Day 1:
Thursday, November 10th
12 pm
Geekend2011 Registration and Badge Pick Up Begins
Lobby
Our registration table will be open throughout the day.
1 pm
Hackathon Kick Off
-Review of the rules and judging process
1:30 pm
Let the 24 Hours of Hackathon Madness Begin!
6 – 7 pm
Opening Night Reception
Lobby
Mix and mingle with new and familiar faces over adult beverages as we kick officially kick off Geekend2011!
7 – 8 pm
Kickoff Keynote With Cristen Conger and Jonathan Strickland of How Stuff Works
Smart Stuff: Turning Your Passions Into A Podcast
Room 100
Join Cristen Conger and Jonathan Strickland, writers, bloggers and podcasters for the award winning website, HowStuffWorks.com, as they tell you about the journey from passion to podcast. In this keynote address, you’ll learn about the strategies HowStuffWorks.com employed when launching their podcasts that have kept them on the top of the iTunes charts since 2008. Co-hosts of Stuff Mom Never Told You and TechStuff, Cristen and Jonathan know how to make topics resonate with their audiences. Whether you want to cover topics that are technical or topical, learn how to find your podcast voice to engage curiosity and build a fan base.
8:15 pm – ??
Thursday Night Afterparty at Rancho Alegre
402 M.L.K. Blvd
Join us at Savannah’s favorite spot for Cuban fare as we eat, drink and be merry! This is how we kick Geekend off right.
Day 2:
Friday, November 11th
9 – 10 am
Coffee and Conversation
Lobby
Join fellow Geekenders for some morning java before embarking on the full day of session goodness.
10 – 10:45 am
Viral Notes: Music Marketing & Social Media
Chris Craft, Nao Media & Consulting
Lamar Gillam, Nao Media & Consulting
Room 111
In this new music industry, the old rules of the game are collecting dust. If you’re a motivated independent artist today, there are platforms, marketing tools and services at your disposal that could help you gain a more digi-organic following. This session will discuss when, where, why, and how independent artists and labels can gain success by effectively leveraging these platforms, marketing tools and services.
Knowing Is Half The Battle
Bill Kenney, Focus Lab, LLC
Erik Reagan, Focus Lab, LLC
Room 113
Once upon a time we realized that we loved to create things. We decided to take a stab at doing this for a living, working for ourselves. Sure there have been risks and challenges, as well as a boatload of more work handling daily operations but we love it. We’ve become better at what we do by being able to understand all aspects of our business. If you’ve been thinking about taking the leap yourself, come chat with us in this informal presentation. We’ll share some of our greatest challenges, successes and discoveries we have learned over the past few years. Hopefully, when you walk out you’ll have a better idea if you’re ready to stop working for the man.
Drowning in Data? Make Google Analytics Work for You
Tina Arnoldi, Coastal Community Foundation
Room 115
Data, data, and more data. The information in Google Analytics is overwhelming for techies and non-techies. Once installed, do you know where to look? Is your dashboard filled with cool reports that you never actually use? In this session, we’ll go through the information available, how to read the data, and ways to apply it. We’ll focus on the “bird’s-eye view” for senior management and the details important to development, marketing, and technology staff.
11 – 11:45 am
Transmedia Storytelling: Connecting Consumers to Brands Through Modern Storytelling
Meghan Gargan, Conover Tuttle Pace
Room 111
From marketing to social media to branding, storytelling is the heart of communication, which is why transmedia storytelling has been named as one of the hottest trends of 2011. Brands such as Starbucks, Mattel and Old Spice have woven this modern storytelling approach into some of their most successful campaigns, proving that a well-told story resonates with audiences and connects consumers to brands. But what exactly is transmedia and how is it incorporated into a campaign? This session provides an understanding of transmedia as a storytelling and branding tool, debunks myths surrounding the technique, and looks at case studies that demonstrate successful implementation of transmedia to communicate a story or message.
Fulfilling People’s Needs Through Search
Michael King, Publicis Modem
Room 113
Historically, Search has been about building content and links for Search engines. Now to be effective you have to be speaking to people. This talk covers persona development, integrated search, effective outreach link building, keyword research and presents tools to help with the scalability of each of these Search strategies.
Who’s Winning the Local Digital Audience War And Why
Michael Romaner, Morris Communications
Room 115
Did you know that local newspaper websites are generally the No. 1 trafficked sites in markets across the United States. That’s certainly true for most Morris markets. Michael Romaner has been leading Morris Communications’ digital operations for 16 years, based out of Augusta, Georgia. Before that, he was an award-winning reporter and editor. The digital operations at Morris have been leading the newspaper industry for many years. Michael is going to tell you why and how big those operations actually are, and also how little Morris DigitalWorks, of which he was founder and president, has been selling millions of dollars in publishing software around the world to some of the biggest players out there. Be prepared to be surprised.
LUNCH BREAK
Lunch provided and served at the Coastal Georgia Center
1:30 pm
Hackathon Coding Stops. Science Fair Style Presentations Begin
-Judges will roam the Hackathon room, viewing tables and projects.
-This is the chance for Hackathon participants to wow the judges.
-Open to general Geekend attendees.
1:30 – 2:15 pm
WORKSHOP: Web Design The Old School Way
Josh Weston, BFG Communications
Room 111
A hands-on workshop experience that will ask participants to change the way they approach web design. Be ready to cut things out, draw and experiment.
Can Fans And Followers Pay For Your iPhone 5?
Linus Olsson, Flattr.com
Room 113
Everything on the Internet is free. News is free. Information is free. Software is free. Distribution is free. And of course,media is free. Some of it is not entirely legal, but it’s free nevertheless. So how do bloggers, podcasters, developers and other creators get paid? Increasingly, through voluntary donations. Services like Vodo, Kickstarter and Flattr are helping a new breed of creators get paid by their fans and followers. This presentation looks at successful case studies and best practices for voluntary donations as a source of income for content creators.
2:30 – 3:15 pm
Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Kazoos
Stephen Murray, Kazoobie Kazoos
Amphitheater
Stephen Murray, President of America’s only plastic kazoo factory will share the history of the kazoo. Invented in America during the middle of the 19th Century, the kazoo is only one of a few American instruments. Stephen will demonstrate some historic kazoos and some of the cool new products that Kazoobie Kazoos produces, including the Wazoo, the Electric Kazoo, and the Kazobo. This presentation will end with everyone receiving a free kazoo and kazoo lesson.
Alternate Cloud Architectures with CouchDB
Benjamin Young, Couchbase
Room 113
Typically, Cloud apps are made up of three tiers: a web server, some business logic (in PHP, Python, Ruby, node.js, etc), and a database. We’ll take a look at what happens when your database is also a web server. CouchDB opens up unique architectural and design options that promote fault tolerance, decentralization, and horizontal scaling. We’ll take a look at how CouchDB changes the Cloud architectural options providing a “local first” data model where a network connection becomes a value add to your app, not a mandatory requirement.
Hip-Hop Meets the Digital Divide: What Start-Ups Can Learn From The Music Business
Glenn K. Bolton aka “Daddy-o,” Stetsasonic
Room 115
High degrees of uncertainty make up both Silicon Valley and the entertainment industry. Will my app be downloaded? Will my song reach a high position on iTunes? Interestingly, and surprisingly enough, there are lessons in both to be captured. Are the music business and Silicon Valley “brothers from another mother?” We’ll explore these ideas and more with music technologist @professordaddyo, founder of Stetsasonic and Open Source Recordings.
3:30 – 4:15 pm
Beyond Gamification: Designing Meaningful Interactions Through Game Design Thinking
Dustin DiTommaso, Mad*Pow
Room 111
Let’s face it. The hype surrounding gamification has reached critical mass in the marketing industry with the bulk of attention directed to points and badges as a panacea for customer engagement and loyalty. While these tools have their place in drafting an engagement plan, simply shaking on game mechanics does not create a compelling or valuable player experience. In this talk, we’ll tap into behavioral and motivational psychology and examine the techniques game designers use to incentivize and guide player actions. With this, we can arm ourselves with an effective model for architecting more meaningful interactions and successful business goals.
Latest Trends in Application Development with the Foursquare API
Chad Elkins, Engauge
Adam Steinberg, PlacePunch
Room 113
In this session, see the latest trends in application development using the Foursquare API and learn how you can get started incorporating Foursquare into your own applications. Specifically, we’ll cover the most popular applications that utilize the Foursquare API, including examples from American Express, Starwood and Instagram; examples of ways to build unique applications and campaigns with the Foursquare API; and how to start building your own applications with Foursquare’s API.
Wonderful Mayhem—The Agency Survival Guide
Josh Barrett, BFG Communications
Room 115
We’ve all heard the cliché para-marketing phrase, “Let’s look at it from ten thousand feet.” I am no pilot, but I’ve managed to thrive in manic agency life for more than a decade and here’s my jilted, spot-on view on how it goes down—at sea level. How do we navigate the fickle maze of meeting client expectations? How do we maintain our creative integrity? What does that even mean? How do we transition from an order-taker to a creative partner? How do we stay stoked? What is the concept of creative sharing? What is the dreaded Territorias-creativeas? I can explain to my dad what an Art Director does, really. This is my 411 on how design, music, technology, lifestyle and attitude can foster creativity and create a pocket of daily inspiration that will keep you fresh for the long haul. We have the best gig going—and here’s why.
4:30-5:30 pm
Friday Night Reception
Lobby
Take a break. Catch up with your fellow Geekenders and enjoy a drink with the good folks from Georgia Southern University.
5:30 pm
Trophy Presentation to Hackathon Winner
Room 100
5:30-6:30 pm
Friday Night Keynote With Baratunde Thurston of The Onion
Room 100
Geekend is proud to welcome Baratunde Thurston to the keynote stage. For the past four years, he’s helped bring one of America’s finest journalistic institutions into the future, serving as Director of Digital for The Onion. His political blog, appearances on cable talk shows, and experiments with new technologies have also helped put Baratunde on the map. This technology-loving stand-up comedian will share his unique perspective on the geek world and pop culture. Prepare to laugh and be entertained. We can’t think of a better way to close out our Friday.
7 pm – ??
Friday Night Afterparty at The Distillery
416 West Liberty Street
With over 100 craft beers to choose from we guarantee to quench your thirst and not break your wallet when you ask for the Geekend drink special! Join your fellow geeks as we jam and keep Geekend rolling into the night.
Day 3:
Saturday, November 12th
9 – 10 am
Coffee and Conversation
Lobby
Join fellow Geekenders for some morning java before embarking on the full day of session goodness.
10 – 10:45 am
Going to Mobile: Repurposing Your Existing Work
Kevin Stohlmeyer, C2Graphics Productivity Solutions
Room 111
Are you a designer wanting to showcase your work on a mobile device or show off your designs on a tablet? Multi-purposed designs are today’s digital recycling program. Learn how to take your existing pieces from familiar design software—Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign—and enhance them for mobile utilizing simple techniques. Your design does not end with print. It is just beginning.
Get Technical with GM
Vijay Iyer, OnStar
Jussi Timonen, GM
Room 113
Ever wanted an inside peak of how GM brings ideas and concepts into the real world? Curious about global product creation and integration? How about the future of urban mobility? Join GM’s Jussi Timonen, Creative Designer, and Vijay Iyer, Vice President, OnStar Communications, as they provide personal insights on their respective functions and how they keep GM on the cutting edge of technology.
Post-PC Marketing: Engaging People on Connected Devices
Simeon Spearman, Moxie
Room 115
Smartphones and tablets have erupted on to the scene. Consumers are adopting these new technologies, and this rapid pace of change in media consumption and creation has left many marketers reeling. This session will make use of a custom study and other research to debunk common smartphone and tablet marketing myths, discuss insights gathered from our study, and leave attendees with firm strategies to integrate these devices seamlessly, and correctly into marketing plans. Other connected devices that are becoming more important to marketers such as video game consoles and automobiles will also be discussed to explore the longer-term future of the space.
11 – 11:45 am
The Importance of Branding in an Era of Payments Convergence
Pete Hottelet, Omni Consumer Products
Room 111
As Google, Amazon, Apple, and Facebook continue to solidify competing infrastructures for direct payments, the existing dominant model of pay-per-click advertising will evolve into a pay-per-conversion model. When this happens, customer acquisition and conversion will become a known, fixed cost. Find out how this shift will magnify the importance of branded products in a sea of choices.
Developing For The Web, On The Web
Matt Pardee, Cloud9 IDE, Inc.
Room 113
It is happening: writing all your code in the browser. Whether you write HTML5, Javascript, Node.JS, Python, PHP or Ruby, you can now do this online. In this presentation, Cloud9 IDE developer and evangelist Matt Pardee will highlight the advantages of developing software in the Cloud, and how writing your code online is both fun and highly productive. With a development environment in the cloud, collaboration between developers takes on a whole new dimension. Pair programming, social coding, faster debugging, team management or reviewing code on your favorite mobile or tablet. It is all possible when your code is online. And when everything is online, testing and deploying to a cloud platform will be the natural next step. In this talk, we will visit all these different topics and why writing your code online will have massive benefits for all types of developers.
Geekend Mentors
Mentor: Jim Goodlett, Morris Technology
Mentor: Josh Jones, BFG Communications
Mentor: Nelson Wells, Team Clermont
Room 115
Bring your startup ideas, portfolios or general career oriented questions and join a five-minute one-on-one session with one of our mentors.
LUNCH BREAK
Lunch provided and served at the Coastal Georgia Center
1:30 – 2:15 pm
The Glass House: Zuckerberg’s Vision for Transparency
Clay Duda, Center for Sustainable Journalism
Noah Echols, Center for Sustainable Journalism
Room 111
The headlines tell us that privacy is dead. They tell us to watch carefully what we post to Facebook and Twitter but is that really true? Facebook has pushed the privacy bar with each of its major site changes, asking its users to evolve socially. With the exception of a loud minority that erupts in temporary protest after each new addition, society has generally adapted. All the while niche sites like 4chan cling to anonymity. So who is right and why? Which is more beneficial for society: transparency and accountability, or freedom and anonymity?
Cross-Platform Native Applications With Titanium Mobile
Andrew Zuercher, e2e
Room 113
In this session, web developers will be introduced to the Appcelerator Titanium platform, which allows developers to build native mobile apps (iOS, Android, and BlackBerry) using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. Rapidly develop and deploy apps that are more social, local, media rich, interactive and extensible across multiple platforms with your web development skills. Learn about the architecture of the platform and explore a number of sample apps, from “Hello World” to more complex apps showcasing Titanium’s capabilities for mobile (demos and code walkthrough).
Distributed Teams and the Modern Company: Matters of Trust
Brian Criscuolo, Warmwinds Software
Room 115
Distributed teams and the modern company: is this the new way of getting a business off the ground? Is this the new way to grow an organization when the local talent pool isn’t sufficient? If not nearby, you can get what you need (talent, skill, experience, etc.) elsewhere and still reach success. But there’s a catch. How do you build trust among a team when they’re rarely together?
2:30-3:15 pm
Case Study: Turning Dr. Seuss’s Classic Books into Digital Book Apps
Michel Kripalani, Oceanhouse Media
Room 111
Join Michel Kripalani to learn how Oceanhouse Media secured the rights to become Dr. Seuss’s digital publisher and bring all classic 44 Seuss titles to the app market. Michel will highlight the steps taken to adapt these beloved books into interactive digital book apps that encourage reading and literacy, all along staying true to the original content of Dr. Seuss. From his beginnings as a video game pioneer to running one of the most prolific children’s app businesses on the App Store, Michel will detail what it is like to be involved with cutting edge ventures time and time again.
The Thrills and Spills of Navigating a Digital Music Startup
Clarkson Logan, Maestro
Room 113
We know there is a serious tectonic shift in the marketplace that’s happening with networks, devices, media, and communications. So, have a great idea? Looking to change the world in digital media? What does it take to turn that idea into reality in one of the most exciting, yet challenging market segments over the past decade, not to forget a period of serious economic turmoil. Clarkson Logan, Founder & CEO of Maestro (maestro.fm), will shed some light on what it’s like to navigate a startup from the back of a napkin to an early-stage company, and the lessons learned. He’ll cover off on what it’s like in the early days of a startup, where to go for advice, what it means to pivot, the effects on family and friends, how to raise capital, and a host of other burning questions.
Making Facebook Relevant…Sell Global, Think Local
Christina Blaisdell, CNN
Kathlene Hestir, Case-Mate
Christien Louviere, Vitrue (moderator)
Room 115
Creating a Facebook Fan Page and buying ads is easy, but with Facebook’s universe now reaching more than 750 million members how do you dissect your audience and deliver relevant messages to your audience that will convert into sales? This panel will answer that question with discussions on various strategies and technologies being used by many brands to create a powerful social experience for their consumers.
3:30-4:15 pm
The Gaming Revolution Or “Why It’s Never Felt So Good To Be A Geek!”
Cyril Guichard, BFG Communications
Room 111
Lately, gaming has seen its most profound changes since the invention of the home console. We will go over this recent evolution and explore the unexpected areas the gaming revolution has conquered. We will also discuss the ways the “Right here, Right now!” mobile philosophy is impacting traditional gaming mechanics, and finally, uncover why gaming has never had more mass-appeal than today.
Connecting The REAL World To GEEK World Via Image Recognition
Frédéric Jahard, LTU Technologies
Room 113
Not long ago, image recognition was considered close to rocket science, but now it is quickly becoming a key ingredient in applications across diverse markets such as law enforcement, ecommerce, media intelligence and of course mobile. With open APIs and solid platform solutions, it has never been easier to create applications that link the “real” world to anything digital via the mobile device. In this session, you’ll learn how image recognition has progressed, its ever-growing use cases, the difficulties, as well as its future. And you can interact with the technology by participating in live demos during the session right from your seat!
The Creative (Not Creepy) Perks of Social Media Analytics
Adam Rice, Looxii
Room 115
Monitoring and analytics are an integral part of any good social media campaign. But behind the numbers and charts, there are real human conversations. Turning off the analytical robots and digging into the data with human eyes provides a wealth of benefits from developing meaningful case studies to refining style and tone. This presentation will explore some of the taboos, tools and tactics relative to social media analytics, as well as discuss how professionals can use social data to get creative with strategies and their day-to-day work.
4:30-5:30 pm
CLOSING NIGHT RECEPTION
Lobby
Take this opportunity to enjoy some last minute networking before hearing from GoldRun’s Vivian Rosenthal.
5:30-6:30 pm
Closing Night Keynote With Vivian Rosenthal of GoldRun
Mobile Augmented Reality: Where Our Digital and Physical Lives Collide
Room 100
When augmented reality is coupled with GPS on our smartphones, the possibilities for visually driven interactive experiences become endless, both for advertising and gaming. Vivian Rosenthal, founder and CEO of GoldRun, a mobile AR platform, will explore the potential uses of AR within these overlapping realms. How can a mobile AR campaign engage people in new ways and bridge the gap between our physical lives and our digital ones? Everyone at Geekend will be invited to join a treasure hunt around Savannah using GoldRun.
9 pm – ??
Saturday Night Afterparty at SEED Eco Lounge
39 Montgomery Street
It’s the party Geekend has been known for since day one. Think hip bar, great music and a party that spills over into the street. This is the way only Savannah can roll. Not to be missed!
