Well, it was my first ever trip to Chicago and I found out two things.
1. I have never been so cold in my life
2. The TECH cocktail crowd and tech startup community rocks
As I take on a slightly larger role helping out with TECH cocktail, I want top make sure I get out to the various communities that TECH cocktail is involved in so I can get a better feel for what is happening out there. The event in Chicago was my first TECH cocktail outside of the DC area. And I must say the vibe was very different than it is here inside the beltway. Not different in any type of bad way, just different.
That being said, it was a great event. It took place at John Barleycorn’s over near Wrigley Field. The space was open and well laid out. We had 14, yes 14 !, local startups demo for the excited crowd. Which by the way braved the -2 degree weather to come out and support TECH cocktail and the great community. To get an idea of the demo companies, check out the preview post.
Check out the pics from the event on flickr HERE.
What was great was how much fun the local companies had in just being there and 
demo’ing for the crowd. The folks who were there for Specials Agent, a site dedicated to scouring the bars and restaurants nationwide so we can share those deals through various web, mobile and social networking platforms totally played the part. Evidence the pic to the right.
Another company, Peoplestox had a live performance model and a guy on stilts ! Now that is bringing some attention your way, right ? It seemed everyone had a really great time and I was happy to have made the trip up to see and meet some of the community.
Thanks again for coming out. We have exciting news on the near horizon so stay tuned for updates.
We would also be remiss if we did not again thank our great sponsors who allow us to continue to highlight the great local community.
We want to start by thanking our platinum sponsor for this event, Microsoft, and their BizSpark program folks for helping out a number of local startups. The Microsoft guys will be at the event as usual so you can talk to them about their BizSpark program and about how you can get involved. Along with their event presence, Brian Gorbett (of the Microsoft Chicago office) will start blogging regularly for TECHcocktail.com very soon so please be on the lookout for his sure-to-be insightful posts on startups and technology.
We also want to thank our longest running sponsor, ChicagoMicro. These guys have been with us from the beginning and they still continue to support our work even in a tough economy. Please check them out for all of your IT and managed service needs.
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I was very disappointed with Tech Cocktail Chicago 12 in Chicago the other night. I spoke with several individuals who also shared my frustration at the disastrous idea to have a live band that constantly drowned out any chance of real networking and conversation.
I have been to previous Tech Cocktails at John Barleycorn and found them to be extremely valuable opportunities to have a couple of drinks, meet and chat with others in the industry, and explore a few cutting-edge technologies. The live band made it impossible to have a meaningful dialogue with anyone. I feel sorry for the exhibitors who paid good money in a tough economy to be there and found it futile to actually talk about their stuff.
Dave,
Thanks for your feedback about TECH cocktail Chicago 12. Sorry to hear you were disappointed. We thought we would try something new by adding a little live entertainment at our final Tc of 2009. TECH cocktail co-founder Eric Olson is the drummer in the band so we thought it would be fun to have him share some of his music. We will have to reconsider doing it again. Thank you for your continued support as we look forward to hosting more valuable events in Chicago.
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