July 2009 NY Tech Meetup - America the Beautiful

“ excellent quality of ideas, very refined presentations and a fantastic way to stay plugged into technology innovation in nyc ”

“ Loved the pace, enjoyed the presentations and demos ”

“ Wonderful apps! ”

“ The guest speakers really made the difference this time: Learning on the Iran post-election demonstrations from an Iranian was fascinating; Douglas Rushkoff rocks! ”

“ Great lineup of speakers. Lots of ideas, and good networking. I especially enjoyed hearing Doug Rushkoff speak. ”

“ One of the best so far (I've seen the last 4 or 5). Presentations were all interesting, and there was not too much delay in between them. Love the social consciousness bent. ”

“ Great presenters and excellent speakers ”

“ i would have enjoyed a little more schmoozing/networking in the beginning ”

“ Awesome as usual. ”

“ Great balance of business and social technologies. I enjoyed the non-demo speakers, wish they could've had a little bit more time to speak. ”

“ Demos were interesting, but the questions/answers in the Q&A's at the end of each demo could have been better. More time for discussion after Rushkoff's talk would have helped, because I got the impression that many people wanted to explore the topic further and have their questions answered in more depth. The screen wasn't bright enough! Cell reception! Wifi! ”

“ The theatre at FIT is soooo much better than the World Stages. Location, production value, comfort, etc. The presentations were pretty good this time, although the fellow from Iran was fairly irrelevant. I particularly liked the one from ExitStrategy, the advertising one, and the one from Zagats. The other presenters were weaker than their applications, which is usually the case (especially with geeks). ”

“ good line of up good, clear presentations and well-done sites, very professional ”

“ It was very inspirational. It makes me want to work even harder to finish my app and to present it and get it into the world, helping everyone. ”

“ Great pace of presentations and great content of speakers. Longer meeeting than I expected but worth every minute. ”

“ Great way to see $ & meet new people and talk/network about the latest tech applications and how society is affected by it. ”

“ very cool meetup .... ”

“ Loved the demos. Didn't think the Iranian guy told us anything new. Know & like Doug R but thought it was the wrong message to the wrong audience ”

“ Excellent. My first NY Tech Meetup and I really enjoyed it. All of the presenters were interesting, especially the presenter on Iran and social media, and Doug Rushkoff. ”

“ My first Meetup and the impressions of first-time attendees are evidently very important based on the statistics presented. Many have attended once and don't return. It's a "techy sitcom" style meeting with T-shirts and a loose, informal structure but the content is largely commercial. Rather than emphasizing technology, highlighting expertise and fostering collaboration the presenters were geared towards smooth demonstrations of finished products and in one case unable to identify the development tools. VC influence is evident, which was in curious conflict with the perspective of the highlight speaker who, although rudely cut short, emphasized rewards for those who make contributions as opposed to those who just have money. Too many clever ideas could have been launched without VCs and were dumbed down by VC desire for a quick ROI and their inability to understand the business opportunities enabled by technology. Rushkoff had an important message and wasn't heard. ”

“ This was my first meeting, so am not yet jaded. The demos were great--more or less cosmically useful, but all showing real smarts. At least as important was learning about Iran; the immediacy of the presentation made a real difference. ”

“ Attendance was very impressive as usual, the presenters ranged from startups to well established and grounded companies, and we got two very good guest speakers last night that addressed the need to leverage the power of the internet and technology to empower the voices of Iran and the need to challenge ourselves to build a new currency and economy instead of relying and hoping for the rise of the failing economy we have so long depended on. The partnership with LiveStream gives people who are unable to attend the chance to participate and the organization of the NY Tech Meetup group continues to get better and better. This is one Meetup that I will continue to attend in the coming years. ”

“ Good, but 10 mins for Doug Rushkoff at end is too little/too late ”

“ Demo's are good, but too long. Have four demos, not eight. ”

“ Douglas Rushkoff should have gotten more than 10 minutes to speak. Otherwise, great meetup. ”

“ It was great! Well organized. Great new technology was displayed. ”

“ Thanks for letting me demo the Zagat app, I just wish I had T-Mobile reception. As a spectator I thoroughly enjoyed the other presentations. ”

“ Great range of demos! Two great speakers on fascinating topics - Iran and "money." Excellent master of ceremonies, getting better all the time. Livestream a great added feature. Huge buzz of networking during and after the event. ”

“ It was good but not as good as the last meet up. ”

“ Good energies and enthusiasm. Nate continues to do an awesome job or organizing and keeping things moving. Diverse great products presented, and I'm reachign out to let some folks know of ones of possible interest to them. Wish they'd allow building access more than 15 minutes before the meeting, to give some of us a chance to network. Bernie ”

“ The Iranian dude rambled. The guy at the end had little to do with NYTech. The whole thing ran too long. Someday you need to figure out how to use a KVM to allow one demo to setup while the other is talking. Livestream was fantastic. ”

“ It was a really good meeting. The companies that presented had interesting offerings. I would not have minded if the speakers had more time to present their POVs, and a more time for questions. Also, a little more time could be given to meet the people sitting next to each other ”

“ I noted to Nate Westheimer after the "show" that he had perhaps been a little bit "over-confident". As I understand it he had a predecessor, but I still feel as though I have to give him a lot of credit for his well-performed MC duties. Two suggestions I made: 1. More interactivity from the audience. Slapping the armrest/tablets for applause and hissing for booing is the Oxford Political Union method. This has potential for getting out of hand, but also for showing compassion/approval/disdain on a large scale and given where it is due. IMO, benefits > costs. 2. A better way of logistically "meeting up" with people you've gotten in touch with before the show. Hooking up "femto-cells" for the 4 major cell networks is one option. That's rather long term, so I would suggest a projected display to which SMS can be sent, or Twitters posted. This could be done before the show. A final option is to change your Bluetooth display name based on location. ”

“ Interesting speakers, impressive demos, a casual but charged atmosphere, and some intriguing guest speakers. ”

“ I had to leave early, but really enjoyed the presentations I saw. ”

“ sooo many people. it was fun but not the "meet-up" i was expecting. ”

“ Always inspiring to hear new businesses and good ideas flourishing. Also enjoyed the Iran election presentation and the energetic author sharing a completely new perspective. Very worthwhile. ”

“ Better transitions between speakers. More moderation during the post-demo questions; C'mon, Nate, step in and repeat those questions or prod for clarification on questions from audience. ”