Headstand Media

Headstand Media resumes our Nightstand series on September 16, 2010. Our guest presenter will be Kent Thompson of Action Web Apps, who will give us a basic primer on databases.

Five Things You’ve Always Wanted To Know About Databases But Were Too Embarrassed To Ask

This presentation will be tailored for the average business person and web designer to gain a more practical real world understanding of this important element of web design and development.

About the Presentation

Databases play a very important role in all of our lives. After all, almost every website you visit interacts with a database in some way. However, many working in the IT and web design industry never come in direct contact with the database and may wonder what’s actually going on inside. In this presentation we’ll answer 5 basic questions about databases that will help you understand what’s going on “under the hood.” We’ll also talk about some recent trends in the database world for handling ultra-large datasets and huge amounts of traffic (think facebook, twitter, google, amazon). How these companies can handle the astronomical amounts of data and traffic without crashing their systems is quite clever… come to find out!

About Kent Thompson

Kent has been building web applications for 9 years including shopping carts, live chat applications, help desk systems and survey products. He currently works exclusively on building and maintaining the cloud-based www.monsterfollowup.com, a follow-up marketing system that lets you capture and follow up with your prospects and customers via a variety of mediums including phone, SMS, email, print and web.

Kent graduated from Taylor University in 1999 with a degree in music composition. In 2000 he earned a Certificate in Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television from the University of Southern California. He has been a regular attender and contributor at Nightstand events. Visit Kent’s personal blog at http://krtthompson.blogspot.com

Invite Others!

We’d love to see many of our past friends and guests again, and we encourage you to pass on this invitation to others in the industry who would benefit from this presentation topic and networking event. RSVP by leaving a comment with your name and company or organization on our Nightstand Blog. NOTE: You mus RSVP to be added to the attendee list at our building security desk! You will also be required to have a photo ID.

Where and When?

We are pleased to bring you Nightstand 16, an after hours educational and networking event to be held on Thursday evening, September 16, 2010 at 1 N. Wacker Dr., Suite 4000, Chicago, Illinois (photo ID Required). Informal networking begins at 6 PM, with food and beverages provided. Introductions begin at 7 PM followed by our featured presentation and informal discussion until about 8:30 PM.

We’d love to have you join us and see our new office space!

- Your friends at Headstand Media

RSVP’d Attenders – 11

• Randal Birkey
• Benjamin Nelson
• Kyle Williams
• Matt Ritsman
• Taylor Birkey
• Megan Lee
• Kent Thompson
• Ellen Malloy
• Lauren Liebovich
• Vijay Donthi
• George Gill

Headstand Media is pleased to announce the launch of a new website for the iTRACS Corporation, headquartered in Tempe, Arizona. The firm specializes in providing advanced software solutions that allow IT groups to manage the physical infrastructure layer and the process, technology and organization behind it. Communicating their Converged Physical Infrastructure Management (CPIM) solution was a prime objective of the website redesign.

Content Management System

• Headstand Media worked with top level iTRACS management executives to redefine the strategy and goals of the site. We restructured old content and updated, refined and created new content. The WordPress content management system was selected for its simplicity and ease of use.

Design

• Headstand Media redesigned the corporate logo and identity, and based a new website interface around it.

Video

• Video was identified as a strategic way of communicating the more complex ideas and solutions that iTRACS provides. Headstand Media shot and produced all of the videos for the website project, as well as all of the website production and design.

Blog

• A company blog was also integrated into the site, allowing iTRACS to more effectively communicate their thought leadership within the IT industry.

The short story is that Day Software, a global leader in Web Content Management (WCM) and Digital Asset Management (DAM), is being acquired by Adobe (that’s right… the makers of Photoshop and Illustrator) for around $240 million. Adobe’s acquisition of the Swiss-headquartered Day is an obvious step towards solidifying their “whole package” product offering to include WCM, DAM, and Social Collaboration.

Since Headstand Media was born, we have had the privilege of working with some excellent companies and organizations. One of the benefits of working in the space that we do is that we get to see and experience exciting new technologies. In 2008 we began working with Day software products and in 2009, Headstand Media became a Day Software Professional Partner. We continue to enjoy serving Day Communique (CQ) customers through this partnership.

We’re excited about this new merge because both Adobe and Day are industry leaders and innovators who produce increasingly stronger software and technology solutions.

Click here to read Adobe’s immediate press release.

It’s moving day here at Headstand Media. We’ve spent the first 3 years of our existence at 333 W. Wacker Drive. It’s a beautiful building, a nice office space and it served us well. So long old friend.

But today, we’re excited to move into our new office location at 1 North Wacker, also known as UBS Tower. You can learn more about this building (built in 2001) here. Headstand Media occupies a great corner of the 40th floor. We’re surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows that look West and North. To the West, we can see the suburbs and the top of the Civic Opera House. To the North, we can look over the city and even see some of the lakefront. It’s quite a view.

Below is a video and photos we took when we first got the space last month. We’re excited to move in on Monday and see what the place looks like all cleaned up.

If you’d ever like to come visit us, please let us know. We’d love to have you spend some time with us in our new digs.

Headstand Media is pleased to announce that we will be a Gold Sponsor at: Ignite 2010 – The Innovative Summit. This conference s sponsored by Day Software AG of Basel, Switzerland for their North American customers and partners. Headstand Media is a Day Professional Partner.

Agility Matters

• Learn how your peers are enhancing Marketing and IT Agility with CQ5. Customer keynote speakers, Hyatt, Adobe and Newsweek share their online, multi-channel success stories.

It’s About the Experience

• We are going mobile to Ignite our summit experience. Day Ignite 2010 is about building community, making new relationships, and getting everyone engaging in a conversation on the New Web and Day CQ5. The Innovative Summit goes mobile, minimizing paper and enhancing your Ignite experience.

It’s Time to Engage

• Learn about ground-breaking new enhancements for multi-channel marketing and campaign optimization with our upcoming CQ 5.4 Sneak Peek, presented by CTO David Nuescheler.

The event will be held at:
The Westin Chicago River North
320 North Dearborn Street
Chicago IL 60654
October 13-14

More details to follow.

(More about CQ5 Design and Development)

Youth for Christ USA is a non-profit Christian youth organization founded in 1944 with a mission to work with the local church to build lifelong followers of Jesus Christ. Many communities across the US have YFC’s “Campus Life” and “Campus Life/JV” programs for high school and junior high students.YFC has also been very successful in working with at risk and institutionalized youth through their “Youth Guidance” ministry. Since the early days, YFC has grown into an international organization with the founding USA organization as a member. Today, over 1500 paid staff members and 15,000 volunteers serve in over 100 countries around the world through programs like “Project Serve.”

In 2009 YFC/USA has determined a need to rebrand themselves and establish a new web strategy and presence that reflects the new direction of the organization in the 21st century. Headstand Media initially engaged with YFC in April of 2009 in a consulting and advisory role. Randal Birkey visited the YFC/USA headquarters near Denver CO and facilitated a 2-day discussion centered around YFC’s web strategy and web presence. From this discussion, a new strategy was described and funding for the project was sought. In 2010, as funding was realized and new staff resources were put in place, Jake Bland, Director of Digital Innovation developed two requests for proposal which were released in May 2010. Headstand Media responded to these RFP’s and in June 2010, was selected to be the implementation vendor of the new web strategy.

The two 2010 projects consist of providing technology, search and social media advice during the design phase, and then production and implementation of the national organization’s public website, and 5 chapter websites by Fall 2010.

Headstand Media is honored to be selected to partner with YFC in this strategic role and looks forward to the successful implementation of an effective new web and social media strategy for the organization in 2010.

Feel free to make a guess as to what we are looking at here…

Mystery Photo 1

Judging from the responses below it looks like some extra help is needed!

Mystery Photo 2

Melissa Meulenberg from Hard Rock Hotel Chicago delivered a great presentation on “Jumping into the Social Media Moshpit” to a packed house at Nightstand 15 on Thursday night, May 27, 2010. In focus were Melissa’s experiences and expertise using social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and TripAdvisor.com to promote the hotel’s brand identity, rock ‘n’ roll culture, and personality on the web. The presentation was split up into 4 segments:

• Background: on the hotel itself, the Hard Rock brand, and why they decided to jump into the social media moshpit to begun with
• Implementation and Strategy: general info about listings, strategies used to pick up fans and followers, and some sample guest interactions
• Social Media Method to Providing Kick Ass Service: discussing rewards programs, and some entertaining social media guest stories
• Damage Control: how Hard Rock Hotel responds to complaints, and strategies for acquiring positive consumer reviews

Melissa and the rest of the Nightstand attendees discussed the ins and outs of social media, how it applies to the hotel and service industries, and what kinds of things might be coming down the line.

As always, we enjoyed a tasty dinner and spent time meeting new people, networking, and having a grand old time. We would like to thank Melissa for presenting well-organized and engaging material that provided some great fodder for discussion. Thanks also to all our guests who came out to Nightstand 15. See you all next time!

Based upon the relationship developed with Randal Birkey in previous years, Ryerson Inc. has selected Headstand Media to design and produce a new website for one of their newest locations in the Southeastern region of the US, and a print brochure to accompany it.

Ryerson Inc. is headquartered in Chicago and is one of the oldest corporations to be continuously located in the city. It is also the largest steel distributor in North America. The current corporate website at www.ryerson.com was designed and developed by Randal’s previous web design company, then called BIRKEY.COM.

Headstand Media is proud to be associated with Ryerson again in this strategic initiative.

Headstand Media is extremely proud to announce a new partnership with the Hyatt Corporation. We’ve begun an exciting initial project with our Chicago neighbor (that’s right… Hyatt and Headstand Media are located a few blocks apart here in the Loop!) designing and building websites for 2 new Hyatt Premier Restaurants in the Day Software Communique (CQ5) environment.

We’re happy to be working with the fine people of the Hyatt Corporation and are looking forward to building an excellent partnership in the coming months.