Posts in the ‘Events’ Category

More Than a Year Later, Tuttle LA Is Still Going Strong

Francine at Tuttle LA

Me at Tuttle LA at Toorak Coffee with Jeb and Vaughan in the background. Photo by Ms. Jen Hanen

Remember back when I started posting about Tuttle LA? Well, we started trying to recreate the magic of the Tuttle Club social media cafe that I was involved with in London over here in LA last February. It’s always been a loosely organized group of freelancers, web workers and geeky folks, and through this small but dedicated group, I’ve made new friends, discussed a lot of interesting ideas, worked on a few projects and learned a lot.

When we started, we were meeting at The Library, a quirky coffee shop in Long Beach with an always-changing space. It was cozy and we enjoyed meeting there for nearly the entire first year, but we soon felt like we were outgrowing the changing space we liked to call ours. The tables were getting smaller, the Wi-Fi wasn’t getting any better, the place wasn’t getting any closer to the freeway, and we were constantly surprised by what we found in our meeting room, from a clothing store to a performance space (seriously, check out the older photos from our Flickr group).

We decided to change venues over to a newer coffee shop, Toorak Coffee, also in Long Beach, and we’ve found a happy home. The staff knows us, there’s lots of room for us to stretch out, we never feel like we’re being too rowdy during our heated discussions, and the Wi-Fi is quick and reliable. We only wish there were more outlets for our laptops. It’s also easy to get to since it’s just minutes off the 405.

I’m proud that we’re still meeting every other week like clockwork, and we’re currently discussing adding post-Tuttle educational programs. We’ve also had a number of special guests, including many Tuttle friends from London.

Just this past Friday a group of about 7 of us were discussing how valuable Tuttle has been to us. Since just about all of us work from home, Tuttle has provided an important outlet for meeting new people and adding a social component to our workweek. Because of it, we’ve gotten feedback on new projects, collaborated on work and gotten inspiration to try new solutions or conquer new tasks.

When we started out, I didn’t know if anyone would even show up. Now, our group isn’t huge, but we regularly have 6 to 10 people, and sometimes even a few more. Though I originally hoped we’d have a large, thriving group, I am happy with our steady pack of regulars who are committed to coming and helping each other out.

So Jeb, Jen, Vaughan, Al, Matt, David, Geoff, Kelly, Luke, and everyone else who stops by, thank you for being a part of Tuttle LA. It’s meant a lot to me, and I’m happy to hear that it’s meant a lot to most of you. You’ve helped inspire me creatively and professionally and you’ve introduced me to many great ideas, apps and tools.

Want to learn more about Tuttle LA and when we’re meeting next? Visit TuttleLA.com.

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May 14th, 2010 - Events, Los Angeles

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‘The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind’ Book Signing

boy who harnessed the windYesterday, my friend Caroline and I went to a book launch event for The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. She was invited to the event through her job, and asked me to come along with her. I had seen the author — and subject of the book — William Kamkwamba — on the Daily Show earlier in the week, and found his story inspiring, so I was very excited to get to meet him.

William is from Malawi, and starting at a young age, he was fascinated with bicycle dynamos and radios. When a famine hit the country and his parents could no longer afford to send him to high school, he decided to try to continue his education by going to a small library with about 900 books. He didn’t read much English, but he was fascinated with the science books and learned mostly by looking at the diagrams. In one book, he saw a windmill and decided to build one to bring electricity to his home and his village.

He shared how he collected scraps of metal and PVC pipe from a trash yard, and how his family and friends thought he was crazy. But his idea worked — he ultimately created a functioning windmill, built a circuit breaker and light switches, and stored the power the windmill generated in an old car battery.

I took AP physics in high school and I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have done any of that.

William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer

William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer

He and his co-author, journalist Bryan Mealer, shared a lot of stories about the tough times William’s village was having during the famine, and how he gathered together parts with the help of his cousin and another friend. He also then talked about what happened after journalists had discovered what he’d done. He was profiled in many papers and was invited to speak at the TED conference, where he met Tom Rielly who would turn his story into a documentary and help get him into a pan-African high school in South Africa. He’s now helping William pursue college in the U.S. — he’s been looking at Harvey Mudd while he’s been in LA.

William also told some funny stories about his first time on a plane, in a hotel and using a computer — and how he wished he had access to Google back when he was trying to figure out how to build his first windmill. And we heard about the changes in the quality of life in William’s village — he built another windmill to pump water for his mother’s garden, and started a youth soccer team to keep other kids out of trouble. The village also now has its own fresh water source, and William’s parents’ home has a real roof and some better amenities than it had when he was growing up.

I’m really excited to read the book, which I got signed by both William and Bryan. I’m very honored to have met them — and have had a bit of time to actually talk to them. I also met Ben Nabors, who is producing the documentary about William’s story. Check out the Moving Windmills short below to learn more.

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October 16th, 2009 - Art & Entertainment, Events

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Talking about Social Media Marketing and More at Gravity Summit

gravitysummitMonday I went to Gravity Summit at UC Irvine. I’d first heard about Gravity Summit when I went to the Tweetup after the UCLA conference. I got to meet one of the founders, Rodney Rumford, as well as some of the speakers, like Angie Swartz, as well as some other interesting people. So when I received an invitation to attend their UC Irvine event, I was excited to head down and learn more.

There was a great morning keynote by the author of The Brand Bubble, John Gerzema, who talked about the way consumers’ mindsets have shifted with the economic crisis and how brands are responding. His presentation had tons of great examples, and I’ve embedded it below (you can click on the slides with tiled images/logos to get to the examples). He discussed the shift toward do-it-yourself, consumer empowerment and a liquid, streamlined life. He also talked about the recent shift in focus to modesty (or at least the appearance of it), and value and ethics consciousness among consumers.

Calamity Master – Gravity Summit Version

Another great talk was Domino’s Pizza franchisee Ramon De Leon (@dpzramon) who talked about how he has used social media to boost sales in his 6 Chicago stores. His story goes way beyond posting specials on Twitter — this guy is a social media machine, connecting with local universities and clubs on Facebook, posting 12 seconds videos about the potholes around town and just generally using his infectious love for people, pizza and connecting to create more sales for his stores. He also likes to add a personal touch and goes to deliver pizzas himself, or brings his managers and cooks along, too. He’s always thinking about how he can leverage an opportunity to sell pizza, and he’s completely available to his Chicago community.

There were other presentations about how Twitter changes the game of business marketing, how to create a passionate community, analytics tools to help find, reach and influence your market, and more. In all, it was a great day, and I met a lot of wonderful people.

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June 25th, 2009 - Events

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Mindshare LA: A Night of “Enlightened Debauchery”

mindshare la june flyerLast week, Kacie and I went to Mindshare LA. I’d been meaning to go to this event since I first read about it the fall, but had never actually made my way over to hear the talks and mingle with the rather intellectually elite crowd. But then I started getting more into LA’s tech evets, and I met Travis Savo, who is part of Mindshare Labs, at BarCamp. Once I had a personal invite — and knew one of the speakers (Jason) — of course I was going to go.

The event was held at a repurposed firehouse on the east side of Downtown LA. We entered from an alley, where a Border Grill taco truck was parked for our dining pleasure, and picked up our name tags before exploring the already crowded venue. There was a little courtyard, where Travis would DJ later, another outdoor space where there was an open wine and beer bar as well as snacks from Portos, and an inside space with a bar, some small side rooms, and a room set up for the presentations.

The speaker list was a diverse group of people all passionate about what they do.

Jessica Jackley, the founder of KIVA, gave a talk about microloans and about what KIVA is doing to help alleviate poverty around the world. I got to learn a bit more about the lending process and was really inspired by how she has been able to grow the organization so quickly and effectively.

Geoffrey Sommer, an aviator and risk analyst who has done work for NASA, talked about killer comets and meteorites and talked about how closely we can predict an impact and whether we could really do anything about it. I’ve always been a sucker for disaster shows, though they absolutely terrify me, and from what he has determined, we probably shouldn’t spend too much time worrying about things coming from outer space to kill us.

Ariel Blumenthal, a composer and the founder Sentient Music for Media talked about creating custom soundtracks for spaces that evolve as you move through the space and set differet moods in different parts of the spaces and Dr. Alex Benzer, the author of Tao of Dating for Women and Tao of Dating For Men talked about why smart people often have a difficult time dating.

The big talk of the night, though was Jason Porath‘s A Short History of Hollywood’s Genitalia Coverups. I first heard Jason give the talk at BarCamp, and it had the room roaring. We all laughed at terms like “tent removal” and “scrotoscoping,” and got to see quite a few examples of Hollywood coverups. I’m hoping the video of this one turns up sometime so I can share it.

After the talks, we stuck around for another drink and enjoyed the music. The courtyards were beautifully lit up with firelight, and we also got to check out a laser maze — I didn’t actually try it, but it looked like something a bank robber would have to go through.

I didn’t take any pictures, but here’s a video from SEOP:

SEOP at the Events: MindShare LA | 6/18/09 from SEOP on Vimeo.

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June 25th, 2009 - Events

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Event Catchup: BarCamp, MGoLA, Tuttle, VIP and Weenie Roast

It’s been a busy two weeks over here, with lots of work to do and events to go to. I’ve met some great people and learned some interesting things in the process — and I also got to hear some great music. The event rundown:

BarCamp LA

I finally went to my first BarCamp, a tech unconference of sorts where all the attendees are presenters (if they want to be) and the loosely structured gathering can yield talks on everything from WordPress tricks to whiskey tasting. I spent most of the day hanging out with Jason, who gave a hilarious talk on digital “tent removal” and introduced us to such flowery terms as “scrotoscoping” and had everyone cracking up about the lengths films go to to keep actors’ bodies looking the way they want them. I also went to talks on hacking relationships, Twitter games, the evolutionary theory of memes and steam-powered cars.

My doodle of the steam-powered "Likamobile"

My doodle of the steam-powered "Likamobile"

Mobile Geeks of LA

Though I wouldn’t exactly classify myself as a mobile geek, I have grown very attached to my iPhone — and I knew the people throwing this event (Jeb Brilliant, Matt Singley and James Whatley) at the Cat and Fiddle on Sunset. Plus, James and Vikki were in town from London, so I wanted to see them. Though there was some talk about phones, it was mostly just a meet and greet with some great people, including Tuttle regulars like Geoff and Jen. Someone also brought along a Motorola Cellular One, which was so large I thought it was a giant walkie talkie from the back.

Jeb on the Motorola Cellular One at Tuttle LA

Jeb on the Motorola Cellular One at Tuttle LA

Tuttle LA

The day after Mobile Geeks, we had another Tuttle LA, with James and Vikki as our special guests. We had a group of about 10 people, including new faces Steve, Vaughan, Karen and Al. We were all interviewed about our mobile phone choices for The Really Mobile Project, Vikki actually tested out one of the massage chairs, and we had a fun morning talking tech, playing with phones and meeting some new people.

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Vikki and James filming for the Really Mobile Project at Tuttle LA

Velvet Interactive Playground/VIP Lounge

This past Thursday, some friends I had met at BarCamp, Demi and Travis, were throwing a tech/music/art event at a club in Studio City, so I went along to see what it was all about. There was some good music and cool video exhibits, but my favorite part of the night was seeing Zombies Without Borders perform their dance/comedy show, which full of randomness, including zombie bananas performing Peanut Butter Jelly time and a fanatastic Michael Jackson-Gwen Stefani song mashup.

KROQ Weenie Roast

Of all my years living in Southern California, I’d never been to a KROQ concert. Yesterday I finally made it to my first one, the annual Weenie Roast at the Verizon Amphitheater in Irvine. It was a last-minute, unexpected invitation, and I jumped at the chance to go, and I got to see the Silversun Pickups, Weezer, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Jimmy Eat World, Kings of Leon and Rancid. Weezer was my favorite, but everyone else was great, though we didn’t enjoy the impromptu mosh pits springing up on the lawn during Rancid, and after Guiselle got completely bowled over on the dark, steep hill, we decided to leave. It was a great day spent drinking beer, eating festival food, being out in the sun and enjoying good music.

The Weenie Roast stage from the Lawn

The Weenie Roast stage from the Lawn

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May 17th, 2009 - Events

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Happy Passover

Seder Plate

Wednesday and Thursday, I went to two very different, but fun Passover Seders. The first one was at my aunt and uncle’s house. There were about 50 people there, and they always use a custom-made haggadah written by a friend, which has lots of funny asides. There were lots of young kids there, who did most of the reading, though I did take my turn, too.

Mom and Dad showing off their Carpas (greens/parsley)

Mom and Dad showing off their Carpas (greens/parsley)

Suzie and Danny were in town, and Michelle got back the next day, in time for the Thursday-night seder at my parents’ house. It was a much smaller affair, of just 8 people, but that’s still more than enough to have a successful seder. We had some new family friends over with their two young children, who were absolutely adorable, and they sang songs for us and had a blast running back and forth from the door, opening it for Elijah and checking out his cup to see the wine level was any lower.

My mom made her fantastic matzo ball soup, haroset and matzo farfel along with asparagus, latkes and other passover dishes. She also baked two cakes, and our friends brought over matzo candy — a delicious combo of matzo, chocolate, caramel and almonds. Yum!

Playing with Silly Putty (btw, this picture was taken by a 4-year-old!)

Playing with Silly Putty (btw, this picture was taken by a 4-year-old!)

We also played with Silly Putty, which was one of the Afikomen prizes for the kids. It was much more fun than just giving out cash and worked well since we were a small group. We took a bunch of funny photos, and I managed to get orange Silly Putty all over my iPhone case. That stuff sure sticks! I think I’ve finally scraped it all off.

Thanks, Mom, and everyone else who had a part in cooking all that food, setting all those tables and bringing everyone together.

Check out some more of my Passover photos on Facebook.

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April 12th, 2009 - Events

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Introducing: The Tuttle LA Blog

tuttlela blog

Today, we finally launched the Tuttle LA blog. It was meant to be a super easy and quick installation, but took longer than expected, mostly due to technical problems with the host we were going to use.

I kept it nice and simple, but added some neat plugins that I hadn’t used before, including Event Calendar, so you can see our upcoming meetings, and Twitter Tracker, which I wish had a few more top-level options, but is a nice way to pull a Twitter search into your sidebar and is easy to style.

tuttletwitter

With the launch of the blog, we also announced our next meeting, this Friday, April 10, 2009, at The Library Coffee House in Long Beach. We’re meeting at 10:30 a.m. again, and anyone who’d like to come is welcome. Hope to see you there!

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April 7th, 2009 - Events

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