Geoffrey H Wood

In about an hour I'm headed out to Omaha to meetup with the other gents from Silicon Prairie News. We fly out from Eppley first thing in the morning en route to Austin, Texas for South by Southwest Interactive 2010 (SxSW).

I'm very excited to get the opportunity to participate in this year's event and plan on blogging as I get the chance down there. The Silicon Prairie News crew has a lot of stuff in the works so it should be a good time. I'm particularly excited for the Silicon Prairie Party (hosted by Big Omaha) that should be a great forum to network with other Midwesterners as well as show off some of the great things we have here to people from all over the world.

SxSW is sometimes called "Spring Break for Nerds" and it's fitting that this trip to Texas is almost 10 years to the day from my last Spring Break (also to Texas - South Padre Island). There's a history of new technologies debuting a SxSW, such as Twitter in 2007 and Foursquare in 2009. We don't know what the 2010 event will bring but one technology, Uppward, built by four of Des Moines technologists, launched today!

I've been a consumer of podcasts for several years. It started as far back as 2002 when I would download the Bob & Tom Show directly from their website(1) for something fun to listen to at work. I took a bit of hiatus from it for awhile and then picked it up in earnest about 24 months ago.

I now listen to a multitude of podcasts - from comedy, to educational, to sports - because it helps me feel like I'm not wasting any part of my day. I listen in coffee shops, I listen while washing dishes and I listen while in the car.

Last week, I made the jump from simply consuming this audio content to creating it. I teamed up with experienced podcaster Andy Brudtkuhl in Des Moines to create PrairieCast, a weekly discussion of and with entrepreneurs and innovators in Des Moines and on the Silicon Prairie.

We've recorded one episode and are set to record our second one this week. You can find PrairieCast at the link above or subscribe to it through iTunes. Additionally, Andy has a long standing podcast called "Managing the Edge" and he had me on as his guest last Friday. Check out that episode here.

(1)I don't think it was even called podcasting, yet.

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to join some other Des Moines entrepreneurs as guests on a local talk radio show. I wasn't sure what to expect since it was mid-morning on a holiday (New Year's Day) and I wasn't even able to be in studio, we were at my in-laws for a late family Christmas celebration so I had to call in from a rural part of Iowa on an AT&T cell phone.

However, it was a great experience. I think it was the Jan Mickelson show, but Mr. Mickelson was on vacation and the show had a guest host sitting in. The topic was entrepreneurship in Des Moines in 2010 and I was invited by Alexander Grgurich of Foundry Coworking, along with Ben Milne of Dwolla, Joey Hinke of JA Hinke & Co, and a few others.

It was a fun experience and it's already lead to an opportunity, as I was already contacted be a local church men's group interested in bringing in someone to talk about the same topic. Several friends and acquaintances have reached out to tell me that they heard me on the radio proving that it's still an effective medium for telling your story.

Personally, in the age of TiVo, I prefer to listen to podcasts where I can stop and start the programming as I move about my day and don't miss anything. I also like to listen to them on my schedule, rather than the traditional model of tuning in at a certain time.

Continuing on the theme of mainstream media, I've had a ton of folks tell me they saw the profile in Juice last week. Interestingly, many of these folks are barely in the upper bounds of Juice's demographic (25-34) or already beyond it. Many of them pointed out that "they rarely look at Juice" which makes me think that either 1) the cover story on the Top 100 area restaurants was a great attention grabber or 2) my friends have a compulsion for looking at party pictures that they're afraid to admit. Either way, it was a great opportunity and I'm very glad that Brianne and her colleagues wanted to do it.

photo by Eric Rowley for Juice

Several years ago, I saw Sarah Robbins give a presentation about social media and, as an aside, she mentioned that everyone should setup a Google Alert of their own name so that they could see what others are saying about them on the internet. 

It was good advice and I followed it that very day but this is one of the first times that it paid off. Usually, Google is very good at notifying me about things like the activities of British soccer players, Canadian pathobiologists and, lately, the stories I produce for Silicon Prairie News. 

However today, the following popped up - Get to know: Geoff Wood, 31

It's just a quick profile piece for the "Juice" the Des Moines Register's weekly magazine targeted at folks in Central Iowa around my age. It's neat to be included and, narcissism aside, whenever an opportunity like this pops up I always feel honored that I was asked to participate.

Anyway, I obviously answered the questions and was there (covering up my face with a business card) for the photo so the feature itself wasn't a surprise; more so I was surprised by the timing (I was thinking it was supposed to run two weeks from now). However, thanks to that tip from Intellagirl, I'm right on top of it and I don't have to pretend to know what people are talking about the inevitable "hey, saw your photo in Juice" comments crop up later this week. 

In October, Dennis Crowley, Naveen Selvadurai and the other folks at NYC-based Foursquare launched their game/network/application in Omaha and Kansas City. For those that don’t know, Foursquare is an online location-based information system that applies a game-like atmosphere to exploring various locations in a specific city. Utilizing your phone, you check-in at the locations, see who else has checked in, earn points and unlock rewards for multiple trips to the location.

We’re happy for our friends in those cities but were surprised that they didn’t include Des Moines. As most people are aware, the three cities of Des Moines, Omaha and Kansas City form a powerful triangle of Midwestern innovation. Coincidently, Highlight Midwest – a conference that features innovators in this triumvirate – was held just a few days later in Des Moines but the Kansas Citians and Omahans couldn’t use the app to check in at Impromptu Studio, the Des Moines Social Club, the Pappajohn Sculpture Park or any of the locations frequented at the event. Color us all disappointed.

Another round of cities was released on the platform in November, yet DeMo was still conspicuously absent. 

Since it’s now December, something needed to be done. Nathan T. Wright and I chatted about it and decided it was time for his organization, Lava Row, to join with mine, Silicon Prairie News, to specifically highlight our community. As Midwesterners, we sometimes have trouble calling attention to ourselves and the great things we have here. We didn’t want the Foursquare crew to go another round missing out on the locales and people that make our community unique. After all, Des Moines is the Greatest City in the World.

The decison was to put together a cultural gift box with just a few of the things that make Des Moines unique.

We started by purchasing a couple t-shirts from RAYGUN, our local purveyor of screen printed goods and abject declarations of city pride. I picked out the blue one while Nathan and his colleague Hillary Brown grabbed the “Periodic Table of Des Moines” one, which could just as easily be called the “Foursquare” t-shirt since it features many of the local shops, bars, and cafes that will become the locations where our community will check in once Foursquare hears our call.

Next, I stopped over to Baby Boomers, the local diner that gained fame as a popular hangout for President Obama’s campaign staff during the 2008 Iowa Caucuses, and picked up a half dozen of their Chocolate Chunk Cookies. This cookie, a favorite of the President, himself, has been named the official cookie of both the White House and the City of Des Moines.

Finally, Hillary gave a call to Jason Walsmith of The Nadas and Authentic Records. The former is the Des Moines-based roots rock band and the latter is their Des Moines-based record label. Jason, ever the proponent of our city and our state, was excited to have Foursquare in Des Moines and contributed a couple Authentic Records t-shirts and The Nadas' most recent release: The Ghosts Inside These Halls.

I packaged up the goods and dropped them into a USPS box and sent it off on December 2nd to Foursquare’s New York City HQ adorned on top with this note: (eloquently penned by Nathan)

Hello Foursquare!

We noticed that Des Moines hasn’t been added as a city yet. We’re sure you just overlooked us. So we thought we’d bribe you with a sampling of DeMo culture. Enjoy, and happy holidays!

-Your friends @ Lava Row and Silicon Prairie News

So Foursquare, you now have our food, our music and our merch(1). When can we have your app? Next time you’re considering which cities to include in a rollout, we’d appreciate it you said, “Des Moines: Hell Yes”.

(1) We considered our beer and our whiskey, too, but didn't want to risk shipping them through the mail. Give us a shout next time you're in town and will buy you a drink directly.

Also, tip of the hat to Scott Kubie for his input early on in the project.

Update on Monday, January 11, 2010 at 12:51PM by Geoff Wood

Follow Up:

On January 5th, word started to spread that Foursquare had officially opened up to everyone (dropping the "City Buckets" and letting anyone check in, anywhere. It accomplished our goal of bringing Foursquare to Des Moines although not the way we thought.

DSM-folks jumped on quick and it's been fun to watch how venues are being added, people are friending and, in general, jumping on the location-based app idea.

A couple weeks ago I had the extreme pleasure of hosting Danny, Dusty, and Jeff (otherwise known as the Omaha contingent) from Silicon Prairie News for a day in Des Moines.

The day consisted of lots of strategizing on the role of SPN in Des Moines as well as meeting with some of the favorites of the local creative class like John Pemble, John Myers, Nathan T. Wright and Hillary Brown from Lava Row, Leann Jacobson and Jennifer from the Technology Association of Iowa.

Other than meetings, I was able to showcase a few local culture destinations to the Omaha folks, like Mars Cafe, the Grand Piano Bistro, Village Bean and (thanks to John) the downtown Skywalk system.

Other than Jeff getting a parking ticket, it was a great day and I certainly look forward to the next one.

When we stopped by the Lava Row offices, I wound up in front of two flip cameras(1) and those videos have now made their way to the internet:

From the Lava Row blog:

From Silicon Prairie News:

(1)I'm usually behind the camera

I joined Silicon Prairie to cover the Des Moines region in September 2009 and ever since I've been paying attention to the taglist shown on the right side of the website. I'm happy to announce that as of posting of my Mike Draper interview about the SMASH name change on 11/25, the Des Moines tag is now the second most utilized on the platform.

Now, I haven't done all the Des Moines posts(1) and my goal for Des Moines coverage is obviously quality first, but, this milestone is a still important because it shows Silicon Prairie News' commitment to the region (not just Omaha) and Des Moines' place as a key player in the region's "creative class". Many of us who call Des Moines home already know the latter, but as Midwesterners we sometimes have trouble proclaiming it. Proclaiming these great stories is at the heart of SPN's mission and I'm glad to see it all coming together.

(1)A few were posts were done by Jeff & Dusty prior to me joining the team and Danny has had a few here and there since.