Blog sosAssociates

Can you believe it is mid-April already?! This year is going so fast!

It is mid-April and that means I want to focus on these three items before my weekly listing of Cleveland Tech, Entrepreneur & Social Media Meetings I track:

• First, as I mentioned last week, this is NEOSA's Tech Week (April 11-18) in northeast Ohio. Learn more about it at NEOSATechWeek.com for more events beyond what I list below.

• At my last WebSigCleveland.org meeting, I indicated that there might not be a meeting this month. However my schedule conflict did not happen, so please mark your calendars and share with others this week's topic: Saturday, April 16th @ 10:30 a.m. - Write the Right Words for the Internet – Words People Read® with Deborah Chaddock Brown, founder and president ofAllWrite Ink and The Social Media Roadmap

• In Cleveland, members of our incredible tech community volunteer their time each year to help local charities at Cleveland GiveCamp. Please tell the nonprofit organizations that you know that the application process starts April 16, 2014! Charities can find details to sign up at: ClevelandGivecamp.org/nonprofits/

Thank you, Cleveland Foundation! We had a great time at the March 24, 2014, Cleveland Foundation free day at the Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF)! While we could make this blog only about the good time we had, and the films we saw, of more importance is how this day represents more than just one good day. The day was one of this year's monthly activities honoring the 100 years of good work of The Cleveland Foundation.

Friday officially starts Tech Week in northeast Ohio, but to my experience, most weeks in Cleveland/Akron are tech week. Take a look at all that is happening this week!!!

(Learn more about NEOSA Tech Week April 11-18 at: NEOSATechWeek.com.)

Here are this week's Cleveland tech, entrepreneur, and social media meetings!

We want to take this opportunity to thank Bizdom Cleveland for the Cavs tickets we won at the Brite Winter event. We are also using this opportunity to share our experiences at Brite Winter. When you view our photos, videos, and tweets, you can see what fun we had at these events.

For this weeks blog post I not only list the meeting that are happening this week, but also wanted to share some other interesting happenings in our community.

If you did not see my Saturday, March 8, 2014, two-year "Blogiversary!" blog post, please take a look at the "call for action" suggestions I made. We have so many people working to improve our community, I wanted to use my Blogiversary to make note of it. My Blogiversary included a list of 140 groups I track (I bolded the ones I have added since last year).

At the same time I was celebrating my second Blogiversary, I with the help of my son and wife, completed several blog posts in a very short time! Please take a look at all my blog posts at: sosAssociates.com/blog/

It was great to be able to attend the TechPint Akron II - "And All That Jazz" event at Jilly's Music Room in downtown Akron, especially after I had featured one of the speakers, Eric Wise, in my TechPint Cleveland III blog post.

I had never been to Jilly's Music Room, but after checking out the ReverbNation website, I was interested in seeing their venue.

On Saturday, March 8, 2014, I celebrated my two-year "Blogiversary!" Be sure to take a look at the list of 140 groups I track (I bolded the ones I have added since last year), and the "call for action" items.

I hope the post inspires others to do more to thank leaders, and assist in promoting these free or low-cost tech, social media, and entrepreneur meetings in our community. Our community is much stronger for having these opportunities to learn from each other.

As I mentioned last week, in addition to my 3/8/14 Blogiversary: Two post, I had a busy time posting the following four items:

1. 2/28/14 PechaKucha Cleveland at The City Club

2. 3/2/14 Cleveland Tech, Entrepreneur & Social Media Meetings Mon 3/3 - Mon 3/10
   (This is one of my regular weekly blog posts.)

3. 3/3/14 FREE! Great Lakes Science Center

4. 3/5/14 Deathtrap! Great Lakes Theater Social Media Night

What a great way to celebrate my second anniversary -- completing so many blog posts in such a short time! Please take a look at all my blog posts at: sosAssociates.com/blog/

This being the third week of the month, I also want to invite you to my monthly WebSigCleveland.org meeting this Saturday at 10:30 a.m. All meeting are free and open to all, so please help me spread the word by inviting others. Please mark your calendars and plan on attending:

• Saturday, March 15, 2014, Search Engine Optimization in 2014 with Leslie Carruthers (@TheSearchGuru), the President of The Search Guru, Inc.
• Saturday, April 19, 2014, I just had a topic change, so watch for updates at WebSigCleveland.org.
• Saturday, May 17, 2014, Integrating UX in Agile with Carol Smith (@carologic).

Please share this blog post with others who are interested in any of the following meetings. If you are on Twitter, please share those meetings that you find interesting with others. Thank you.

Two Years!

Two very fun and active years have passed since my first "Hello, World! My First Blog Post!" message!

Last year, for my first Blogiversary, I listed 120 organizations that I tracked. I have found that in the last five months, I have not been able to keep up with all the exciting growth in Cleveland and Akron, but I try to do so in my weekly tech blog posts.

In addition to my weekly tech and social media blog posts for our community, I (and sometime we -- my wife and sons co-write with me) also write about other items that interest me. Please check out all the blog posts that I have completed these past two years on my "Blog sosAssociates."

On a cold Saturday night, Stuart and Julie arrived at the theater in excited anticipation! It was another Social Media Night, this time for Deathtrap at Playhouse Square's Hanna Theatre! Stuart had seen the play years ago on Broadway for a college theater class, but had forgotten the details of the show. He only remembered that it was a great show, and he was glad to see it now as a Great Lakes Theater production.

Weekends and weekdays -- we have found that there is so much going on in Cleveland! We want to share with you here two events that we attended last weekend.

The first event, attended by Julie and Stuart, PechaKucha Cleveland, was something we have enjoyed many times in the past. Knowing the history of the location, The City Club, added an interesting dimension.

The second event, attended by Julie, Kevin, and Stuart, was a gift to the community from the The Cleveland Foundation as part of their 100th birthday celebration -- a free day at the Great Lakes Science Center.

This is the second installment, entitled FREE! Great Lakes Science Center

Weekends and weekdays -- we have found that there is so much going on in Cleveland! We want to share with you here two events that we attended last weekend.

The first event, attended by Julie and Stuart, PechaKucha Cleveland, was something we have enjoyed many times in the past. Knowing the history of the location, The City Club, added an interesting dimension.

The second event, attended by Julie, Kevin, and Stuart, was a gift to the community from the The Cleveland Foundation as part of their 100th birthday celebration -- a free day at the Great Lakes Science Center.

This is the first installment, entitled PechaKucha Cleveland at The City Club.

A slow week in Northeast Ohio! (Sarcasm intended - there is always more to do in Cleveland than I have hours in my week!) At the time I am writing this, I know of only about 21 technology and social media events happening in the Cleveland and Akron area. Please help me learn of more by adding in the comments any that I may have missed. I will then share with others on Twitter. Thank you!

Julie and Kevin were intrigued after reading Stuart’s blog post about the grand opening of the new Cleveland Public Library TechCentral MakerSpace, and decided to see it for themselves. They joined Stuart at the Greater Cleveland PC User Group (GCPCUG) “field trip” to TechCentral last Saturday, February 8, 2014, where they learned that so much is happening at the Cleveland Public Library!

The group of about 30 people was warmly welcomed by TechCentral Manager C.J. Lynce and TechCentral Coordinator Sam Tripodis about half an hour before the library opened to the public for a private tour of the new MakerSpace. They gave a very interesting introduction to the different pieces of equipment that make up TechCentral and its MakerSpace.

As part of announcing this week's tech, entrepreneur, and social media meetings, I am also announcing the upcoming WebSigCleveland.org meeting.

On November 21, 2009, I arranged for a special field trip to the Cleveland Sight Center, where we learned about their good work and had a WebSigCleveland.org meeting on Website Accessibility. We have also in the past covered the topics of search engine optimization (SEO), and website user experience (UX).

With all the changes in technology that impact these fields, it is important to keep current with the latest trends. That is why I am pleased to ask you to mark your calendars to attend, and invite others to the the listed WebSigCleveland.org meetings.

Here are this week's tech, entrepreneur, and social media meetings that I track.

So far in 2014, I keep hearing about more and more happening in Cleveland and Akron. Please, if you know of any meetings that I may have missed, please share in the blog comments section. I will then also share them on Twitter.

TechPint: A mini tech conference. In a bar. With pints.

Kismet -- I think I was meant to attend the sold-out January 23, 2014, TechPint Cleveland at Mahall's 20 Lanes in Lakewood, Ohio.

Cold in Cleveland today (again!!), but luckily we have hot meetings in Cleveland! Here are this week's Cleveland tech, entrepreneur, and social media meetings!

A busy week (as always) in Cleveland and Akron! Note that I am posting this list on Wednesday, which is why I recommend watching my daily @sos_jr tweets and retweets to be sure you don't miss a thing. There has been a large increase in activity, and I would hate to think you would miss out. If you are not on Twitter, you can still see it all at: https://Twitter.com/sos_jr

Here are this week's Cleveland tech, entrepreneur, and social media meetings! Please share this blog post with others who are interested in any of the following meetings. If you are on Twitter, please re-tweet those meetings that you find interesting to share with others. Thank you.

I had fun last Saturday! After attending the great Codemash conference last week, I did not want to experience post-conference technology withdrawal symptoms, so I decided to attend yet another technology-related event.

The grand opening of the new TechCentral MakerSpace at the Cleveland Public Library showcased some exciting technology. What makes the MakerSpace truly remarkable is that these tech resources are now accessible to anyone with a library card.

Here are this week's Cleveland tech, entrepreneur, and social media meetings!

Despite the record cold start to 2014, things are still hot in Cleveland's tech, entrepreneur, and social media meetings! Plus, in nearby Sandusky, Ohio, there is the Codemash conference -- technology geeks at a water park in winter. How great!

We are posting our photos and sharing Stuart's @sos_jr tweets from the day as a way of thanking the University Circle museums that opened their doors for free for the Cleveland Holiday CircleFest 2013. Just as we wrote in our blog post about the Cleveland Winterfest, the best part of the Cleveland Holiday CircleFest is that most all of what we saw is still happening in Cleveland's University Circle through the end of the year. If you missed this event, you can still go to the circle for winter activities.

We were so excited! This year, in addition to our annual visit to the great Cleveland Winterfest (which seems to be getting bigger and better each year), we were invited for a private backstage tour and viewing of Great Lakes Theater's production of A Christmas Carol. This was a special Social Media Night at A Christmas Carol tour for Cleveland bloggers to learn about the 25th anniversary production of this great Cleveland tradition.

Here are this week's Cleveland tech, entrepreneur, and social media meetings! Tonight, I shared on Twitter any tweets I saw from leaders of the groups listed. I encourage group leaders to promote their meetings on Twitter -- I will retweet in addition to my daily promotional tweets.

Here are this week's Cleveland and Akron tech, entrepreneur, and social media meetings! I can't believe it is December already! I have so much to do before the end of the year, and I am activity lining up speakers for the first quarter of 2014 for WebSigCleveland.org. 2014 already looks like it will be a great year.

Please share this blog post with others who are interested in any of the following meetings on Twitter, Facebook, and your other favorite social media. Thank you.

What can we say about this event? It was VERY impressive! We saw more 3-D printers in one place than we have ever seen before. Lego robots, University of Akron robotics and aeronautics teams, The Akronist drone, and much more -- all this made for a great tech afternoon in Akron. There was so much to see that we were not able to get to everything, so we are looking forward to going again next year to see more!

Computers, metalworking tools, a 3D printer, and woodworking tools are just a few of the resources available at SYN/HAK, Akron's hackerspace. However, as we learned at their open house, the most important resource at the location is the synergy and creativity of the people who make it their second home.

This being Thanksgiving Week, there are tech events and entrepreneur meetings in Cleveland and Akron area only on Tuesday and Wednesday, but there is still a lot happening in our community on those days.

With the start of the Christmas season, this Saturday the Great Lakes Theater has a special social media event which is open to Greater Cleveland bloggers. The Social Media Night at A Christmas Carol #ChristmasCarolCLE25 be on Saturday, November 30, 2013, at the Ohio Theatre at PlayhouseSquare. Space is limited and subject to availability, so Cleveland bloggers should RSVP early.

After a very busy week last week, this week is just normal busy for me. Here are this week's Cleveland tech, entrepreneur, and social media meetings! Please let me know what you found useful, and please share with others.

The first annual Cleveland Entrepreneurship Week took place November 4-8, 2013. These are the events I attended:

• LaunchHouse LHX2013Demo Day - Tuesday, November 5, 2013
• Startup at City Club - Thursday, November 7, 2013
• ClevelandEW Presents BT - Thursday, November 7, 2013, and on into early next morning

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What a great problem I have! On one of the nights this week, there are multiple meetings I want to attend. Isn't it great to have so much going on in our community?

Here are this week's Cleveland tech, entrepreneur, and social media meetings that I track. I also want to extend a special invite to you all to attend my WebSigCleveland.org meeting on Saturday, November 16th. Sam Nasr will be presenting on Developing Win8 Apps with HTML5 at 10:30 a.m.

We really enjoyed ourselves at Cleveland Museum of Art's MIX: Underneath on the night after Halloween. In fact, it was so great that we felt compelled to share our experience via our photos and tweets/retweets of the evening. We have attended several of the museum's MIX events, but we had the most fun at this one. The "spirit" of the evening was great, with seeing all the costumes and art-related activities, going on the museum's Underneath the Frame "ghost tour," and chatting with friends.

In addition to all the meetings/events I normally promote, there are two special events happening this week:

• Cleveland Entrepreneurship Week

• Unleashing Digital Learning: An Exploration of Digital Learning, Gigabit Broadband and Federal Policy Development

Please share with others this week's Cleveland tech, entrepreneur, and social media meetings!

NOTE from Stuart: This is a reblog of Dan Yurman's blog post: Stuart Smith on Twitter.

On Jan 26 Stuart O. Smith, Jr., gave an informative and entertaining presentation to about 50 people at the CDPUG monthly meeting. Since his first “Hello World” on October 1, 2009, Smith has been using Twitter to promote tech, social media, blogging and some entrepreneurial events in the greater Cleveland area.

It is interesting how the number of meetings I track per week has grown this fall. More groups are having weekly meetings. Thus, even though Halloween takes away one meeting night this week, there is still a lot happening!

Due to this increase in meetings, I have decided not to do my weekly Sunday or Monday night tweets of all the meetings, as I have been doing for the past four years. I plan to continue lunchtime tweets promoting same-day events, and listing all the meetings here in this blog post.

Here are this week's Cleveland tech, entrepreneur, and social media meetings! Please share with others who may be interested. 

I had planned to post the list below of Cleveland tech, entrepreneur, and social media meetings on Monday night, but I received a better offer! I was able to get a ticket for Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak's lecture at Akron University. A big thank you to Gaurav "G" Saxena ​for the ticket!

Last night, as I was listening to Steve Wozniak (Woz.org - @SteveWoz) talk about computer clubs hacking together technical solutions years ago, it struck me that it was appropriate that I was sitting next to G. G is one of the leaders of SYN/HAK, the Akron Hackerspace. From what I have heard about SYN/HAK, I think it provides a creative environment similar to the one that Steve Wozniak was describing.

Here is this week's list.

This Saturday (October 19, 2013 @ 10:30 a.m.) is the monthly WebSigCleveland.org meeting. The topic is Introduction to HTML5 Part II, which is a continuation of a talk by Sam Nasr from last June. All WebSigCleveland.org meetings are free and open to all, so please invite others to attend this Saturday.

In addition to my WebSigCleveland.org meeting, here are some of this week's Cleveland tech, entrepreneur, and social media meetings that I track. I also added some tweets of other upcoming events.

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We were ready for an exciting night of theater on Friday, October 4, 2013, when we were guests of Great Lakes Theater for the opening of one of our favorite shows, Sweeney Todd!

It was Social Media Night, and also Director’s Night, where we were able to attend a pre-show discussion with Producing Artistic Director Charles Fee and Sweeney Todd Director Victoria Bussert.  We learned lots of interesting behind-the-scenes “tidbits” about the show. For example, this show is considered a masterpiece of Stephen Sondheim, and is a crossover between musical theater and opera, with elements of both. The show has been performed by both musical theater and opera companies.

This production of Sweeney Todd is exciting and fast-paced. Go and see it for a “bloody good” time! 

Here are the Cleveland tech, entrepreneur, and social media meetings for Monday, October 7, 2013 through Monday, October 14, 2013. October is another busy month. Please shared those meeting you think others would be interested in attending.

Anyone who has known Stuart for any length of time knows that he enjoys going to technology and arts events. IngenuityFest is his favorite event of the year. Most years that Stuart has been able to attend, he has gone all three days -- he tries to live the event, and drink in all that it has to offer. 

Julie, Kevin, and Stuart attended much of the weekend's activities, but found that there was more to do than anyone can fit in one weekend. 

Here are this week's Cleveland tech, entrepreneur, and social media meetings!

Anyone who knows me for any length of time knows that I enjoy going to technology and arts events. Ingenuity Cleveland's "IngenuityFest:Festival of Art & Technology" is my main event during the year! That is why I was excited when I learned that the three-day event now had a prequel - the IngenuityFest 2013 Preview Party!

The following are my photos, video, and tweets from the September 19, 2013, IngenuityFest Preview Party.

Can you believe this is the last week of September? Here are this week's Cleveland tech, entrepreneur, and social media meetings that I track.

One of the great Cleveland events I enjoy every  year is the Cleveland Museum of Art's Chalk Festival. I have not been able to fully participate for two years now, since it has been held the same weekend as the IngenuityFest. 

I did enjoy visiting and seeing the Cleveland art work that was created. Here are the photos I took of the pieces that I liked the most.

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In my presentation to WebSigCleveland.org on "HTML5 Video: Why & How," I covered:

1. Why: the pros and cons of using HTML5 video, and other options
2. Build: how to create the HTML5, and resources to create the HTML5 videos
3. Configure: list of additional HTML5 attributes

The slides, HTML samples, and text were originally created for my oral presentation. 

Here is a list of this week's Cleveland tech, entrepreneur, and social media meetings that I track. This week I want to announce the fall lineup of www.WebSigCleveland.org meetings since the first one is this Saturday. Please mark your calendars for:

1.  9/21/2013​ Intro to ExtJS and Sencha Touch - Durlabh Jain (@Durlabh)

2. 10/19/2013 Introduction to HTML5 Part II - Sam Nasr (@SamNasr)

3. 11/16/2013 Developing Win8 Apps with HTML5 - Sam Nasr (@SamNasr)

4. 12/21/2013 Exploring Web 3.0 - Marc A. Majers (@LeadingHands - @DontFearForward)

5. Kicking off 2014 with
    1/18/2014​ Team Collaboration - Jonathan Knapp (@CoffeeAndCode)

Cleveland Tech, Entrepreneur & Social Media Meetings Monday, September 16^th to Monday, September 23^th...

GV Art + Design in Lakewood was the place to be on September 4th! Everyone shared in the excitement and anticipation of the Cleveland Browns’ opening game of the 2013-14 season at the “Brown and Orange TweetUp” sponsored by NewsChannel 5 and GV Art + Design. As we walked in the door, we received a T-shirt to show off our Cleveland pride! The GV Art + Design store was filled with apparel and more, featuring artwork and slogans promoting our great city.

Here is a list of this week's Cleveland tech, entrepreneur, and social media meetings that I track. First, I want to announce the fall lineup of www.WebSigCleveland.org meetings. Please mark your calendars for:

1.  9/21/2013​ Intro to ExtJS and Sencha Touch - Durlabh Jain (@Durlabh)

2. 10/19/2013 Introduction to HTML5 Part II - Sam Nasr (@SamNasr)

3. 11/16/2013 Developing Win8 Apps with HTML5 - Sam Nasr (@SamNasr)

4. 12/21/2013 Exploring Web 3.0 - Marc A. Majers (@LeadingHands - @DontFearForward)

5. Kicking off 2014 with
    1/18/2014​ Team Collaboration - Jonathan Knapp (@CoffeeAndCode)

Cleveland Tech, Entrepreneur & Social Media Meetings Monday, September 9th to Monday, September 16th...

I think that I am like most Clevelanders who have heard of the Cleveland Cultural Gardens  -- we think it is a great idea, a real treasure for Cleveland, but never take the time to explore them. That is why I was so excited to hear that the One World Festival would take place in Rockefeller Park's Cultural Gardens.

The One World Festival was a huge event that pulled in a diverse cross section of our community with great entertainment, food, and a naturalization ceremony.

One of the highlights for me was Cleveland Shakespeare Festival's presentation of an Abridged Midsummer Night's Dream. Every summer, I enjoy the free Shakespeare plays that they perform in area parks, and was glad that the One World Festival gave me another chance to see one of their shows.

While I will miss all the free outdoor summer arts/cultural events that I promote over the summer (this is in addition to Cleveland's tech events that I promote year round), this fall is looking like a lot will be happening in Cleveland. Be sure to watch for information on Ingenuity Cleveland the weekend of September 20-22. Also, I have announced all my WebSigCleveland.org fall meetings. Please go to the www.WebSigCleveland.org website and mark your calendar!

Here are this week's Cleveland tech, entrepreneur, and social media meetings as we start September and the fall season.

We have found that PechaKucha Night Cleveland always makes for an enjoyable time. Thus, we were excited to attend PechaKucha Night Cleveland's August 23, 2013, outdoor event behind the West Side Market in Cleveland's Ohio City.

Presenters:

• Paul Benner (@CLEBrewShop​ - ClevelandBrewshop.com) The Cleveland Brewshop
• Fred and Laura Bidwell (@TransformerStat - TransformerStation.org - @FredBidwell - BidwellProjects.com) Founders, Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell Foundation
• Marco Ciccarelli (@techne_m - TechneArchitects.com) architect, studioTECHNE|architects
• YouTube PKNCLE19 - #2 - Marc Ciccarelli - Aristotle, Emptiness, and Godzilla
• Brandon Juhasz (BrandonJuhasz.com) Artist
• Faith McFluff (Faithmcfluff.com) Hula Hoops: It's not Just a Toy Anymore....
• YouTube PKNCLE19 - #3 - Faith McFluff - Hula Hoops
• Mark Michel (ItMakesYouHappier.com) Graphic Designer/Street Artist
• Wayne Mortensen (@arlomort - www.npi-cle.org) Architect, Neighborhood Progress Inc
• ​Loren Naji (LorenNaji.com) Artist/Gallery Owner, Loren Naji Studio Gallery
• Johnny S. (JohnnyvilleSlugger.com) Johnnyville Slugger
• Marilou Suszko (@MarilouSuszko - MarilouSuszko.com) Behind-the-scenes stories of Cleveland's West Side Market
• YouTube PKNCLE19 - #1 - Marilou Suszko - The West Side Market: Myths and Made-Up Shit
• Andy Tveekrem (@Mrkt_Grdn_Beer - MarketGardenBrewery.com) Brewmaster, Market Garden Brewery
• Mike Zubal (@ZubalBooks​ - ZubalBooks.com) Zubal Books

WebSigCleveland.org has announced all of its fall meetings. Please go to the WebSigCleveland.org website and mark your calendar!

Here are this week's Cleveland tech, entrepreneur, and social media meetings as we close out the last month of summer.

Here are this week's Cleveland tech, entrepreneur, and social media meetings for August 12th through August 19th.

Cleveland GiveCamp, which took place over the July 19-21, 2013, weekend was truly a remarkable event. Amazing work was done by over 200 volunteers providing tech solutions for nonprofits. This being the fourth year of Cleveland GiveCamp, the whole operation felt like a well oiled machine. 

Here are this week's Cleveland tech, entrepreneur, and social media meetings as we enter the eighth month of the year 2013! Plus I also list some free summer outdoor arts events. Be sure not to miss all that is happening on Cleveland! 

Here are this week's Cleveland tech, entrepreneur, and social media meetings! Plus some free outdoor arts events are listed and the "save the date" for Cleveland GiveCamp 2014.