Some people have to find out the hard way that the downtown white water kayak park is in Reno. But when a group of kayakers went looking for a white water park in downtown San Francisco they met some cool people and had some fun, but didn’t actually find any rapids.

The My Nevada Dream Job Street Teams, in half kayak gear and half professional attire, were canvasing for Bay Area Professionals to let them know about a recruiting event this Thursday evening at the Ferry Building. The event is free and will showcase the opportunities for a balancing a professional career with the amazing recreation lifestyle in Nevada.

So we hope to see you on Thursday!

Links:
Photos:
Videos:
Event details:
http://mynevadadreamjob.com/rsvp
Eventful.com
upcoming
Facebook
Craigslist

What’s this all about?

-M

As reported on our Utah Tech Spotlight Blog, Wednesday May, 21 was the sixth Annual Innovation Awards in Salt Lake City, Utah and Twelve Horses was there to see and record the innovations that made it the finals and congratulate the winners. We were also hoping, after seeing Iron Man last week, to see the Robotic Exoskeleton by Raytheon Sarcos, and perhaps even take it for a test drive, but alas, they did not bring it.

Download Audio File Here

We did see some cool stuff. Top on the list of things to look out for next ski season was the Klymit insulation system, a Noble-Gas based adjustable insulation system for sporting outerwear. The system developed by Brigham Young University students uses argon in small canisters to fill chambers to vary insulation.

Mick Hagen won for his college student recruitment tool called zinch.com. This is a social network similar to Facebook, Myspace or Ning where high school students and colleges can create profiles and actively recruit each other.

This is effective for both parties as the Colleges can find good qualified recruits without relying exclusively on contact lists purchased from the standardized testing agencies (SAT, ACT etc) and less effective email marketing campaigns. According to Hagen, colleges are finding this social networking approach more effective at reaching the best students than traditional marketing techniques, buying contact lists for email, mail and telephone. Students everywhere are ecstatic at being able to substitute a “superpoke” for a profile essay when applying to BYU.

We spoke with Dr. Chris Johnson, the Keynote Speaker at the awards presentation and Director of the Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute at the University of Utah. The research, advances and inventions coming out of that office are amazing. He told us about a new real-time 3D imaging system that can pinpoint cancer in a beating heard to target radiation therapy.

Also awarded was our client Solera Networks for their Network Monitoring Appliance. This is a tool that lets network administrators monitor, store and review everything coming in and out of their network.

And another cool one comes from Kevin Shurtleff of Mountain West Energy LLC. Shurtleff has developed an oil vaporization technology to extract the remaining 2/3 of oil that is left over with traditional techniques. This could add 180 billion barrels to US oil production with no new oil fields.

It was a great event showcasing the best of what Utah innovators have to offer. Thanks to Stoel Rives LLP and The Utah Technology Council for making this event happen.

2008 Utah Innovation Award Winners

Allocure: Cell Therapy for Acute Renal Failure: Biotech/Pharmaceudicals
Cerametec, Inc.: NaSICON Membrane Technology: Chemicals/Materials science
Mountain West Energy LLC: Insitu Vapor Extraction: Clean Technology and Energy
Raytheon-Sarcos: Robotic Exoskeleton: Computer Hardware/Electrical Devices
Zinch Inc.: Student Profile and College Wizard: Consumer Software
Solera Networks: Solera Networks DS Series Packet Capture Appliance
Klymit: Noble-Gas-Based Adjustible Insulation
Anecare Laboratories, Inc: QED-100: Medical Devices

-Mike

While 2007 newspaper advertising revenue dropped 9.4% - the biggest plunge in 50 years (source), internet advertising gained an incredible 26% (source). The total revenue for newspapers still dwarfs internet ($42 billion compared to $21 billion) but with 25% gains year over year, it’s still a matter of time before internet catches up. How did other media types do?

• Cable advertising was up 11% (source)
• Local broadcast TV advertising was down 4.4% (source)
• Radio advertising was down 2% (source)
• Outdoor advertising was up 7% (source)
• Magazine advertising was up 6% (source)

More and more advertisers are migrating to the mediums that can target by niche. This is reflected in the growth of internet, cable, and magazine.

Jason Aloia has joined Twelve Horses as the new director of production.

Jason is responsible for overseeing the creative, technical, and project management teams, as well as focusing on internet product and business development, custom business automation applications, and emarketing product and strategy development.

Jason comes to Twelve Horses from Swift Communications, Inc. where he served as internet director. Prior to Swift, he was the Director of Web Products for Business 2.0, an online business magazine and website launched by AOL/Time-Warner.

Aloia has a journalism degree from the University of Nevada, Reno and is a self-taught web developer.

To learn more about Jason, you can listen to a podcast we recorded with him on Horse Power last year.

Milton Glick, University of Nevada President, originally uploaded by Twelve Horses.

IGT and the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) have partnered to create a university program around computer gaming.  Milton Glick, UNR’s new president, highlighted the workforce development program for members of the media and local business professionals today at the University campus.

The amount that IGT contributed was not discussed, although, I’m sure it will be covered by the press tomorrow.  What interested me most was that IGT currently employs 1,200 engineers and about 180 came from UNR.  This still leaves a deficiency of around 120 open jobs.  It turns out that since the dot com bubble burst, computer science has been on a major decline with enrollment at about a 15-year low.

I was rather surprised to hear this.  If I were back in school as an undergraduate, I think being a computer science major would be where it’s at ; granted, I’m a self proclaimed geek and used to program for Twelve Horses daily.

The partnership will hopefully give IGT - and other local tech companies - a plethora of employees to pick from.

UPDATE: UNR has just posted a story on the event with more detail.  Apparently the amount IGT contributed was $500,000.  Less than I would have thought but substantial none the less.

One of our creative designers recently put together a very nicely done entry for the OMMA Awards.

It takes you step-by-step through the process of using a variety of different communication channels to carry off a successful event.

It combines text messaging with email marketing, video podcasting, blogging, social media sites, advertising and public relations.

Check it out.

Technorati : blogging, email marketing, social media, text messaging, video podcasting

We’ve all seen the industry chatter about the impacts online media and media fragmentation is having on certain established outlets like the Washington Post. All of them are looking at new strategies to maintain and increase readership, as well as keep advertisers happy.

Washington Post has embarked upon what they describe as, “an experimental program(s) on the Web….to see what happens.” The basic gist is that they will allow approved B and C-list bloggers to appear in a special index located on the homepage. In return, those that choose to participate will allow advertisements to appear on their blogs. An approved blogger has the potential to capture the attention of any one of their 8 million monthly readers.

You can submit your blog here.

Kudos to Washington Post for trying something new. I hope it proves successful for them, and those that choose to participate in the program.

The section the blogs will appear in is classified as a Sponsored Blogroll, which in most minds equates to money exchanging hands. Does this somehow diminish the credibility of the Post or its participating bloggers? I don’t think so. Media has always accepted advertisements, and it has always been up to the individual to evaluate the legitimacy of this content. And, if a blog is self-expression on some level, isn’t that individual, business, or group advertising something whether it is an idea, product, or perspective?

I know I will be watching to see how this idea works out, as well as the others that I suspect are soon to come.

Technorati : Washington Post, blogroll, online media

YouTube has been drawing a lot of attention from media, as demonstrated by their invitation to Media Summit this summer in Idaho where the world’s richest media and technology leaders gather each year.

The reason is because YouTube is serving more than 100 million videos per day, which equates to a lot of users and site traffic, and a lot of potential for advertising and viral marketing. Users can’t resist self-expression and businesses can resist reaching these users.

Since the creation of YouTube, I have pondered the possibilities of coming up with a video that I could syndicate through the site and create brand exposure for Twelve Horses. Not something extremely polished, but a video that is fun and funny and gives people a better sense of what we do and who we are. I even started shooting footage. When I saw that Agency.com had produced a video on YouTube based on competing for the Subway account, I went to watch it with great interest.

Agency.com’s Subway video, while brave, missed the mark. Their attempt at utilizing the power of consumer generated media to reach a larger audience backfired and negatively impacted their brand. Not only are they getting brutalized in the blogosphere by blogs such as Micro Persuasion and Adfreak, but they did not win the Subway account when all was said and done. The main reasons: It just wasn’t funny or all that creative.

I am not sure how many people they tested the video on before releasing, but they should have. Groupthink got the best of them. A little outside perspective would have helped tremendously. YouTube, in my opinion, still offers a lot of potential for businesses, but its reach and effects should not be taken lightly. Your video may have a viral feel and give the sense that it is not polished and perfected, but you still better approach it as a product of your company just like any other ad, website, email campaign, or communication with the external world. In fact, because of the potential reach and the audience it is directed to, you may want to take it even more seriously.

Check out what Agency.com has to say about themselves. Looks like it is viral for the sake of viral.

Technorati : YouTube, consumer generated media, viral marketing, viral video

This is an interesting article by Gord Hotchkiss of Search Insider titled, “Rules of Three in Search.” It presents some useful stats and discusses Yahoo’s decision to add 4 sponsored links as opposed to the traditional three.

Personally, my eyes have always naturally gravitated to the natural search results, as opposed to the sponsored links; therefore, I place a lot of importance on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as a cost-effective means of directing traffic to my business’s website. This means doing such things as keeping a good ratio of meta data to keywords used throughout the content of the site, consistently updating pages with fresh content, and even having a blog. Apparently I am not the only one either. According to a Marketing Sherpa article, “Organic results (free listings) are far more important and can get more viewership and clicks.” Nevertheless, $5.5 billion was spent on Search Engine Marketing (SEM) in 2005 in comparison to $660 million on optimization for organic listings. (Side note: How can you accurately track how much was actually spent on SEO?)

But I am by no means discounting the importance of SEM and sponsored links for a business. If anything, I think it further legitimizes a business because it complements the natural search section, and demonstrates that the business places a great deal of importance on whatever the particular keyword is. If they are paying a substantial CPC (cost-per-click) to attract me to their site, I immediately deduce that the chances are high they can serve my needs. My next thought is whether I want to charge that business to attract me to their site, or if I want to spare them the cost and clickthrough on their natural search result. Usually I am nice. :~)

What I believe Hotchkiss hints at in his article, and what interests me, is that Yahoo could be taking a risk by adding an additional sponsored link. It could drive more people to use Google instead, because many users do not like excessive amounts of advertisements, or even just the thought of it. Also, making users scroll down to see the top organic search results could cause irritation and attrition. Just a thought. I guess we will see….

Technorati : marketing sherpa, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, sem, seo, sponsored links, yahoo

I have been listening to Diggnation, a popular vodcast and podcast hosted by Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht, for quite a while now. That is why Seth Godin’s post, “What should Digg do?”caught my attention. Seth’s post offers some suggestions on how Digg could further monetize the site. I think his suggestions are good for another site similar in design, but maybe not right for Digg.com.

Digg.com is a social news service site that allows users to submit articles, which generally have a technology flair, and then invites everyone to “digg it” or vote on these articles. The articles that receive the most votes are then discussed by Kevin and Alex on Diggnation. Diggnation is a fun show primarily because of the host’s personalities, but also because of the laid back delivery of the content, which is always done over different beers from around the world. It is also valuable because it keeps listeners and viewers apprised of news related to technology, as well as the perspectives of those that have been in the space for quite some time. The site and the vod-podcast are connected, and yet, they are separate.

What you might notice upon visiting Digg.com is that there is no obvious link to Diggnation. Kevin and Alex are hardly promoting the show. It used to be at the top, but they have since relegated the link to the very bottom of the page. Is this because they do not want to practice self-promotion, or is it because they have a very firm understanding of their audience, its sensibilities, and sensitivities? I’m not quite sure. I’m kind of a pseudo geek.

But what I do know is that Diggnation is very popular. Last time I checked they had more than 150,000 subscribers and growing. So much in fact that my company, Twelve Horses, approached the Digg guys and asked them if they would be interested in doing a live recording in the Reno-Tahoe area. They said, Yes. It turned into an awesome party with more than 200 people coming as far as Canada and the East Coast to enjoy a weekend of podcasting, partying, skiing and snowboarding.

Twelve Horses added some sms text messaging, email marketing, and landing page and website design to connect all the dots and successfully carry out the event, but the main buzz obviously came out of the show itself. Kevin and Alex spoke of the live recording and weekend partying over the course of several shows and directed it to a target audience of more than 150,000 loyal listeners. The exposure for the Reno-Tahoe area was credible and undeniably valuable. There were also some other sponsors that gave away all expense trips to come join Diggnation in Reno-Tahoe. They received exposure on the show, the website, and at the actual event.

I think there is a lot more potential for attracting advertisers to the show. Picking great locations to do live recordings and delivering applicable content. Digg can grow into different social news, product and service sites, but I guess it all comes down to what they really want and like to do.

Technorati : digg, diggnation, podcasting, social news, vodcasting