One of the (many!) things I enjoy about working at Tightrope is the fact that we’re located in the Twin Cities; home of the Twins, the Guthrie Theater, the Mall of America, and, although perhaps not as well known, home to an incredible technology community.

Today I’m happy to share that TRMS is doing its part to encourage this community by sponsoring two events: MinneDemo and The Overnight Website Challenge

MinneDemo

MinneDemo is a technology demo and networking event that is held a few times a year in Minneapolis. Local software technologists are given an opportunity to demo their projects to the tech community.

The rules are simple: 10 presentations, exactly 7 minutes each, and no powerpoint! You must present real working software.

The presentations include all manner of software: web, desktop, mobile, SaaS/cloud, etc. Basically anything that will captivate an auditorium full of entrepreneurs, tech journalists, developers, business leaders, and fellow nerds.

After the presentations, everyone gathers together to share ideas, stories, problems, solutions, and perhaps a beer or two.

Several TRMS staffers attended the previous MinneDemo, and we had an absolute blast. Seeing all the cool stuff that fellow Minnesotans were working on, combined with meeting so many like-minded tech-heads was an invigorating experience. Listening to passionate people talk about the things they love to do is truly energizing.

Since we here at Tightrope are also incredibly passionate about software, we knew we had to be a part of this wonderful event. To that end, we’ll be helping to sponsor the venue and free beverages before and after the presentations.

If you’ll be in the Twin Cities on February 6th, why not attend? It’s free! Come on by, meet some great people, and have a beer on us.

The organizers do ask, however, that you please RSVP first. At the time of this posting, there were only about 45 seats left, so if you’re interested, sign up now!

F1 Overnight Website Challenge

The Overnight Website Challenge is a competition to see who can build the best website for a deserving non-profit organization… in 24 hours. From the Challenge website:

One part nerd Olympics, one part community service project and one part race-against-the-clock — Sierra Bravo’s Overnight Website Challenge will partner deserving Minnesota non-profits with teams of talented web developers for 24 hours of fun collaboration culminating in a fully operational website for each participating non-profit.

And here’s the kicker: The teams won’t know which non-profit they’re partnered with until the morning of the competition!

It’s really an amazing event. Last year, it was calculated that over 2,100 hours were donated by the teams of web professionals, which adds up to a real-world market value of over a quarter million dollars of web development time donated to non-profits.

This year, I jumped at the chance to join the Ruby.mn team, and Tightrope will be sponsoring our team with T-shirts and by donating a full year’s worth of website hosting for the team and the non-profit organization we are paired with.

I can’t wait to get started. (Note to Andy and JJ: I might need to take a day off to recover from lack of sleep!)

More to Come

We’re just thrilled to be a part of these tech-related events in the Twin Cities, and have our sights set on more in the future. Stay tuned to the blog to learn more about how Tightrope is staying involved with our community.

-John Reilly