Nashville Technology Council

As you know, our Membership Meeting will be held on January 25th at Lipscomb. In addition to all the exciting speakers,
we will be releasing the NEW issue of Catalyst!

We will have printed copies available, as well as digital copies on memory sticks, sponsored by NWN. You will also
be able to download an on-line digital copy after January 25th.

Catalyst 2012 is full of amazing articles. We can’t thank all our
contributors enough! We thought you might like a few excerpts
from just SOME of the many articles.

Be sure to register for the Membership Meeting and pick up your
new issue of Catalyst. Below is a small sample of just a few of
the many great articles.
Enjoy!

Supporting the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
Vic Gatto • Managing Director at Jumpstart Foundry • Partner at
Solidus Company

“As most technologists know, the barriers to entrepreneurship
have crumbled over the last few years.  Today, it is easier and cheaper
to launch a company due to many factors that include: open source
software, lean start-up methodology, cloud based computing,
distribution through exiting consumer networks.”

Belmont University and Nashville Technology Council Get Social
Steve Chandler • www.chandlerthinks.wordpress.com

“We were embarking on the first ever social media marketing class for the Belmont University Massey
School of Business.  If we are going to create an environment that fosters the principles of social media,
such as sharing and complete transparency, then live in-class tweeting was fair game.  In fact, we
designated an official student representative to update the official Facebook page each class session. 
Our Twitter hashtag was #BelmontSoMe.”

Protect What You Have as Best You Can
Robert Preininger • www.survivalpartners.biz

“Uncertainty:  We all have to deal with it every day in our personal and professional life. Production
workers, managers and executives all share a common threat to their physical and financial wellbeing. 
The world is a risky place to live and if that wasn’t bad enough, add to a risky world the fact that time
never stands still.  Threats to family, business and our nation are continually evolving in complexity,
emerging from ever changing natural, technological and man-made points of origin. 
So what can be done to protect what is important to us?”

Yesterday morning I had the privilege to attend the STEM Preparatory Academy Community Breakfast that included an overview and tour of the new school.  Opening its doors in July 2011, STEM Prep is the newest public charter school and the first dedicated STEM school (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) offering a fully integrated STEM-based curriculum .  And blown away is an understatement to how I felt when I left.

First of all, the kids are referred to as “scholars” instead of students.  I think that this is not only appropriate given their accomplishments, but also great because it instills that mentality into their minds.  When I entered the building I was greeted by a student who welcomed me, helped with my name tag, and showed me to the classroom.  Once I got to the classroom I was met by another student who introduced herself, told me about the school, and asked if I had any questions.  Dr. Kristin McGraner began the program and educated us on the history, mission, and goals of STEM Prep with data and test results.  She focused on their three core beliefs, which were extremely evident in everything I saw:

• Every child deserves a rigorous, college preparatory education delivered by highly effective teachers.
• A culture of accountability and high expectations develops learners and leaders.
• Excellent schools are deeply and broadly tied to the communities they serve.

Once Dr. McGraner finished her presentation, she allowed about five scholars to introduce themselves and their monumental achievements since beginning at STEM Prep just a short time ago.  Each student had already exceeded their yearly goal, making it easy to understand why the school does not have enough books to keep up with the their volume of reading!

My favorite part of the tour was “community meeting.”  Each morning the scholars gather in the hallway where the teacher prompts discussion questions for journal writing and sharing with the group.  This allows the kids to share some of their thoughts, background, and desires in a comfortable, less formal setting.  Unlike most kids I’ve been around, these scholars were extremely eager to share their journal entries, with hands shooting up in the air and pencils refusing  to drop when time was called.  It was the purest definition of “engaged” that I’ve ever seen.

I encourage you to attend one of STEM Prep’s Community Breakfast events as well.  You will no doubt leave inspired, and will have a much better understanding of what this school is doing to encourage our future leaders in technology.  We have to some bright minds to fill all these jobs after all, and we have a lot of work to do to get more scholars of this caliber in the right direction.

Big news for the Entrepreneur Center, NTC, and Nashville’s entertainment scene!  Joe Galante, former Chairman of Sony Music Group, was just announced the entrepreneur-in-residence to help startups in the digital media and entertainment industry.  Welcome, Mr. Galante, to 105 Broadway!  We’re excited that you’re here.  To read more, click here.

Since tonight is our Winter Holiday Party, we thought it would be a good time to share our “Top 5″ Holiday Wish List. Feel free to let us know what is on your wish list this season!

Liza’s Wish List:

1.  A Nissan Leaf donated to the NTC with a charging station outside our offices!

2.  Luna the Robot by RoboDynamics – to do all those pesky household chores.

3.  A Wellsian Time Machine to fix a few things in the past and get some ideas about the future.

4.  Snow goggles with built in video camera – so I can record the family while on the slopes since I’m too clumsy to snowboard and hold the video camera at the same time.

5.  Nothing that begins with an “i” since I prefer Android!

Leah’s Wish List:

1. http://jawbone.com/up because you know I’m always looking for new ways to stay fit and this makes exercise, nutrition and wellness very easy.

2. HP Envy with 3D and cool glasses

3. https://www.lytro.com/mobile/camera- this is so cool and I love the shape

4. http://www.columbia.com/Omni-Heat/Science_Omni-Heat,default,pg.html I’m getting one of these for our trip to Boston

5. My last choice is not really a gadget but I would love to have two roundtrip plane tickets and passes to Burning Man

Mollie’s Wish List:

1. Roku

2. Helo TC Helicopter (uh, why not??)

3. Verizon 4G LTE

4. New-Fangled Digital Measuring Cup (the baker in me absolutely needs this!)

5. Kinect (I’m itching to play that bowling game again!)

 

 

Jessica’s Wish List:

1. MakerBot Thing-O-Matic The Thing-O-Matic is a 3D printer, which I
think would just be super fun! It’s like a standard printer- it connects to a
computer through a USB port, but has a SD card slot for uploading and
printing a 3D models.

 

2. Mini Robot Vaccum Anyone who knows me knows that I am usually eating at my desk… and it gets messy.

3. Darth Vader 4 port USB Hub I don’t have to explain why I want this, do I?!

4. Necono Digital Camera Cat It’s a cat… and a camera! The lens is hidden in it’s eye, so you can take sneaky pictures!

5. iPad 2 Of course I want one. Who doesn’t?

My Day at the Williamson County Career Fair
By Mollie McCormick

I’m going to be honest—when I woke up yesterday morning, I was a little less than excited to be spending my afternoon at the Williamson County Career
Fair, handing out flyers on information that I didn’t think these kids would care one bit about.  I had too many emails and too many tasks that needed to
be done.  But fast forward to 3 hours later when I left the building with a big smile on my face, a sense of new motivation, and grateful for a job that
allows me to be around, and potentially influence the minds of our young, future leaders.

I met kid after kid that didn’t associate graphic or web design with the technology industry, or had no idea that they could, in fact, be the ones creating the next Angry Birds or Kinect.  They just simply didn’t know it was an option.  My answer?  I handed them a techville.us map (ok, ok kids love posters…I get it!) and told them to study those companies, because there is a good chance you may work for, or even lead, one of them someday.  Plus, you get to wear jeans more often than not in this field.

So let’s change the way these kids think about their future.  Everything uses technology and the more we are able to transform our approach on that and show how it infiltrates our world, maybe we can get these kids excited about a career in this ever-changing field.  It’s certainly never boring.  All in favor, say “technology.”

We really had a great time at the 2011 Technology Awards Gala… and we wanted to share some pictures with you!

Here are pictures of all the awards winners. If you would like to see more pictures from the evening, you
can view them here.
Thanks again for making this such a fun event and a wonderful evening.

We want to congratulate the NTC Members who were named in the Nashville Post’s TECH 25 issue.

The Nashville Post Tech 25 issue features some of the most innovative technology companies in Nashville.
They take a look at who is breaking in to new markets, which companies are creating new products and
who is leading the technology charge.

The Nashville Post Tech 25 are as follows (NTC members are shown in red):

American Hometown Media

Belmont Software Services

Capital Confirmation

Consensus Point

Cybera

Document Solutions

Edo Interactive

Emdeon

eMids

Emma

Griffin Technology

HCA Information Technology & Services

Healthcare Management Systems

HealthStream

Informatics Corp. of America

InQuicker

Metova

MissionPoint Health Partners

MyWerx

OnFocus Health Care

PureSafety

Qualifacts

Shareable Ink

Splother

Vextec

We at the Nashville Technology Council already know how much local talent we have. Our members consist of Middle
Tennessee’sbest technology companies, leaders and innovators. We thank you all for being members and helping
our community succeed.

We are looking forward to this holiday season and are excited for the new year ahead. We hope you will help us
encourage others to join the Nashville Technology Council to help us continue to grow. Our Council –
members, staff, and board – provide a common voice for technology trends, issues, and opportunities in our region,
state, and nation.

Through our collective efforts, we can positively influence and impact tech-related initiatives, attract tech-oriented
businesses to our city, and grow technology jobs. The NTC is one voice for technology.

Congressman Blackburn Conducting Privacy Roundtable

NTC Co-hosting 4^th Roundtable to Discuss Privacy Issues with Local Leaders

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – November 9, 2011 – The Nashville Technology Council is co-hosting Congressman Marsha Blackburn’s Privacy Roundtable at their downtown offices in Nashville’s Entrepreneur Center on Thursday, November 10, 2011.  The event, announced recently by Congressman Blackburn, is the fourth in a series of roundtables being held around the country.  NTC assisted Congressman Blackburn with identifying a diverse list of participants whose companies are significantly impacted by government regulation of privacy and data security.

Nashville’s Privacy Roundtable will include representatives from a number of NTC member companies including AT&T, Baker Donelson, C3 Consulting, Emdeon, MoonToast, and Belmont and Vanderbilt Universities.

“I am pleased that NTC can assist Congressman Blackburn in conducting this very timely and relevant roundtable in Nashville.  Given the prevalence of industries in Middle Tennessee that are impacted by government regulation including health care, music, telecommunications, and digital media, Congressman Blackburn’s leadership in this area and eagerness to discuss this topic with us is both important and refreshing,” commented Liza Lowery Massey, President and CEO of the Nashville Technology Council.

We want to thank everyone for attending the 2011 “Feel The Beat” Awards Gala last night. We hope you all had as much fun as we did! We want to once again congratulate all our Nominees and Winners. Thank you again to all the sponsors and volunteers who helped make this such a wonderful event and memorable evening.

And the winners are…

Additional “Feel the Beat” Technology Awards Gala seating added

Due to high demand, we have opened up registration for BALCONY SEATING ONLY until Monday, October 24th at 10:00 a.m.

This includes entry into the event, light appetizers and desserts, and a drink ticket to the after party.  Please note that this does not include a seated dinner on the main floor, and seats in the balcony are first come, first serve.  You must check in at Balcony Seating upon arrival.

Click here to register.