In The Field…Another Great Evening of Idea Pitching

Tracy Pattin SizzleintheMiddle

BlobLive is one of the best New Media/Social Media events I’ve attended over the past month. There’s something exhilarating about a roomful of ideas and people passionate enough about them to take a risk, step onstage and share them with a live audience and a cyber-audience.

The live version of IdeaBlob.com, this pitching event begins with Erick Brownstein introducing the concept. “Each idea pitch gets 90 seconds. Then we open it up to the audience for suggestions and to the cyber-audience via Twitter.”

And this was no ordinary audience.

Tonight, at VLounge in Santa Monica, BlobLive is sponsored by Girls in Tech and Pinky Vodka . (We got pink gift bags with eyeshadow, blush and lip gloss and cool bottles of vodka!).

The pitch fest started with an intern internet company looking to go international. Then the Global Progress Specialist wants to help third world countries with mentoring and educational services. But the most interesting and most popular of the evening was the “Green” Christmas Tree, adorned with “Green” ornaments made with recycled materials ideally from children across the country created by Mark Venaglia The ultimate destination for the tree? Where else? The White House. The audience jumped in immediately to give suggestions. It was apparent, this was a winning idea.

This maverick “Steve McQueen” lookalike behind me, blurted out “Love your idea. I invest in new companies.” Clearly he was at BlobLive trolling for start-ups to invest in. That’s what makes this so exciting. Entrepreneur, Marty Stevens-Heebner (Half the sky Designs) was constantly at the mic with great feedback and contacts for every idea pitcher.  So, you never know who’s in the audience, but one thing is for sure, there are power players at every event.

As I marveled at this energizing exchange between idea pitchers and responders to those ideas, it suddenly occurred to me; This is just as much for the audience as it is for those onstage. It’s true creative community in action.

Check out the upcoming BlobLive monthly events.

Also this week:  The UCLA Entrepreneur Institute free seminar. (with UCLA Professor, Seasoned Entrepreneur and avid BlobLive participant, Dr. Dan Nathanson).

-Tracy Pattin

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Filed under: In The Field, entrepreneurs, ideas, pitching ideas, Social Media events, Twitter

In The Field… Face to Face Face-Off with Facebook

Tracy Pattin, host, SizzleintheMiddle

“Social Media” is the buzz phrase of the moment. Everybody is Facebooking, Tweeting and Linking in on Linkedin at a frantic pace. I love this new way to connect, but I’ve discovered something. We still crave AND need human contact. Nothing has been more evident than the past two weeks with the plethora of events I’ve attended where real humans show up and interact with one another. (click here to read about the events) Judging by the huge turnouts, face to face contact is alive and well. Here’s the trick to all of this. We need both! “Meat space” (the real life physical world) AND cyberspace are key players for many of us. I guess as long we straddle both spaces, we’re okay. But the key here is balance.

Last week I went to one of those events. Heartlink is a “relaxed dinner/networking gathering for women. This unique experience enables you to meet women like yourself who help one another grow their business and strengthen their community.” After a great dinner (provided by a restauranteur and Heartlink member) Host Carolyn Ziel began the 3 minute introductions going around this circle of about 20 women. ” We all need to reach out. Each one of us has a dream to be realized. Being grounded in passion moves us forward” Carolyn said. As we went around the circle, each woman shared their dream and business with a lot of passion and humor.

I was amazed by the variety of expertise; reflexologist, mortgage broker, restauranteur, wealth coach, hand analyst, chiropractor/motivational fitness coach, life coach, executive sales consultant, bodyworker, even a woman who sells nutritional fruit and veggie “gummy bears.” All these women had interesting stories and all were about community and helping each other realize those dreams.

So whether we’re  Facebooking or Facing Each Other,  we need to remember, there is nothing like that real human contact. Afterall, we humans were here long before the internet was born.

You can easily find human contact events in your area by using…guess what? The internet. Go to Meetup.com, join a Facebook group or the other social media site groups.

-Tracy Pattin

Filed under: In The Field, Facebook, Linkedin, Networking Groups, New Media events, Social Media events, Twitter, YouTube