Last week was a big week for technology in Seattle. The week kicked off with the Seattle Interactive Conference (SIC) and rounded out with TechStars Demo Day.
Unfortunately, Hurricane Sandy delayed many SIC attendees and some presenters on the first day. The first morning also kicked off with a tiny fire that none-the-less brought out 4 fire trucks and postponed the first round of presentations. Neither fire nor hurricane could dampen the spirit of the event, though.
The second day of the event was where the highlights shone brightest. Stanley Hainsworth of Tether delivered an entertaining and engaging presentation about how we are the stories that we tell. At Fresh Consulting we believe that visual storytelling is a bedrock principal of design, and Stanley embodies this in who is and the stellar work he’s done. It was a great treat taking in how he weaved his personal story, work for brands and business tips into a full experience for the audience.
The entertaining video below shows off the start-to-finish story of a branding project Tether completed for Gatorade.
Not surprisingly, one of the other big hits of SIC was Ben Huh of Cheezburger talking about the power of humor. After entering the stage doing his best Gangham Style impression, Huh provided multiple examples of how to support your communities in creating content that others will want to share.
Though viral memes and videos can’t be manufactured, the Cheezburger CEO gave plenty of ideas of how to put more fun into your online communications. According to Huh, the secret to winning hearts and minds on the interwebs is still creating photos, captions, mashups, and videos of cats doing the darnedest things.
The week rounded out with a great day for startups – TechStars Seattle Demo Day presentations. It was inspiring to see so many female co-founders and a stable of truly innovative new companies. This is TechStars third year in Seattle with a class that raised more investment commitments going into Demo Day than the previous classes raised. As a proud sponsor of the After Party, we were excited to celebrate with everyone in the Seattle community who came out to honor the 2012 TechStars class of entrepreneurs.
With so many great things happening in the Seattle tech community this fall, we’re excited to see what winter and spring will have in store for us.
