Thursday, March 15, 2012

#MIN36 Was Wonderful

Our Host for #MIN36
Space with a Soul




Waiting for the Presentations
Ready to Tweet
The lights were on in the Innovation District for Mass Innovation Night at Space With A Soul. The space was fantastic -- one of those wonderful old buildings in the former Leather District with a great view of Fort Point Channel and environs. The place was buzzing early and still buzzing after the presentations. The four presenters you all picked were SMAK (@onsmak), Me Two You Gifts (@MeTwoYouGifts), mosaicHUB (@mosaicHUB), and Splashscore (@splashscore). All were impressive.




Ever notice that too much information can be just as bad as none? Want to turn your social media clutter into real conversations? SMAK gives you one place to view, sort, group and manage your relationships across all your networks. That's right, no more Alt-Tab. SMAK lets you put all your social media in one place and sort it so you can prioritize your day.

SMAK
Gamification is hot these days and it made a splash at MIN36.  Splashscore (@splashscore) gamifies your Facebook activity.  It identifies social influencers by measuring the Likes and Comments ripple effect and  gives them rewards.

Splashscore Had the Best Stickers

Imagine the Mass Innovation Nights Experts Corner but online and with even more excellent experts. That's the idea behind mosaicHUB (@mosaicHub): supporting entrepreneurs. An online community built on trust connects you with service providers and mentors as well as other entrepreneurs. Community members share recommendations, advice and experience and find expert help, answers and resources, all in one place. It's like having the Experts Corner at your fingertips all the time! And they were giving away free t-shirts if you signed up that night. The team looked good in their matching t-shirts and the funky lighting.

mosaicHUB
Me Two You (@metwoyougifts) makes the softest baby blankets ever! They're made in Massachusetts. Who says we don't still have a textile industry? Best of all with each baby blanket purchased, Me Two You gives a baby blanket to an orphaned child. I know what baby gift I'm getting for my cousin's expected baby :-) (Stephan and Lisa, you are not reading this :-))

Me Two You

Tote Bag from
Upcycled T-shirts
by Project Repat
Ben's Bicycle Bling from LifeCycle
Upcycling emerged as an important theme at #MIN36 too, with Project Repat and LifeCycle featuring creative reuse. Time to upcycle my T-shirt collection with @ProjectRepat and upgrade my wardrobe with some bicycle chain bling from @thinklifecycle.  Oh, and it was a tough choice but LifeCycle totally wins best costume with Ben's bracelet and ring. LifeCycle reminded me of how my Dad used to recycle broken bikes -- assembling working bikes from pieces of junk bikes. He'd have figured out how to make an entire bike out of the chains!



cuppow!
Checking out Schedit
Speaking of reuse and creativity, I've always wanted something like cuppow for spill-free sipping from a canning jar.  Think about it, travel mug from a canning jar is the perfect reuse. All you need is a lid. Now you've got one. Can't wait to use mine.

 Lots of folks were checking out  Sched.it (@SCHEDITBoston), a hyper social event listings calendar. Which events are trending? Male/female ratio? Who's going? All things you want to know about an event. It adds a social layer to the Boston.com events listings.


Nexly in Action
Strides Against Stigma
Nexly has a cool tool to add a review bar to your website so your customers can add reviews and share with their networks.

Families for Depression Awareness was there to launch its inaugural event, Strides Against Stigma, a walk-a-thon dedicated to building a community to erase the stigma of depression.





Experts Couches


Disco Ball in Action
The Crowd Building
 I successfully talked to each of the 10 participating companies and had a blast trying to figure out how to expose for the interesting light. The crowd was lively and awesome and really enjoying the space. The buzz was incredible. The disco ball and the colored lighting added to the fun atmosphere.  The Experts Corner had couches for cozier consultations and Space with a Soul provided free WiFi for attendees. I saw lots of tweeting going on with all kinds of devices from tablets to smart phones to ordinary cellphones and laptops.


As always, the experts looked very expert.  Eileen and Julia from KCSA Strategic Communications posed for the traditional Experts Looking Expert photo.


Experts Looking Expert