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TEDx welcomes ideas worth sharing to Naperville on March 25, 2010

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Self-organized TED event brings world class speakers to North Central College

NAPERVILLE, IL (25 February 2010)  – With the Wentz Concert Hall as its backdrop, TEDxNaperville is launching its inaugural conference.  The kickoff event will be held at North Central College in Naperville Illinois on March 25, 2010 from 1PM to 5PM. Cost of this event is only $25 and is payable online at tedxnaperville.eventbrite.com

About TEDx

In the spirit of “ideas worth spreading,” TED has created TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDx[name], where x = independently organized TED event. At TEDxNaperville, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized.
TEDxNaperville is a local, self-organized event modeled in the spirit of TED.

“Through TEDx, the TED organization has created a viral movement that allows great ideas to be spread – starting at a local level,” said Arthur Zards, founder and curator of TEDxNaperville.

The March 25th TEDxNaperville event includes the following speakers:

•    Bryan Campen, new media associate at the Long Now Foundation
•    Charlie Catlett CIO of the U.S Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory
•    Dr. Robert Wolcott, the Executive Director of Kellogg Innovation Network and a founder/faculty Member, Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Kellogg School of Management and Author: Grow From Within – Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation
•    Michael Kiefer, general manager of BrandProtect, outlines his vision for the future of art and music distribution,
•    Geoff Rhyne, chef de Cuisine at SugarToad Restaurant and founder of Slow Food Upstate in Greenville, South Carolina
•    Harold Clampitt who will share lessons learned, especially the confluence of disruptive technology, decision making and success
•    Todd Flaming, a passionate proponent of rethinking design
•    Douglas L. Sisterson, Operations Manager US Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility.

Tickets are $25 and go on sale immediately at tedxnaperville.eventbrite.com. Seating is extremely limited. Interested parties can also visit www.tedxnaperville.com for complete speaker bios and the most up-to-date event and ticket information. After the event, from 5 to 6:30PM, there will be a cocktail reception with cash bar.

At 7PM, after the TEDxNaperville event, Geoff Rhyne, chef de cuisine at SugarToad restaurant has planned a private “chef’s choice” four-course meal with wine-pairing.  If you love good food and great conversation, don’t miss this private dinner. Space is extremely limited. The cost of this event is $112 per person and is payable online: http://tedxnapervilledinner.eventbrite.com

About TED

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world’s leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani,Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The annual TED Conference takes place in Long Beach, California, with simulcast in Palm Springs; TEDGlobal is held each year in Oxford, UK. TED’s media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily, and the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be translated by volunteers worldwide. TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the opportunity to put their wishes into action; TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to host local, self-organized events around the world, and the TEDFellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

Follow TED on Twitter at twitter.com/TEDTalks, or on Facebook at facebook.com/TED.

TEDGlobal 2010, “And Now the Good News,” will be held July 13-16, 2010, in Oxford, UK. TED2011, “The Rediscovery of Wonder,” will be held February 21-25, 2011, in Long Beach, California, with the TEDActive simulcast in Palm Springs, California.

About the TEDx Naperville Sponsors

Arthur Zards, curator, host and chief organizer of TEDxNaperville is the  co-founder and President of XNet Information Systems -  a B2B ISP that offers clients secure, high availability Internet access and datacenter solutions.

TEDxNaperville executive producer Ben Bradley is founder of Macon Raine -  a B2B lead generation and public relations firm that uses agile marketing, selling and lead generation strategies to help companies find new customers.

TEDxNaperville connector David Metcalfe is an independent artist, media theorist and cultural historian whose recent animation collaboration, A Serious Inquiry into the Vulgar Notion of Nature, was featured at the Chicago Fringe Artist’s Networking Night and The Moon Lounge Variety Night in downtown Chicago.

Don & Kate Gingold of Gnu Ventures Company provide Internet Marketing Services and Website Lifecycle Management to small and medium sized businesses.   Gnu Ventures provided the TEDxNaperville website design.

J & S Tech Designs: Jim Nagy and Susan Steele of J&S Tech Designs deliver powerful websites based on the Web Content Management system called DotNetNuke). J&S contributed the setup and provides the hosting for this site.

WebRocket Video creates targeted, authentic and personal stories for Business Marketing to advance your sales process. WebRocket contributed video production for the TEDxNaperville event.

Innovation in the Personal Enterprise

Chicago’s Western Suburbs have long been a hub of technological innovation, after all we have two of the largest national laboratories right here in our backyard! So when XNet Information Systems saw the opportunity to host a TEDx event that would showcase some of the incredible minds at work in the area we leapt at the chance.

Organizing this even has been a great opportunity, not only to rediscover places like Argonne and FermiLab, but also to meet with some new faces and develop deeper relationships with some acquaintances who, it turns out, are stellar innovators in their own right!

Cross Fertilization & Joint Partnerships

Entrepreneurship & innovation go hand in hand. Silicon Valley was founded through joint
partnerships between government agencies and Stanford University to push innovation in
the electronic communications field during World War II and very little has changed since
Stanford set up their entrepreneurship model. New companies spring up daily from the
fertile field of graduate students coming out of institutions like Harvard, Stanford, and
Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Business.

Robert Wolcott and Michael J. Lippitz’ studies of corporate entrepreneurship provide an
interesting look at the classic structure developed by Stanford for large organizations
to promote innovation through entrepreneurial divisions and subsidiaries. Their updated
review provides a clear picture of how large, centralized organizations can still utilize
the maneuverability of entrepreneurship to spur innovation despite the tendency towards
stagnation frequently encountered in the hierarchical management models and cut/paste
best practices common to most large companies.

Back to Their Roots

Even government organizations like NASA are returning to their entrepreneurial roots and
discussing how to use the private sector to create more efficient innovation in the realm
of space exploration. We often forget that stalwarts like the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
at CalTech were originally organized using as many ‘hobbyists’ as certified academic
scientists. Since advanced communications allow for greater leverage of entrepreneurial
growth in innovation, and allow organizations and individuals to collaborate in ways that
were impossible before, there is much to be said for this shift in focus back to the
private sector.

Models such as those described by Wolcott, Mohanbir Sawhney, and Inigo Arroniz’ in their
‘12 Different Ways for Companies to Innovate‘ in the MIT Sloan Management Review are
helpful tools for aging organizations looking to capitalize on these trends. It’s
interesting to observe the struggle these organizations are having as communication
technology supports more decentralized models and make it difficult for the often
unwieldy corporate behemoths to move forward in this environment.

The Discussion Continues

We’re very excited to have Robert join us as a speaker at TEDxNaperville.  He has found that the techniques for innovation at the enterprise level can be applied to personal goals as well. It’s a perfect circle that mirrors the return of larger organizations to their entrepreneurial roots and we’re looking forward to discussing the future of entrepreneurship & innovation with him.

As a co-founder of the Kellogg Innovation Network in 2003 with colleague Mohan Sawheny, and with his work at the Pentagon’s Institute for Defense Analysis, he represents a long tradition of collaboration between academia, government and corporations. These collaborative efforts form the basis for the advancements that mark the 21st century and will surely continue to lead us into the future.

Are You a Conversationalist or a Conman?

Cultivating genuine value from business relationships requires more than well branded sales slicks, promotional emails, press releases and the occasional “reconnect” call. At the highest point of the Ars Venditiones (Art of Sales) the client seeks to connect without prompting and urges others to do the same for a very simple reason:

To continue a good conversation…

Marketing is the term used to describe the craft of creating this conversation. The most skilled practitioners carry on disembodied conversations with captivated audiences that can include millions of participants. The marketer effortlessly encapsulates and heightens a few key commonalities and sculpts a conversation that can reach across the most stalwart cultural and synaptic barriers.

Why then has the image of the marketer become so tainted? After all wasn’t Shakespeare in some sense merely hocking valuable cultural capital when he wrote Julius Caesar? Et tu Guy Kawasaki?

Molecule and Model

The difference is one of art and technique, of a molecule and a molecular model. The best contemporary sales and marketing professionals are technicians and cultural fashion designers of the highest order. They are not artists. Efficient technique and the living embodiment of an art form are two different playgrounds.

Shakespeare was a successful Elizabethan propagandist whose PR work became a center point of English literature. Even as a solid politico for Queen ‘Liza and her ladies, he was still a highly evocative, illuminated and urbane Enlightenment playwright. Shakespeare knew the art of conversations well and was a master at selling his audience.

Performance Art

Contemporary marketing professionals can’t boast this kind of reputation. No one is, nor will they be, performing Guy’s blog posts in public parks and it’s highly doubtful that anyone getting info off Alltop is experiencing the heights of existential expression. (Actually this might be a good idea for avant-pop college thespians to get some viral traction on YouTube…but is it worth it?)

The majority of marketing leaders are simply technicians and creators of fast fashion. In the same way that a good mechanic can fix your engine, they are adept at fixing your messaging. He can tighten the bolts, diagnose problems and will give you the proper oil, but he isn’t going to break into universal sublimity. Marketing has fallen into the hands of fashionistas bent on prettying the outside at the expense of a deeper meaning.  Mais ou sont les neiges d’antan?

Wise Words from the Departed

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) remarked that “fashion is the science of appearances, and it inspires one with the desire to seem rather than to be.” When food looks good people eat it, and you can make your brand look as tasty as you want, but when the people you feed start getting dysentery they’re unlikely to come back for more. Foster a conversation that lasts and encourages your client to bring others to the table. Don’t force feed them cardboard until they wise up and leave.

Take some time going into the new year and ask yourself…

Are you a conversationalist? Or are you just running a con?

Come to XNet’s “Annual” Open House!

It’s that time again! XNet Information Systems will be hosting our “annual” Christmas open house on December 22nd, from 4:00 pm until 8:00 pm.

We assure you there’ll be a wide variety of food, microbrew beer and fine wine to enjoy! We even have some surprises in store and cupcake creations that will leave the epicureans drooling.

This year we’ll be premiering:

• TEDx - Naperville: The first TEDx event in the Chicagoland suburbs!
• XNet’s Digital Engagement Audit and Digital Media Services: In depth intelligence on where you’re at on the Social Media scene!
• Our soon to be released remote storage solution.

3 years have passed since the founding of our Critical Computing Facility and we’ll be offering tours during the open house.  As always founders Arthur Zards (@zards on Twitter) and Brian Clark will be on hand to talk shop, catch up on your business, and discuss what’s coming down the line.

We’ll be running our “annual” raffle again this year so remember to RSVP via email and attend the open house to be eligible to win.

Mark your calendars for December 22nd, 4:00-8:00pm at our offices; 3080 Ogden Ave, Suite 303, Lisle, IL.

Looking forward to seeing you here!

Lewis University Radio (WLRA) & United Way of Will County Team Up With XNet to Bring You the Spirit & Sounds of the Season

The holiday season has arrived with its usual dance of dry leaves and dropping mercury. To spark the spirit of giving Lewis University Radio (WLRA) has partnered with United Way of Will County to put a spotlight on United Way and their 46 Partner Agencies whose year round mission is to help alleviate the struggle of those less fortunate in the community.

WLRA will be playing Christmas music from Thanksgiving until New Years and instead of commercials, every 15 minutes they’ll air brief messages about United Way Agencies and what they’re doing to make things a little bit better for a whole lot of people who need it. The real gift is that WLRA is doing this free of charge so United Way can focus on what it does best, helping people.

So what does this have to do with XNet?

Well, first of all we host WLRA’s website and streaming internet radio, and we’re proud to see one of our clients doing something this generous. With the economy the way it is every little bit counts, and over a month of free advertising for United Way accounts for more than a little.

On top of that we wouldn’t feel right if we just sat around talking about what others are doing. Whether it’s the Silicon Prairie Social or the upcoming TEDx Naperville we’ve always got our hands in something that we hope will give back to the community.  So in support of WLRA, United Way and their 46 Partner Agencies, XNet will be donating, completely free of cost, the bandwidth for streaming WLRA on the internet.

If you have an iPhone you can download Lewis University’s new streaming radio app for free and enjoy WLRA’s seasonal offerings wherever you go:

“Christmas Memories For You and Your Family”  (Lewis University’s iPhone app requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later)

Even if you don’t have an iPhone, check out WLRA online and hear what it sounds like to really care about community:

www.wlraradio.com

And while you’re at it don’t forget to stop by United Way of Will County’s website and maybe do a little giving of your own:

www.uwwill.org

Marketing’s Easy Once You Do the Math

Connecting with your audience isn’t complicated. The movie American Beauty, which won an academy award, earned a decent amount for its investors and gained the adulation of movie goers, was a calculated attempt at capturing the audiences’ and critics’ imagination. The writers, producers and creatives behind the production used a set scheme of symbols to invoke the reaction the movie received.

By playing on themes of vulnerability, overcoming vulnerability and the frailty of human existence American Beauty captured the imaginations of movie goers, satisfied its investors and convinced the Academy of its effectiveness in motivating culture.

Your Self Perception

So if it’s that mathematical why all the confusion?

The problem isn’t what you’re putting out, the problem is what you see when you look in. We like to see ourselves as independent, rational creatures; unfortunately this is simply not true. Divesting yourself of this illusion is one of the first steps towards becoming effective in business.

1 + 1 = x

If you trust that you are unmoved by the mathematics of marketing then you’ll flounder about trying to find some magic key, but admit you’re deeply affected and you’ll find ample market analysis in your own reactions.

If you solidly apply yourself to learning the very basic ideas behind projecting motivation through common cultural cues you’ll find success isn’t so hard to achieve after all. Production cost was an excuse prior to the availability of digital tools. Now the only thing holding you back is your vision of what is possible and your honesty about where you stand.

This Cloud Isn’t Made of Gas

The recession hasn’t done much to slow down the flood of technology splashing down on us since Silicon Valley exploded in the 90’s. After the boom and bust of the dot.com era, ideas were launched worldwide that had been fomenting since the 1950’s in tiny alcoves of academia and industry.

40 some years of pressure build up can cause quite a bang.

Kicking Up the Dust

Today’s “cloud computing” buzz is like the dust kicked up by the tech bubble’s explosion, and despite claiming a “virtual” existence, the physical infrastructure for this “cloud” is an impressive bit of machinery.

Google alone operates out of 36 datacenters and with the global interest in electronic medical records, a national health information network, intelligence sharing centers for law enforcement and emergency management, traffic cameras and all the rest,  the number of data-centers being opened (and needing construction) around the globe is staggering.

Take a quick look at this worldwide map of data-center locations and see for yourself:

http://www.datacentermap.com/

They may call it a “cloud”, but with this kind of physical infrastructure the so-called  “cloud” isn’t very gaseous.

Armstrong’s Missing ‘A’

It’s hard to imagine with all those tweets, FaceBook posts, LinkedIn status updates, emails and blog posts that the little mistakes really make a difference. What’s a few grammar errors, factual flubs or poorly worded paragraphs amidst the noise, right?

If you find yourself thinking this, it might be time to step back and reconsider your marketing plan. What exactly are you going for if the small details don’t matter?

Neil Armstrong’s famous words weren’t just an off the cuff remark, they were a well planned strategy to set the media stage for U.S. dominance of space during the cold war. When the public (and the international media) heard him announce “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” some were puzzled by what seems to be a redundant statement.

There was something missing, a little ‘A’ which would have helped the message make sense.

Radio Glitches

All it took was a radio glitch to turn a well placed media mark into a 40 year grammatical gaff. Everyone still remembers the line, but four decades of snarky grammar comments could have been averted with just a little more care.

This is a great lesson for businesses that use social media, if you’re spending time pushing content into the social media sphere why not keep an eye on the quality of what you’re putting out there.

A Few Helpful Reminders to Keep in Mind

•    Matsuo Basho, 17th century poet and Haiku master, said that every letter should be written as if it were meant to last through the ages. This may be a high mark to set for your Tweets, but it’s better to keep it in mind than to forget it and end up regretting one of your 140 character outbursts.

•    Editing is easy before you send something out, dealing with mistakes after the fact isn’t. This is something that’s been repeated so often it’s surprising there’s still a problem (I admit I’m not perfect in this regard either).

•    Make sure your links work. I received an email invitation from a PR firm for a webinar on pitching that contained broken links and obvious editorial mistakes (half sentences that were probably meant to be cut). How likely am I to pay to attend this seminar?

•    Remember relevance. It’s one thing to lighten your content from time to time; it’s another to float off into space. Keep things moored on solid ground and you’ll give people a place to go rather than an opportunity to miss you while they look at the stars.

•    Context is more important than ever. When there is so much information streaming across the internet it’s easy to lose site of the past, don’t add to this problem by missing an opportunity to add valuable historical context to your social media efforts.

A New Voice for the XNet Blog

Those of you who’ve been loyally following the XNet blog may have noticed a bit of downtime over the last couple of months. Well, we’re back on track with a new Blogger and I’ll be keeping you all up to date on the weekly happenings here at our Critical Computing Facility.

A short walk

My name is David Metcalfe and I’m the newest addition to the XNet team. Over the years I’ve worked with MaconRaine, Inc. and the former Bradley Wiltjer Marketing Group, both sponsors of the Silicon Prairie Social, so I’ve been on the periphery of XNet for awhile.

Beyond my personal associations with the folks here, due to the fact that I live in Lisle much of what I do is supported by XNet in one way or another. They host services for Morton Arboretum, the Lisle Library and the Village of Lisle itself. As an active naturalist, reader and resident they support services that I use on a weekly basis.

Off time pursuits

A fascination with culture has lead me to explore every aspect of history, music, art, literature, politics and science that I can unreasonably cram into my day.  Outside of XNet I’m the Creative Director/illustrator for The Absurdist Monthly Review, an internationally distributed e-journal that explores avant-garde literary theory, experimental writing techniques and the history of absurdism. I also do a bit of scrawling for my own e-publication The Eyeless Owl and for a variety of bloggers and online authors as the mood strikes me.

On the horizon

It’s exciting to have an opportunity to work with XNet directly rather than just hovering on the border. All the activity around here is giving me a chance to stretch my professional skills and put those nights researching the ebb and flow of culture to good use.

Keep your eyes open for XNet’s newsletter in the next couple of weeks as well as announcements on upcoming Silicon Prairie Social events and an XNet Open House coming sometime in October. We had a blast at the last SPS in April and we’re looking forward to seeing everyone again in September. Also, if you’re a Twitter user, check us out @xnetinfosys .

XNet Announces Silicon Prairie Social

XNet is proud to announce the next Silicon Prairie Social, to be held on Tuesday, April 28th at Arrowhead Golf Club in Wheaton. We’re looking forward to gathering again with a couple hundred friends and associates from the technology community.

If you’re an XNet customer or are looking at XNet to provide your colocation or dedicated server hosting service, by all means, come to the event and connect face-to-face with us. We’d love to have you there.

For details and to RSVP, visit Silicon Prairie Social.