Dec
1
Event Seek in commercials?
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
30 second on-air spots? January maybe? Keep your eyes peeled, we’ll be sure to share once we have anything definite…
Oct
6
Everything always makes sense to me when it is explained using something I can relate to - champagne. Seriously six great minutes that makes the whole topsy turvy world make more sense.
Oct
6
And now for something completely different…The art of the late night Rock Band session
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
I live a pretty awesome life. In general, I work a ton (but love what I do), have amazing family and friends, and live right where I want to. All in all, not a bad gig by any stretch. One of my guilty pleasures is rocking out with friends on Rock Band. Especially if we’re doing it after a night of bar hopping. It’s hard to explain the amount of fun had by 4+ people when you’re shouting at the TV and trying to press a series of buttons in rhythm.
“Late night Rock Band/Guitar Hero” as it is generally called, does not happen by itself however. It takes a series of elements coming together to form the atmosphere necessary for a rock session. You might think you have a crew together and you’re leaving the bar to go rock when suddenly they start dropping like flies. You might be sure that you’ve got the makings of the greatest rendition of “Wanted Dead or Alive” when suddenly interest begins fading and like dominos everyone falls.
My roomate and I own both Rock Band and Guitar hero, and have for about a year now. As such, I believe that I am uniquely qualified to share my thoughts on how to instigate a great late night rock session. These are just my thoughts, so feel free to agree/disagree and share your own viewpoints. Who knows if we get good responses on this, maybe I’ll do a series of random “how-to”s.
Ingredients:
- 1 Rock Band or Guitar Hero Game - I personally recommend Rock Band because four people can play at once and there are more songs available for download on the PS3. Also, everyone can play to their strengths as opposed to Guitar Hero where only two people can play guitar. This is a preference call however.
- 1 TV - The bigger the better
- 1 PS3/Wii/Xbox - Required to play the game on. Any of the above will do, as you certainly don’t want to be buying a system just to late night rock. If you want advice on which system to buy, do a google search. I can’t tell you people everything!
- 1 Set of large speakers (subwoofer highly recommended) - Let’s be honest here, the whole idea is to ROCK. Those wimpy speakers that are part of the TV just aren’t going to cut it. At the house we’ve got a 5.1 setup and we’ve solved plenty a poor song or session with “Uhh, it just needed to be louder…”
- 2 - 4 Willing and engaged participants - Without the crew this whole thing is impossible, so this just might be the most critical ingredient. I thought about giving advice here on exactly who you want to join you for the session…but the fact of the matter is that skills don’t matter - you want people who are gonna be fun, won’t wimp out early, and aren’t afraid to make an idiot of themselves. One word of caution here: that girl who doesn’t really want to join you, but is tagging along because of some boy or lives nearby…get rid of her! She’s (or He’s) like a cancer that will only infect other players and drag everyone else down! She’ll get tired early, whine, and eventually kill the buzz. Seriously, get rid of her!
- 1-2 Rounds of Red Bull related alcoholic drinks - These are for drinking at the bar
- 1-2 Rounds of beers or other drinks - These are for drinking at your Rock Session
Instructions:
- Meet up with your friends at dinner, a bar, or wherever your favorite hot spot is. Enjoy one another’s company, laugh, drink, and repeat. Regardless of a good rock session you might as well enjoy the night. Get this one right or everything else will be thrown off!
- As the night goes on, keep an eye out for who might make up your 2 - 4 Willing and engaged participants. You want to scout the crew early and be prepared to prep them as the night goes on.
- Plant the seed. Throw the idea of a late night rock session out there and see how your potential participants react. Actually this can be very helpful in screening your participants so this might arguably come before the previous step.
- Drum up support and interest. Once people are talking about the idea, this is your chance to generate some buzz. You don’t want to seem pushy, but want to get a few people excited who will help you spread the gospel as the night goes on.
- Step up to the bar and order those Red Bull related alcoholic drinks. I can’t stress this one enough! If you want to have a really great session, you’ve got to man up and buy the fuel. I’ve seen one too many sessions go downhill early simply because the participants weren’t adequately energized. Combining Red Bull with alcohol has additional benefits as well. Alcohol helps lower individual inhibitions, meaning the chances of you finding that participant who is willing to step up and sing go up with each drink (to a point). Note: Neither I, nor Event Seek condones abusing alcohol. Drink up and have fun, but seriously don’t be an idiot.
- Just before you’re getting ready to leave the bar/restaurant remind everyone about their excitement to play Rock Band/Guitar Hero. This only serves to drive one last push to bring people to rock out. Whether you are going to your house or someone else’s, you don’t want to fumble the ball on the 10 yard line. One final push to put the ball in the end-zone.
- Insert Game, turn on TV and Speakers, and enjoy!
- Serve drinks to anyone who asks and don’t forget to be a gracious host. Remember you are laying the foundation for future late night rock sessions. Just like in life you don’t want to burn bridges, when it comes to late night rock sessions you want everyone to have a great time as well. Each satisfied participant only means it will be that much easier next time.
Thats it! Hope you have a few great rock sessions in your time. We should all be so lucky…
Sep
17
Am I becoming an iNerd?
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
This past weekend my blackberry decided to call it quits. The trackball stopped working along with several other buttons. This kind of thing happens to me from time to time as I’m pretty demanding of my phone, so I wasn’t all that surprised, but usually its a slow decay of sorts.
This time however it was more like an all out system failure. Given that Saturday night was a long and somewhat inebriated one, I had to rethink my night. Had I dropped it? Poured something on it? Sat on it? No, no, no. Ok so I didn’t do anything especially destructive to the phone (that I remember). No big deal, I’ll do what I always do when my phone hits the fritz. I’ll call Verizon and tell them to send me a new one, I’m sure I’m still under my warranty. FAIL. Long out of warranty.
Faced with the idea of spending a few hundred dollars on a new bberry I was somewhat disheartened. Luckily I am up for a new contract with Verizon and get a phone discount. Or…I could switch carriers and get a whole new service contract..and…dare I say it..an iPhone.
Suddenly my phone dilemma seems like an opportunity! New cool phone with lots of features and new services! And thats when it hit me…
I’m a Mac toting, soon to be iPhone using, apple evangelizing, startup dork. What happened? I used to be a IBM carrying, crackberry typing, die-hard PC proclaiming, strategy consultant. Just 12 months ago! I was hesitant about the Mac switch, but my team talked me into it and I’ve never looked back. I love the thing - its simple, powerful, wonderful, and supported by so many wonderful open-source applications. And now the iPhone? Maybe this is too much.
But if it is anything like the computer, I won’t be dissapointed. It seems everyone who has one loves it. And talks about it all the time. And tells you how much better it is than your phone. And did I mention can’t stop talking about it?
Do I want to be one of those people? Do I want to be a member of the Mac cult? Do I need to buy all the same stuff to “think differently” than everyone else?
The answer is, of course, an emphatic Hell No! But it might be too late. I’ll get the iPhone because it is a great device and I want one, but I have a few points that I will hold my ground on:
- I won’t wait in one of those damn lines at the Apple store to get it
- I won’t pull it out at every possible opportunity to show it off
- I won’t talk about it incessantly and argue its merits at dinner with people I don’t know that well
- I won’t buy over-priced Apple products just because they are made by Apple
- I won’t wait with baited breath for Steve Jobs to tell me about the next great Apple innovation
- I won’t read the MacRumors blog to find out about what is coming
- And most importantly, I won’t become an iNerd
Sep
11
For all “intensive” purposes
Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment
The other day Andrew (our designer) looked at me funny when I said “Well for all intensive purposes” and said “You mean for all intents and purposes?”
It made me laugh, because Andrew is dead right, and I’m pretty sure I’ve been called out for that before. It reminded me that we all use common phrases to express our thoughts and feelings. Some of us use them more than others (myself included) and arguably as a crutch for not having anything new to say.
I have a few that I use most commonly:
“I mean this in the nicest possible way…”
“Not to be an asshole, but…”
“This is going to come out wrong, but I’ll try anyway.”
“To be honest…”
“To be fair…”
“With that being said…”
What do you use frequently (maybe overuse) in common everyday speech?
Aug
14
Posting hiatus over
Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment
It has been an incredibly busy month. I just realized that our last post was almost a whole month ago! I must admit that I thought it had been closer to two weeks or so since we last wrote.
Since we’ve been so quiet for a while, I’ll provide a short recap and then get back to regular blogging:
- We’ve been continuing to meet important and influential people here in Atlanta, both learning from their experience and asking them to help us move Event Seek forward
- We’re making excellent headway selling Event Seek into local media providers and businesses. The process obviously takes longer than we initially expected, but many signs point to the potential that we’re building (I’ll keep the details quiet until it is time to share)
- No longer just an idea on paper, Event Seek has become a full-blown reality! We now have a product that we can legitimately deliver to a customer and really drive value for them. For those of you who helped with our alpha testing - we couldn’t have done it without you! As a reward, pretty sizable changes to alpha will be coming soon - I’ll let you know once they’re up for you to use
- In the next week or so, we’ll close a small Friends and Family fundraising round that will provide capital support for us in the coming months. This funding is designed exclusively to help us bring on customers and prove that a sizable market exists
- I’m now driving a Kia Spectra. It has been an incredible change from the Tahoe, and one I really enjoy. The Kia handles beautifully, hardly uses any gas, and has the ground clearance of an Indy race car. Everyone should check out this car, it’s fantastic!
Hope you’re all caught up - look for new posts every few days now that I’m back to blogging more frequently.
And to answer your question, hell no I’m not serious about the Kia. Damn tree fell on my car and I have to ride around in this crappy rental car for a few weeks. I miss Chuck, I miss him so much. I hope when this is all over I can drive him right over this little Kia.
May
31
Working on a Saturday afternoon
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Yeah, its freaking gorgeous in Atlanta today. Why is my entire team in the office you ask? Alpha. We’re here so that when you get to play with it, it’s amazing.
Maybe bowling and beers in a bit…depends on how much we get done.
Apr
22
My first post
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Welcome to the Event Seek blog!
We’ll be using this blog over the next few weeks and months to keep everyone updated on our progress (and pitfalls). For those of you who have been receiving our update emails, think of our blog as smaller doses, but more often. Oh, and this is going to be a very relaxed place. Emails are formal, blogs are for dumping thoughts on a page.
We’ll write about our successes, difficulties, good days, bad days, and everything in between. Most of all, we’ll fail at being funny.
Stay tuned…