I must say that last Wednesday was a day of firsts for me. Why would I say such a thing? It’s because it was the first time I drove down to Los Angeles by myself from San Francisco (yes, I don’t get out much). It was the first time I stayed and visited Universal Studios. And it was the first time I attended Twiistup.
The sixth edition of one of Los Angeles’s largest technology conferences promised to be one of the best and was definitely one of the longest. Previous iterations had it just being a mixer where hundreds poured in and got to meet people from all around the West coast and elsewhere. This year, I was fortunate enough to meet with those same individuals and some others. I should mention that I was invited to attend Twiistup as a photographer but still managed to listen in on some great panels and see some excellent demonstrations by startups.
Day 1 started off a bit slow with people slowly trickling in but as soon as you entered the room, you felt as if it was a setting for an awards show mixed in with a stage area that seemed out of place. The room walls were all aglow in different light colors and there was even a backdrop that you typically see at celebrity events splashed with sponsor logos. Walking further in and right before you wandered over to the main viewing area, you had to pass through a pit of startups who were selected to participate in the “Twiistup showoff” including ExpenseBay, EQAL, Yoono, Blip.FM, Bakespace, Diddit and several others. Depending on whether you were press or not determined where you sat – and it’s not as obvious as you might think. The press were not positioned in the front. Rather, they were relegated to sit in the very back of the room, although their sitting positions allowed them the one of the rare luxuries in a tech conference: an electrical outlet with a surge protector.
There was definitely press in attendance at this event, including Jenn Van Grove of Mashable and Jolie O’Dell of ReadWriteWeb and there are at least a few posts from them on their respective websites that will give you specifics about the event. As for what are my thoughts?
I think Twiistup went really well…after a sluggish start. As an observer, I noticed that in the beginning it didn’t seem to flow so smoothly as a typical conference, but it should be noted that this is the first time Twiistup has engaged the crowd using this format. Remember that in the past five iterations, Twiistup was just one big networking social. However, this year was going to be different AND include the social part. During the first day, we were somewhat entertained by the companies entered in the showoff and I found it pretty useful that at the end of each “round” of showoffs, the crowd was encouraged, along with the presiding judges, to ask questions of the startups in order to get a better understanding of just what they do. I don’t recall hearing that many instances of “How will you make money?” though which might be a trait that you would typically encounter here in San Francisco.
The first panel to present was on incubations and new trends and featured some hardcore venture capitalists. This was probably the first time I heard the reference in the conference about being Los Angeles-centric – the moderator asked each of the panelists (Dave McClure, Brad Feld and Andy Sack) how many of their investments were there in the LA and not San Francisco. Their answer: not that many.
After the incubation panel and more presentations by showoff contestants, next up was renowned public relations expert and author Brian Solis who gave a rousing talk about how to get your startups noticed – and it wasn’t through the traditional approach. Solis said that if you want to get noticed these days, you’re going to have to think creatively and that’s beyond getting your product noticed on TechCrunch, Mashable or Techmeme. Perhaps the most common theme that I’ve heard across the different panels during the day is to make sure your product is sound before you go to promote it. Otherwise you’re going to wind up with a bigger headache than you expected. You can view his presentation here or just click on it above to watch.
Up next came two panels that featured some real-world star power but had an incredible connection to the technology scene. Up first was Brooke Burke (star of Wild on E! and winner of Dancing With The Stars on ABC) talking with her business partner Lisa Rosenblatt about how she uses the web to make a difference and how she has successfully integrated the web with her daily life along with stories of others doing this hybrid approach.
Afterwards, a different panel took the dais and talked about how social media and technology is affecting another industry: music. Moderated by Brian Zisk, this amazing panel included Quincy Jones III, or QD3, Brian Solis, Yahoo Music’s own Ian Rogers and successful rapper Chamillionaire. Those in attendance will agree that Chamillionaire really stole the show on this one. His uncanny ability to understand technology, social media, music & entertainment as a whole was astonishing. His message in a word: authenticity. That’s what he believed in and said that his passion was to be truthful and be human and upfront with all.
Day 1 ended with a bang with an 80’s theme party where people got to just relax and do some true networking that lasted well into the night. But bright and early came the day, and so did the last day of Twiistup 6.
The show got started with a bang by first having a panel hosted by Tsavo employee & founder of Lalawag, Sean Percival who got to speak with online marketing genius and author Chris Brogan, Lijit’s VP of Business Development Micah Baldwin, and I Can Haz Cheeseburger’s Ben Huh all about how to use the social web to get what you want. Theme for this panel? Don’t be a “douche“.
After Percival’s panel, another panel of venture capitalists took the stage to talk more about how Los Angeles’s ecosystem could rival that of Silicon Valley and what challenges and/or benefits awaited companies that did business there. Of course, the big announcement here was that Yammer was planning on moving their offices out of LA and up to the Valley.
The next panel of the evening before the big wrap-up was from Cyan Banister who spoke about how to invest and market based on the seven deadly sins. Afterwards, this led up to the big finale with serial entrepreneur and host of This Week in Startups Live, Jason Calacanis, took the stage to do a live broadcast of his show with guest Chris Tolles. Prior to the show, Calacanis posted on Twitter that he had a “major acquisition announcement” which only resulted in him telling everyone that he’s going to be a father of a baby girl later this year. Congratulations Jason!
Twiistup wrapped up nicely with the awarding of the Twiistup Showoff trophy, which interestingly enough was made out of Legos and ultimately was awarded to ExpenseBay – a company that specializes in securing your business transations once they occur and handles your expense reports for you – something that the judges apparently thought helped answer a growing problem that people have.
My impressions?
Overall I thought it was a great event. Lots of people seemed to enjoy themselves with the networking and I was amazed at how many people I got to meet. As I said earlier, I was invited there as a photographer and have since posted my photos on Flickr for your enjoyment. One thing that did surprise me was that the attendance at the conference wasn’t what I had imagined. The second day wasn’t as packed as the first day and you could see plenty of seats empty. Maybe it’s because of the location but the speakers didn’t leave the audience wanting.
So this is how Los Angeles does their tech conferences, huh? I was impressed by what Twiistup had to offer. Would I come back for the next one? I’d think so. After all, like I said, last week was a series of firsts for me. This one won’t be my last.
Photos shown here on this blog post are credited to Kenneth Yeung.
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