Energy and creativity were on display at the eighteenth Web Innovators Group gathering at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge last night. The event attracted a throng of people who were there to mix, mingle, and learn more about where the Web is taking us these days.

I found it particularly refreshing that the gathering was open to the public, held in a swanky conference space, and best of all, free. As a result, a robust, eclectic mix of people showed up, from geeks in shorts and flip flops to business people in power suits.

Many people in the crowd were sporting red dots on their name tags – signifying that they were looking for new talent for their companies. Even the dourest economic prognosticators would have been forced to do a double take last night, with optimism and entrepreneurship valiantly beating back the perception of darkness on the economic horizon.

Here’s a snapshot of the “main dishes” featured at last night’s gathering:

Zeer is a social network website that aims to help people buy better groceries. Founded in June 2007 by Michael Putman, Zeer taps into the wisdom of crowds to identify the best products for communities of people that share your interests. It also offers a mobile application that allows you to look up grocery reviews in the story.

WebNotes says its mission is to revolutionize the way people collect, organize and share their information. With Wednotes (founded in July 2007) users can annotate web pages with highlighters and sticky notes and organize and share that information with friends and colleagues.

TotSpot allows new parents to safely and securely share their baby’s “firsts” via pictures, videos and text with friends and family. Founded in January 2008, TotSpot enables parents to take their TotSpot pages and turn them into personalized parent journals or DVDs.

A real-time vote via mobile text put Zeer on top of the list as the crowd’s favorite – but I’d have to give the nod to TotSpot. Parents these days are more devoted than ever to their kids. They want to share milestones with their friends and family but are deeply concerned about safety and privacy issues. TotSpot fills the niche.

Co-Founder Adam Katz told me they’ve already attracted 10,000 members in less than seven months. That’s quite an accomplishment.

Good luck to all of the presenters, and hopefully I’ll see you back at the next Web Innovators Group gathering.

Technorati Tags: Boston, technology, TotSpot, Web, Web Innovators Group, Webnotes, Zeer

Last night, Topaz Partners celebrated its 6th anniversary, and the onset of summer, with a real-live Summer Mashup. More than a hundred folks stopped by from local and regional companies, agencies, news outlets and analyst firms. A good time was had by all, and we may turn this into a tradition…

Technorati Tags: anniversary, Boston, mashup, openhouse, party, PR, summer

PodCamp Boston 3 is “480 people gathering to share their ideas, lessons learned and earned, cutting edge developments, and stories.” It happens over the weekend of July 19-20th.

From blogging to podcasting to Twitter to virtual worlds and more, whether you’re a veteran of new media or just getting started, PodCamp Boston has something for YOU. Set aside July 19-20, 2008 at the Joseph Martin Conference Center at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts.

PodCamp Boston promises to help you learn, share, and grow your new media skills. If you’ve been wondering how to get more involved in new media and social media, if you’ve thought about starting a blog, podcast, or Twitter presence, PodCamp Boston is for you. If you’re a veteran adventurer of new media, come to share and learn from your peers, and make partnerships & friendships! PodCamp Boston offers something for everyone, no matter where you are on your new media journey.

MORE INFORMATION

SIGN UP NOW!

Technorati Tags: Boston, PCB3, PodCamp, Social Media, socialmedia

I have one word for this post: Shameless but who can resist those big ears? What about the fact that this dog has to be the cutest thing ever? Topaz’s very own Christina made the photo gallery on Boston.com’s Take your Dog to Work Day.

I told you this was shameless.

There’s been a lot of change at Topaz Partners lately, both on the surface and behind the scenes. While the national economy continues to falter, there are still very few signs of weakness in the world of technology public relations. That means most of the change has been good. This includes the growth of our client base, both in the region and outside it.

We’re happy to announce that Fairchild Semiconductor, a $1.6 billion public company and a pioneer in transistors and other technologies of the modern silicon age, has signed on with Topaz Partners.

We’re really happy to have them on board. We’re still very much a Boston firm, but our reach is much broader than just New England. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming–I promise we won’t toot our own horns very much here, but I just can’t help but be excited sometimes…

Technorati Tags: Boston, economy, FCS, new england, PR, Tech, tech economy, technology

Seems like we have a loyal following at Tech PR Gems, more than we thought we did apparently. Not even one hour ago, my fellow blogger Tim stopped by my desk and asked, “Have you received any PR pitches lately?”

Me, “No, why?”

Him, “Because we are listed in Cision’s Media Directory.”

Me, “Are you KIDDING me?”

Being the savvy person I am I looked and was amazed, not only is Tim listed, along with me, but Todd is as well. I couldn’t stop laughing. I still can’t.

How long will it be before we get pitched and feel like reporters? Anyone want to bet?

The panelist lineup for tonight’s Social Media Club Boston event focusing on the enterprise is excellent. It’s not too late to sign up! We’ll have:

Parna Sarkar, Senior Director, Corporate Communications, Invention Machine
With more than 15 years of integrated marketing communications experience, Parna Sarkar enjoys building high impact programs that deliver exceptional results. Sarkar’s expertise spans media relations, competitive strategy, branding, global product launches, executive visibility and thought leadership, IPO and mergers and acquisitions. As Sr. Director of Corporate Communications, Sarkar drives Invention Machine’s positioning and corporate communications strategy, including messaging, new media, public relations and analyst relations programs. Prior to joining Invention Machine, Sarkar was director of Public Relations & Marketing Communications at iRobot, where she spearheaded the company’s global branding and positioning strategy as well as public relations, public affairs and marketing communications programs.

Mike Volpe, VP Marketing, HubSpot
Mike Volpe is the VP Marketing at the internet marketing company HubSpot where he manages the company’s marketing programs and writes regularly for HubSpot’s Internet Marketing Blog. Prior to HubSpot, Mike held several marketing and business development positions at enterprise software and a consumer Internet startup companies including most recently as Director, Marketing Operations at SolidWorks Corp. He has also worked as a financial analyst at a technology industry investment bank. Mike is an MBA graduate of the MIT Sloan School of Management and received his B.A. in Economics and Government, summa cum laude, from Bowdoin College. He is a Director of the Alumni Fund at Bowdoin College and a Co-Founder and Director of the Boston Scholars Program, a Boston volunteer organization.

Michele Glorie, Senior Director, Corporate Communications, Kronos
Michele Glorie is Senior Director of Corporate Communications at Kronos Incorporated, a 3,400-employee provider of workforce management software and services. She is responsible for setting Kronos’ global communications strategy, and oversees the company’s public relations, influencer relations, and employee communications programs. She also managed Kronos’ investor relations program until the company went private in 2007 after having traded on Nasdaq since 1992. Prior to joining Kronos nearly 10 years ago, Michele spent several years working at Boston-based high-tech PR agencies Brodeur and FitzGerald.

John Cass, Online Community Manager, Forrester Research
In John’s new role at Forrester Research he will be working to develop further the company’s existing social media strategies for community building, dialogue and customer feedback. John started blogging in 2003 to find out how blogs help businesses reach high rankings in search engines, but discovered blogs do so much more in terms of creating dialogue between companies and their customers. His 2007 book, “Strategies and Tools for Corporate Blogging,” was published by Butterworth-Heinemann an imprint of Elsevier, Inc. He served as president of the Boston Chapter of the American Marketing Association in 2005-2006, and currently serves as a Founding Fellow and Advisory board member for the Society of New Communications Research.

Technorati Tags: enterprise 2.0, Forrester Resarch, SMCBoston, socialmedia, socialmediaclub, Twitter

I got a chance to pop into the Enterprise 2.0 Conference this morning, in time to catch Chris Brogan’s session on enterprise social media, as well as the morning keynotes. As I mentioned yesterday, you can see my raw notes and thoughts on my Twitter feed.

Two things stood out. First, there was a lot of talk about Millennials versus Baby Boomers, both about their differences, but also about how much knowledge we’re losing with the inevitable departure of our veterans. Enterprises have definitely caught on to this, and are definitely doing something about it–every single case study I saw was using wikis to capture (and collaborate on) as much unstructured data as possible.

Second, and this may be a “no duh” moment for most of you (it was for Pistachio when I commented about it to her this morning), there were very few references to the customer–at least the end-user kind. Yes, I know enterprise 2.0 is all about what we used to call employee communications, but one of the most interesting discussions that took place during Andrew McAfee’s keynote panel was about–in my words–avoiding groupthink.

I’m waiting for enterprise 2.0 to embrace including not just the voice of the employees, but the voice of the customers too. That’s how you avoid groupthink!

Incidentally, we’ll be running with the theme of social media and the enterprise at Thursday’s Social Media Club Boston event. There are only 25 seats left, so sign up now! Hope to see you there!

Technorati Tags: E2, enterprise 2.0, SMCBoston, socialmedia, socialmediaclub, web 2.0

PR pros often face choices of intrepidness. How bold is too bold? How assertive is too assertive? Often, the choice is not as clear as one would think.

At the recent Front End of Innovation conference in Boston, presented by the Product Management & Development Association and the Institute for International Research, I faced such a choice. I spotted an editor of a top-tier pub for Topaz’s attending client, Sagentia, sitting with a group of people at a large table. A few casual circa-perambulations of the table revealed the group deep was in discussion about the topic of innovation, which was at the heart of the event. I determined that the conversation was loose, not a briefing or a serious dialog, but I didn’t want to interrupt.

As time ticked on, I passed the table a few more times and was dispirited to find each time the same people seated in the same seats engaged in the same conversation. It was great to see them discussing the theme of the event, but I was never presented with an opening to introduce myself and my client and set up a briefing.

Knowing I had to do something, I told our client’s top executive in attendance (who was manning his company’s booth at the time) to expect a briefing with the editor shortly. I believe that stating something will happen will often make it happen–visualization theory, right? In high school, I told my friends I was going to be an editor of a national paper. It happened. (I wish I told them I was going to replace Ron Wood in the Rolling Stones.)

So, knowing I was certainly being a tad beyond bold, I walked over the editor, interrupted the conversation, introduced myself, spoke about my client and said there was a window of fifteen minutes at this very moment during which they could chat. He responded “absolutely,” and we walked over to the booth. A briefing ensued, followed by a happy client and an interested editor. Intrepidness, when executed properly and balanced with a good dose of luck, is a strong PR weapon.

So let me echo my team member Adam Zand’s Day 1 post from Front End of Innovation and our client’s reference to Star Trek and say, Be bold in PR!

Is innovation a science, art or both?

I spent a full-day workshop with my client, Sagentia, to think about this question, the tools, stages, case studies and best practices during “All You Ever Wanted To Know About The Front End Of Innovation” at the World Trade Center in Boston.

In a morning exercise at the Front End of Innovation 2008 conference, a team of attendees (out of a total of 50 in the room) took some time to look at a fictitious ban on the use of windshield wipers -for safety reasons - and how to develop alternative methods to the deadly, hypnotic wiper blade.

Pictured are Doug Wilson, Sagentia and Meg Carsky-Wilson, C.B. Fleet recording the idea generation process, a TRIZ idea addition element, prior to the team voting process. Our team went with a few options: a coating on the windscreen that acts like a hydrophobic / hydrophilic beetle to remove moisture (How many of you blog readers have spent three days in the Namib Desert, Africa?); utilize aerodynamics like the back vents on sports cars to self-clean with a built-in reverse vacuum; heated windscreen/self cleaning steam redirected from the engine and our far-fetched idea was a new windshield made out of water that is not altered by weather.

In Part III of the Workshop, Sagentia’s Dan Edwards, Director of Innovation & Technology Management, discussed “Project Teams - Design for Diversity”. Check out Ilsa Webeck, manager, strategic planning, DePuy Spine (a Johnson & Johnson Company) and Dan, but don’t miss the background slide with Enterprisers Spock, Kirk, Scottie and Bones as a case study on different personalities benefiting the cause.

Spock (Analyze - logical, fact-based)
Kirk (Strategize - holistic, intuitive)
Scottie (Organize - sequential, detailed)
Bones (Personalize - feeling based, interpersonal).

Hmmmm, Star Trek - different personalities can work together and “boldly go where no person has gone before.”

I’m not sure if I’d include him in the list of great (and peaceful) innovators from the 20th century, but remember Gen. George Patton said, “If we all think alike then no one is thinking.”

I can’t wait for Day Two at FEI-Boston. Stop on by the World Trade Center Boston or follow the event blog, my Utterz recordings (first is Second City Improv keynote) and our future podcasts.

Live Long and Prosper and Innovate!