"I probably sound like I'm drooling"

Ignite Boulder was SO COOL. I feel like a preteen that snuck into a rock concert and then got someone to buy me a few beers too!! I'm on a high and I don't wanna come down, and I'm not gonna lie: if you weren't there last night, sucks for you. Seriously, I feel bad for you ;) If you haven't heard of Ignite Boulder, or you're a virgin like I was, picture fourteen energetic speakers with a powerpoint presentation, limited time frame, and various knowledge to share--fast paced, hilarious, and in some cases, very humbling. I'm hooked (obviously...I probably sound like I'm drooling). This is a great event folks, put June 24th on the calendar for Ignite 11.

And what an eclectic mix of intelligent, fun people (shout-out to @tarable)! If you haven't had a chance yet, you should rush out and catch the last two days of Boulder Startup Week and meet some of these geeks for yourself. But watch out, you might find yourself inspired!

Stay tuned next week when I take over the DBI front office and begin my silent coup for Eli's job while he's on vacation.

--Stacy

Start Me Up - "Don't Make A Grown Man Cry!"

I would consider myself a geek (see Venn diagram here)

Alright, alright...wipe off that feigned look of surprise. But just because I can quote Star Wars and I like math doesn't mean I'm not cool. Geeks are definitely cool...actually, they're awesome, and if you look around, you'll notice that they literally run this town.

And this week, geeks around the country are taking over Boulder at the First Annual Startup Week, hosted by local tech guru Andrew Hyde. Andrew has a crush on startups and I have a crush on Andrew Hyde. If you have a crush on either, or if you've ever blogged, hacked, designed, unlocked, developed, or entrepreneur-ized, then Startup Week is the place for you. Join smarty-pants from near and far for hikes and bikes, dev sessions and deals, and beers and beans. Tag along on a startup office crawl, tweet about a blog about a social media meetup, and battle to the death for your IPad. Or PCs.

There are a myriad of helpful, fun, informative events going on through this Saturday including Ignite Boulder, on Thursday evening. A sold out event, but for those of you lucky enough to partake, I hope to see you there! (I'll be wearing purple.)

And the best part is the freeness of the whole shebang. Because starting up can be rough in the financial department...it's all free so just register ahead of time at the Boulder Startup site!

Follow the event on Twitter and Eventbrite and Plancast for more information and pass it on!

--Stacy

Ignite Boulder 4: How Not to Suck

Well, I survived my first Ignite Boulder intact and without combusting too much (though it was dang hot it that chem lab). Last night, 430 techies and their better halves made the trek up from the pre-party in b.side lounge's back room where they had quickly emptied three kegs of Dechutes Brewing's frothy nectar.

Up at CU, the evenings' presentations began with a bang - starting with: My Mom Just Joined Facebook. Now What? by Ryan Wanger which got the crowd off to rollicking start. I learned 20 slides at 15 seconds each goes by quickly, perfect for our Gen X/Y attention span. Wagner's graph showing that the phrase "mom joining Facebook" just outpaced "is there a god" summed it all up nicely.

The two screens in CU's Chem 140 allowed us to see both the presenting PowerPoint and a britekite wall of cyber heckling (cyeckling? Tweckeling?) which reached its apex about midway through the night, with an earnest young lady's rather impassioned deck on Peak Oil.

Perhaps it was the lack of fermented bevies, but the brightkite wall of heckling was better then the audience shouts for the most part. All in all though, the event was full of wit and wonder, from the hula hoop/copywriter's treatise on how not to suck, the dance ninja's booty shaking lesson (though she shoulda jumped on the table to coach us through those fly moves), to an inspiring trip on bike through New Zealand and the finale: a re-imaging of The Fresh Prince's theme song in ye olde english (oh that we had some Old E ourselves...).

Sure, they need a better venue, one where the beer coincides with presentations and the sound system is intelligible, but for my first foray into techie/startup/meetup culture, I have to say, I was impressed. As the gang trickled back down the hill to take in Hapa's happy hour on the bricks, I was glad I lived in Boulder, where else could I find all this?

- Eli