More from our TechCrunch interview series. Today’s subject is Sarah Wurrey, who writes for BlogString.com. Sarah shares her opinions and insights on PR, social media and technology – and whether or not traditional media will be overrun by the blogosphere.
We continue with another interview from TechCrunch Boston. Today’s subject is Sarah Meyers. Sarah is a very ambitious, intelligent and admirable woman who had an early claim to fame for sneaking in to one of the earlier TechCrunch MeetUp events in Silicon Valley – and getting booted. The next year she was invited personally and has since gone on to grace the videos, blog posts and more of many infamous social media and technology pundits including Justin.TV, Dan Lyons (aka Fake Steve Jobs), Robert Scoble, David Berlind of ZDNet and more. She is often found with a video camera and microphone, interviewing and recording various emerging start ups, conferences, events and more – and has been called her own personal TV channel.
Sarah is building a great brand for herself with her insightful and consistent analysis of the tech market. She is a great example of how today’s social media can help you build a brand – and eventually a company – around nothing but your own hard work and tenacity. Keep up the great work, Sarah!
You can watch Sarah live at her lifecast or keep up via her YouTube Channel or new videocast company, PopSnap. Or, if you prefer print, read her blog.
For our interview with Sarah, click below. (Apologies for the dark qualities – our videographer failed to show up so we had to work impromptu with our digital cameras!)
We are recovering from a busy week that culminated in the TechCrunch Boston MeetUp last Friday. We are very proud of the way the event turned out – in addition to helping the TechCrunch gang plan, promote and secure sponsors, we participated as one ourselves and also helped launch two new clients, Moola and Mzinga, at the event. Among the sea of people we met a lot of intelligent, enthusiastic and zealous Web 2.0 entrepreneurs. From those still in business school to old clients and colleagues we hadn’t seen in years, it was a wonderful place to connect with the Boston tech community.
Some of our favorites – in addition to our own clients, of course – were Punchbowl, SnapYap, UpNext and Mogility as well as individuals, bloggers and reporters including, of course Mike, Heather Harde and Erick Schonfeld, Sarah Wurrey and Nate Burke of BlogString, the infamous Chris Brogan, Scott Monty, John Puskarich of Bountii, Wade Roush, David Cutler (who got Christine Perkett to do her first Utter!) Julia Roy, Amanda Mooney, Chris Herot, Brian Costello and Matt Hillery, Tracy Brady of Referral Key, David Aronoff, Kate Castle and Chip Hazard of IDG Ventures Boston, Sangita Chandra and Jason Potts of Chronicle/WCVB-TV and many, many more. Thank you everyone for attending, chatting and connecting!
In addition to Twittering updates from the party, we spent a good deal of time in the lit-up PerkettPR Lounge – interviewing attendees about what they do, why they were attending the party and what they thought about the tech market’s future. We will feature these interviews over the next couple of weeks. 
Today we begin with Mike Arrington – we wanted to know what he thought of Boston and the tech market in general. One of his most interesting comments was in regards to the Boston tech community and how we should self-organize more to connect and support all the entrepreneurial spirit in the city. At PerkettPR, we’ve seen more of this happen as we continue to get involved in the social networking community here and expand our relationships both online and off. It’s been a great experience meeting so many intelligent people who are passionate about technology. We look forward to continuing the dialogue in many ways in 2008 – in Boston and beyond.
Click below to see Mike’s interview.
This week is shaping up to be very busy and exciting for the staff at PerkettPR. Not only are we finalizing our sponsorship presence for TechCrunch MeetUp Boston this Friday, but we are also launching two new clients at the event and promoting CollegeWeekLive – taking place this Tuesday and Wednesday, November 13 and 14.
First, we are looking forward to the launch of CollegeWeekLive – the biggest virtual college fair ever with over 10,000 students, parents and guidance counselors attending, including many from Europe, Asia, and Africa.
CollegeWeekLive enables students to “visit” multiple colleges in just two days – they can connect with current college students, guidance counselors, admissions experts and more in a live, interactive environment. The event is geared toward enhancing the process of choosing a college that’s best for the student – all from the their home computer. It will feature many great sessions to help today’s college-bound student make better choices. For more information, check out the agenda.
Over 75 colleges from over 35 states are signed up to-date, including Air Force Academy, Bentley, Central Connecticut State, Northeastern University, Tufts University, University of Buffalo, University of Texas and more.
Secondly, on Friday we will be at TechCrunch Boston MeetUp at Estate in Boston. We will be helping clients Moola and Mzinga launch – please stop by and see what they are all about. They will both be providing demos and some interactive fun as well.
If you are a reporter, blogger or analyst covering social networking, online gaming, advergaming, online collaboration or community, and would like a pre-launch briefing to learn more, please email me at chris[at]perkettpr.com.
If you are attending the party, please stop by the PerkettPR Martini Lounge and find out what all the buzz is about. More details coming later this week. See you there!
Follow us – @PerkettPR – on Twitter – for live updates and interviews from the party!
Top news of the day!
After a four game sweep, Boston’s beloved Red Sox are headed home as World Series Champions. They took the series with ease over the Colorado Rockies.
Congratulations from our team to yours! Go Red Sox!
A few of us attended the Boston Blogger Dinner at Rattlesnake last night – hosted by EMC and Jeremiah Owyang (former blogger now turned Forrester analyst – cool).
It was a great event! I was blown away by the awesome passion and intelligence in the room. So many of these folks have “chucked” their day jobs (realtor, designer, marketer, etc.) and found a way to monetize their interest in social media. It was really inspiring to meet everyone and they convinced me to join the Twitter community – for which I am so grateful (although it can be too addicting, it’s a great resource community already).
We met a couple of great BU students who are, unfortunately for us, interns at another PR company (although we don’t hire interns). I was really interested by their passion and foresight – how many University students have had the insight to post thoughtful commentary and content on their Facebook page rather than simply party pictures or to join a Boston Bloggers Dinner in lieu of local bar hopping with their classmates? These ladies – Amanda and Amanda – impressed us enough to make us reconsider our stance on accepting interns at the firm. They were bright, engaged and very plugged in – who couldn’t benefit from working with them?
We met a few people who we had wanted to connect with after reading their blogs. Julia Patricia Roy, Carlie Flossberg and Laura Athavale Fitton – all super smart ladies rocking the social media world.
For more photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffglasson/sets/72157602524956994/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremiah_owyang/sets/72157602518854364/
The team here is really excited to be working with the TechCrunch gang, and their co-host IDG Ventures, to bring the respected MeetUp parties to Boston November 16. We have been busy over the last month or so planning venues, confirming sponsors and brainstorming with Jeanne Logozzo to pull the MeetUp 11 party together. We’re proud to welcome Mike Arrington, Heather Harde and new Co-Editor Erick Schonfeld to our beautiful city and we intend to work very hard to help them make this the best TechCrunch event yet.
Like last time, PerkettPR will be in full force with a thirst-quenching station. We hope to see you all there! If you are interested in sponsorships, let us know or contact Jeanne directly.
Don’t forget, the MeetUps tend to sell out rather quickly so watch the site today to get yours – the first 250 will be available today through EventBrite.
Details:
Date: November 16, 2007
Time: 6 – 11 pm
Location: The Estate; 1 Boylston Place (Maps: Google / Microsoft / Yahoo)
Register here through EventBrite, based on availability
Today’s high school students have grown up online. The Facebook/MySpace/YouTube generation now has another new online destination: their future college. We’re not talking about attending college – no one wants to miss the real thing – but rather, maximizing their time and budgets to meet with a myriad of colleges across the country before choosing the right one.
With the average student-to-counselor ratio in US high schools at 315:1, students could use some additional guidance around which colleges to visit, what questions to ask and even what current students have to say about their experience. But touring campuses takes a good deal of time and money – both the student’s and their parents. Enter CollegeWeekLive, a one-of-a-kind virtual event produced next month by our client PlatformQ that provides an opportunity to visit more colleges in two days than many students would have the opportunity to before graduation.
CollegeWeekLive is free for students and will be an interactive two day conference held online. Students can visit interactive booths, talk to guidance counselors and even follow along as current students provide a peek into campus life. Sessions include topics such as “Key Factors in College Admissions Today” and “How to Win a Sports Scholarship,” as well as lively student panels from students around the nation. To-date, participating universities include notables such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology as well as the University of Virginia, University of Mississippi – Ole Miss, University of California – Irvine, University of Connecticut, UMass Boston, Northeastern University, Tufts University, Air Force Academy and many others. Stay tuned as the list grows daily.
Take a virtual tour to learn more – CollegeWeekLive will be held November 13th and 14th from 3:00 p.m. EST to 11:00 p.m. EST.
Scot
t Raynovich,
Key speakers from the service provider, technology, entertainment, and investment markets will explore the future of mobile digital media and identify the types of opportunities it offers. Do you fit the bill? Do you have an opinion on how mobile devices have driven the digital entertainment market forward? Want to gather insight on important new standards and learn how business approaches are being formed to dictate how the industry will move forward for many years? Then this is the event for you.
The even
t will be hosted by Raynovich and another mobile content analyst, Gabriel Brown, Chief Analyst at Unstrung Insider.
For more information on speaking or sponsorship opportunities, email us here or contact sales@contentinople.com.
A few of us attended the Boston Tech Cocktail party in Boston last night. Unfortunately the venue, a major nightclub in Boston, didn’t make networking quite as easy – or productive – as some other tech events we’ve participated in (as sponsors and attendees) previously. While the sponsors did a great job providing free drinks and colorful corporate schwag, the overall atmosphere was more like a college party than a serious networking event for business professionals (or maybe I’m just getting old). It’s hard to make connections when you’re shouting at people to be heard over the music.
From the “PR-girls-we’d-never-hire” shimmying across the floor in matching dresses, to the skateboarding “dude” who invited us to an after party, we were definitely amused but not making the connections we had hoped. Granted, my heels were killing me and forced me to sit down for the latter portion of the party – although ironically, that’s when we met a majority of new contacts.
Someone we would like to hire is Clarence. What a brilliant marketer. This guy is smart, down-to-earth and a great marketer at heart. Too bad he doesn’t want to work in a tech PR agency. We didn’t see a lot of media but we did meet Chris Brogan, co-founder of PodCamp and overall social media mastermind.
The sponsors were interesting emerging tech companies like Geezeo, a “social finance application” – poised for huge success as they begin looking for Series A funding (according to Co-Founder Peter Glyman). We met several entreprenurial attendees – like Phillip Zannini – who shared their new business ideas with us and who were hoping to meet interested VCs and have the opportunity to provide their elevator pitch. We hope they are successful.
The drinks were free, the music was loud and the Wii games were cool. Talking to techpreneurs is always a blast because it’s our passion to work with such enthusiastic and intelligent folks. Fun on a scale of 1 to 10 was about a 7; business productivity about a 5.
