Tag Archives: sxsw

highlighting collaboration in Pittsburgh: NExMW

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania skyline photograph, t...

One of the questions that keeps coming up at many of the entrepreneurship related events around town – “Are you going to SXSW this year?” There are lots of great Pittsburgh companies that are headed to SXSW and I know there are some Pittsburgh events planned in Austin.

But it occurred to me:  why should those who cannot get to Austin miss out on all the fun.  So I would like to throw an idea out and see what you think: Northeast x Midwest  (NExMW), a series of events here in Pittsburgh highlighting some of the great businesses, projects, and partnerships happening right here in the 412.

The name: NExMW – Last month I made a stop in St. Louis to have lunch with Jeff and Randy Vines – they are the owners of STLstyle (and basically the IheartPGH of St. Louis). Over lunch they asked me if  I considered Pittsburgh to be in the North East or Midwest – I replied both.  Pittsburgh is a great balance of lots of things North East and lots of things Midwest.

The Format: A Series of Events – Other the past I’ve had a bunch of other conversations with other folks about what makes a good networking event and how to meet other Pittsburghers to work with.   There are lots of happy hours, open coffees, and general networking events, but it can be hard to get past the small talk.  Rather than have one big event – I am thinking it makes sense to have NExMW be a series of smaller, structured events – panel discussions, small networking meals and hands-on workshops.  I have already reached out to the folks at GrubWithUs and they are ready to have us their platform to plan some meals.

The Theme: Collaboration –  exploring and celebrating the intersection of community and commerce in Pittsburgh.  There are so many interesting collaborations that are driving change in this city, especially between the arts and business.  NExMW is an opportunity to learn more about and see firsthand how these collaborations evolve and function, and how they are contributing to making Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh.    IheartPGH exists to share the stories of  individuals, businesses, projects, are organizations in Pittsburgh that are, in a small and not-s0-small ways, making this a great place to live.  Yesterday, NPR re-aired this interview with Dan Buettner, author of the book Thrive.  Listening to Buettner talk about how where you live can impact your happiness is one of the reasons I decided to move this idea for NExMW from my “wouldn’t it be nice if” list to my “this needs to happen” list.  I envision NExMW as an opportunity to really explore what makes Pittsburgh so livable.

Events We’re Planning:

  • Panel Discussion at East End Book Exchange
  • Event at Commonwealth Press
  • GrubWithUs Meals
  • Podcast About Pittsburgh StartUps
  • some sort of event with the mayoral candidates

What do you think?

Feedback please!

  • Which events would you like to attend?
  • Are you interested in planning/hosting an event?
  • What Pittsburghers would you to have lunch or dinner with?
  • What businesses would you like to tour?
  • Would you be interested in being a sponsor for NExMW

Stay Tuned for More

  • Sign up at NExMW.com – we’ll email you when the website is ready
  • Follow @NExMW on Twitter

SXSW Panel on Local Blogging – We Need Your Vote!

SXSW (South By Southwest) is an annual music festival held each March in Austin, Texas.  In addition to music, SXSW hosts an interactive festival and a film festival.  The programming for the interactive festivals is submitted and voted on by the community.  The SXSW staff uses the community input to make the selections for panels and speakers for the upcoming festival.

For the 2012 SXSW Interactive festival we have submitted a panel on local blogging  – Local Legit: Who Blogs Local Best? Thank you to everyone who has suggested themes, ideas and questions around the idea of local coverage.  Here is a brief summary of the panel (read the full description here)

This panel will explore the idea of who covers local communities best, the rise of local blogging and the impact on those communities as well as what the local blogging landscape might look like in the future.

The Panelists – We have put together a great group of of panelist who can offer unique perspectives not only as bloggers, but also as  journalists who have covered local topics.  We are honored that each of these panelists has enthusiastically agreed to participate.  This panel also has some geographic diversity to look at local blogging in large cities like New York and more regional cities like Pittsburgh.

  • Anthony De Rosa
    • Co-founder of Neighborhoodr – city specific Tumblr blog network
    • Social Media Editor at Thomson Reuters
    • past speaker at SXSW
  • Kate Giammarise
    • Co-Founder of Rust Wire – a blog about the industrial Midwest
    • journalist covering the steel industry
    • former newspaper reporter Chillicothe, Lorain and Toledo, Ohio
  • Angie Schmitt
    • Co-Founder of Rust Wire – a blog about the industrial Midwest
    • Manager of the Streetsblog.net – a consortium of more than 400 active transportation blogs
    • former newspaper reporter
  • Erich Schwartzel
    • reporter for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette who has been working on the PG’s Marcellus Shale blog – Pipeline.
    • Pipeline combines community contributions with newsroom content to cover a story that’s rewiring much of Appalachia. Pipeline has been featured by the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard and was a Notable Entry in the 2011 Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism.

Help us take the conversation about local blogging to SXSW and beyond!

  1. Vote for Local Legit: Who Blogs Local Best in the SXSW panel picker before September 2, 2011.  To vote you need to create an account, log-in and vote.
  2. Comment – join the conversataion.  Have questions about local and blogging? What do you want this panel to address?  Please add to the conversation in the comments section of the Local Legit panel on the SXSW panel picker website here.
  3. Share – Please help us spread the word by sharing the link to the Local Legit panel on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks.