Photos From 2012 TecTuneUp Event

Photos From 2012 TecTuneUp Event

 

 

 

 

 

 

TecTuneUp is a HUGE Success!

Many thanks to our wonderful sponsors, our amazing lineup of speakers and to our event strategist, Beth Robeson, for making the TecTuneUp event a HUGE success! Here are a few highlights and links to our speakers, sponsors and strategic partners…

Our Speakers, Sponsors and Strategic Partners:

IBM
Microsoft
OfficeKey
RobustCloud
Boot Camp Digital
Clermont Chamber of Commerce
The Garage Group
Graphic Village
Mind Box Studios
William Martin
Peak 10
Barking Fish Lounge
Robeson Marketing

Cincinnati State Workforce Development Center
Small Business Development Center*

*The Small Business Development Center of Ohio (SBDC) program is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. The SBDC program is also funded in part by the Ohio Department of Development. All opinions, conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA. Reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities will be made if requested at least two weeks in advance. Contact Christa Davidson at 513-576-5000 regarding these arrangements.

Hottest Trends in Social Media and Digital Marketing Technology

Spring 2012

We are excited to share this interview with Krista Neher, one of our speakers for the TecTuneUp event coming up this Tuesday April,17th. Krista is the founder and CEO of Boot Camp Digital, a social media and internet marketing training company in Cincinnati, here’s what she had to say:

Krista Neher Providing Pinterest Training

What do you see as the hottest technology trends for your industry?

"The latest trends in social media

and digital marketing technology

focus around two main areas: scalability and mobile.

Social media marketing focuses a lot on building relationships, finding influencers and building community.  These tasks used to be very manual and there were not a lot of tools to help big organizations track and understand their audiences in a meaningful way. Today, much of the technological innovation in digital marketing is about making digital more scalable for large organizations.  The second main trend is mobile.  Mobile is changing everything for businesses and digital. As mobile phones demand more of our time and attention, the way that businesses approach their digital marketing must adapt. It isn't about putting websites on mobile phones, or even making them mobile compatible.  It is about understanding how people interact differently with mobile devices and how their needs, wants and habits are different in mobile versus online.  Mobile also has tremendous power as a service offering, but many businesses are too focused on how to market on mobile that they miss thinking about how they can better serve their customers with mobile."

 

What are your thoughts on the role of innovation in driving economic growth?

"Technology really is changing the way we communicate, operate and just get things done. Even small businesses can now achieve more faster than ever before. Technology is empowering businesses to achieve their goals and get more done with less time. Today, it doesn't take tens of thousands of dollars to bring an idea to life online. I think that technology is empowering small and medium businesses to compete much more effectively.  Technology is reducing the amount of time and effort that it takes for information to travel.  We are more connected and more aware than ever before. This leads to better, more relevant information which leads to more innovation."

What do you see as the chief barriers to innovation and technology?

"Even today, many business leaders don't understand technology and social media and how it can propel their organization forward. They focus on the downside and find barriers versus overcoming the barriers to realize the upside.  The gap between big companies and small companies is reversing. It used to be that big companies could afford technology and were the early adopters while the small companies couldn't afford it. Now, technology is changing quicker than organizations and systems can change and adapt. The small businesses are nimble enough to take advantage of this and the large organizations are the late adopters.  The reality is that people are changing and adapting quicker than ever. This means that businesses have to create models that allow them to adapt quicker. Consider that Google+ had 50 million users in only a few months. It took almost 30 years for television to reach 50 million people. People change faster and as a result we need to learn faster and adapt faster."

 

What problems do you solve for your customers?

"With the pace at which technologies are introduced and adopted by consumers, businesses are having a hard time keeping up. We help businesses learn and understand new digital tools and marketing opportunities so that they can stay ahead of the curve.  Our mission is to help businesses succeed by helping them to harness the power of digital tools to propel their organization forward. We are a training organization, and we believe that organizations need more and better training to stay in tune with their customers and to take advantage of opportunities before their competitors do.  I help companies get better results faster by being more educated and more innovative. In this day and age, the company that learns the fastest wins."

A Full House for Social Media Training at Boot Camp Digital

Mindbox Studios Interview with Joshua Johnson

Spring 2012

Joshua Johnson, Founder and CEO at Mindbox Studios

On Tuesday I sat down with Joshua Johnson, Founder and CEO at

Mindbox Studios, and asked about his thoughts on innovation and technology in the region, here's what he had to say:

What do you see as the hottest technology trends for your industry?

“I’m bullish about the ubiquitous nature of data. We can capture it, store it and interact with it on multiple digital platforms from virtually anywhere. The question is
not if we should capture the data or how we should capture it….it’s already there. The question is:  what are we going to do with it?”

“For consumers, I think it is going to be about infographics and storytelling.  For businesses it’s going to be about interactive data visualization. Think “Minority Report” in the boardroom. If you’re a CEO, and you have real time data, that you can interact with and manipulate in the boardroom, that’s a game changer.”

What are your thoughts on the role of innovation in driving economic growth?

“You won’t find a growing economy without innovation, it’s fundamental.  There’s a lot of excitement about startups right now…and larger companies acquiring newer innovative companies to help them leverage that energy….but acquiring may not always be the best move if you don’t already have a culture that supports innovation, because innovative people…won’t

stick around if you lack a culture of innovation.”

“Jim Price, at Empower Media, seems to be doing a great job of creating an innovative culture.  They have internal people who are very talented and they leverage that talent to build products internally.  That type of culture not only attracts talented people but keeps them happy."

What do you see as the chief barriers to innovation and technology?

"Isolation...we are isolated as a region.  Fortunately, we were rated the number one region for marketing and social media and that helps keep us tied into the technology."

"Another challenge is access to talent.  Half of my staff is out of state, either in Portland or Seattle.  For my team I need Senior Level Developers and Software Engineers and I can't always find that here."

The guys at Mindbox taking a foosball break

What problems do you solve for your customers?

"Lots of them...but to name just a couple:  First, we don't just scope and execute...we help our clients decide what they should build, how it should be built and define who their end customer is."

"Second, we help them build a sustainable product.  Our goal is to create a portfolio of great ideas.  In order to do that...we are laser focused on three things...make it beautiful, functional and useable.  Often the most important element is the usability."

Bridge2Tec Announces Their New Office Located at OfficeKey in Blue Ash

Bridge2Tec, LLC

4555 Lake Forest Drive
Suite 650
Cincinnati, OH 45242

For Immediate Release 
                       
Media Contact:
Beth Robeson, Partner
Bridge2Tec
513.588.2775
beth@bridge2tec.com

Bridge2Tec Announces Their New Office Located at OfficeKey in Blue Ash

CINCINNATI, February 28, 2012—Bridge2Tec, a new organization created to help drive innovation in the region, is excited to announce their move into 4555 Lake Forest Drive as part of the OfficeKey Office Suites.

“Dave Myers, the CEO of OfficeKey, is a great supporter of technology and entrepreneurship in the region, so we feel it will be a great fit for Bridge2Tec,” says Sharon Hall, one of the founders of Bride2Tec.

OfficeKey offers companies an amazing branding, technology, and support package at a price startups can afford. The startup package is focused on providing support in three main areas:

 

Providing a Strong Startup Brand: OfficeKey provides high-end office space, a professional staff of receptionists, strategic office locations in Hyde Park, Blue Ash, Downtown, West Chester and Northern Kentucky.

Cutting Edge Technology:  All the office equipment a start-up might need is include in the low monthly fee, including computers, scanners, copiers, shredders, VOIP phone service, flat screen TV’s, and high speed internet access.

Comfort and Community: The atmosphere at OfficeKey is very comfortable, there’s always a hot pot of coffee and other beverages available in the main area, a nice kitchen, monthly networking breakfasts where resident businesses can meet one another and share business advice and numerous thoughtful amenities like the quiet WIFI workspace.

“A lot of startups try meeting prospects and clients at local coffee shops, and while the coffee is great, that option can also be noisy and unpredictable,” says Dave Myers, CEO of OfficeKey.

Bridge2Tec will make use of the office space for day-to-day running of the organization, the conference rooms for meetings with Bridge2Tec members and their advisory panel, and the Office Key training rooms for their ongoing TecTuneUp programs. The TecTuneUp program will offer local events, tech-trend coaching and online resources. The program is designed to hel p drive innovation in the region and to help businesses make better technology decisions.

For more information about Bride2Tec or the TecTuneUp program visit www.bridge2tec.com or www.TecTuneUp.com or you can call 513.588.2775.

About Bridge2Tec, LLC

Bridge2Tec is a member organization that is committed to overcoming the barriers to innovation in the region, extending the market reach of technology providers, educators and associations, as well as encouraging new technology develop.

2012 Most Innovative Companies

Included in FastCompany Magazine’s 2012 Most Innovative Companies Listing, these are the types of companies that will redefine our future and point the way to a better tomorrow:

Patagonia:  For selling more by encouraging customers to buy less.
LegalZoom:  For bringing tech and accessibility to the hidebound legal industry.
National Marrow Donor Program:  For matching technology with critical transplant needs.
Chipotle:  For exploding all the rules of fast food.
Recyclebank:  For making eco-friendly behavior a big game.

The message that TecTuneUp hopes to introduce into the business community is that innovation can be standardized; specifically innovative technology, when leveraged right, can be a source of simplification and efficiency, help to grow businesses, lower costs and provide a competitive advantage.   Learn more on April 17th at the Business Expo and TecTuneUp Event, www.tectuneup.com

Innovators Are Not Always Appreciated At First