The Cleveland Social Media Club meeting in May featured five social media companies starting right here in Cleveland. Panelists included Anthony Broad-Crawford (Within3), Kyle Napierkowski (CitizenGroove), David Williams (GamerTrainer), John Heaney (LimeRibbon), and Jim England from our own CorkShare. The event was moderated by former Cleveland Tech-Czar Michael DeAloia (Tech-Czar Notes).  Watch as each of these awesome companies discuss their businesses, plans, triumphs, and hardships growing up in C-Town!

For PositivelyCleveland’s Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Video Contest, the CorkShare team was bored last Thursday. We collected some video footage and slapped something together with iMovie.  Please follow this link to YouTube and rate us 5 stars!  And if you can hack YouTube and get us 50,000 views, we’ll give you… like a keg from Great Lakes Brewery or something.

Learn about exciting Social Media startups springing up here in Cleveland!  Click here to RSVP!

The May meeting of the Cleveland Social Media Club will be hosted by CorkShare in the Peter B. Lewis Building of Case Western Reserve University at 6pm on Wednesday, May 20th. The potluck theme will be: bring your own pizzas! Homemade, store bought, delivery, whatever!

On arrival, we will be escorting everyone to the glass lounge for refreshments courtesy of CorkShare. Then, Tech Czar Michael DeAloia, will be moderating a Cleveland Social Media Startup Panel including:

Anthony Broad-Crawford, Within3
Jim England, CorkShare
John Heaney, LimeRibbon
Kyle Napierkowski, CitizenGroove
David Williams, GamerTrainer

We are looking for audience participation, so be sure to bring a set of questions for these startup experts!

For directions click here. The address 10900 Euclid is for the school as a whole - the Peter B. Lewis building is at the intersection of Bellflower Rd. and Ford Rd. It’s the crazy shiny looking building! There will be ample street parking nearby the building since school will be out of session. Click here to RSVP!

Let us know if you have any other ideas to add to the schedule for the day, and if you know another startup company that you would like to see in our Q&A, shoot me an email or give me a call! We would love for them to participate.

Note: Unfortunately, CWRU won’t allow us to bring alcoholic beverages into the building! So please don’t bring beer or other alcoholic beverages, because they aren’t allowed through the door. However, after the SMC meeting, we will be walking over the Euclid Tavern, a local bar, with anyone who would like to grab a few drinks and chat it up.

Please contact Tim Gasper at tim@corkshare.com with any questions or with ideas for topics or startup companies for the Q&A. Click here to RSVP!

See you all on the 20th!

CorkShare has moved onto the final round of the 20/30 Business Plan Competition!

Come watch us as we give our final presentation on Thursday, April 23, 2009, at the Club at Key Center: 127 Public Square, Cleveland, OH.  Doors open at 6pm, and you can register here.  The event will be a face off between CorkShare and two other finalists.  We will be giving a 15 minute presentation, followed by a 5 minute Q&A.  Food and cash bar will be available, and the cost for non-members is $10.

The 2nd annual competition is hosted by The Cleveland Professional 20/30 Club.  Following presentations, there will also be an opportunity for the audience to ask us and the other finalists questions and feedback using the TurningPoint Audience Response System!  Master of Ceremonies will be Don Larson of The Gorilla Group, and judges will include Jennifer Thomas (The Civic Innovation Lab), Howard Thompson (Beachwood Chamber of Commerce), David Crain (MAGNET), and Jim Doughman (JumpStart).  Other finalists include Lindsay Sims (Lauren Elizabeth Wade, LLC) and Mario Jurcic (Secure IT Disposition Services).

Wish us luck, and see you there!

Ignite, started by Brady Forrest and Bre Pettis in 2006, allows individuals to present on any topic for 5 minutes, with slides that automatically rotate every 15 seconds. The talks usually focus on tech and entrepreneurship related topics. CorkShare was at the first Ignite Cleveland this past Saturday, and we liked what we saw. Here is a quick recap of three presentations we found interesting.

Anthony Broad-Crawford: What ‘Agile’ Means to a Tech Startup

Anthony Broad-Crawford, CTO of Within3, explained how tech startups can be agile, and focused on points in five categories.

• Environment: Be comfortable in your surroundings and the startup life. Know that you are getting yourself into.
• Prioritization: Instead of focusing on yearly targets, startups should focus on the here and now. This month, this week, and today. The environment can quickly change underneath your feet.
• Humility: Realize that starting a company isn’t about you; its about everyone else, including your investors and customers.
• Adaptability: Demands of users change, so be ready to adapt.
• Passion: Be ready to bring 100% to your job day in, day out.

Gordon Daily: Why “Work Hard / Play Hard” Isn’t Smart

Gordon Daily tackled the convention wisdom that the harder you work, the more you get in return. He argued that time != success, and stated “No matter how much I practice, I’m not going to be paid to play basketball.”

Gordon also explained problems with entrepreneurs, including burn out, missing opportunities, and actively avoiding strategic shifts. He finished by explaining the importance of proactive advocacy in networking: “its not what they know, but what they know to tell you”.

Joe Fiorini: Five Steps to a Personal Brand

Joe Fiorini, also known as Faithful Geek, is known as one of the leading experts on Ruby on Rails in the Cleveland community. He organizes the Cleveland Ruby Brigade and is always available to help on Rails related issues. In his Ignite presentation, Joe talked about jumping into an hobby and building an image for yourself as an expert in the field.

Thanks to Jon Stahl and LeanDog Software for hosting the event!