It has been a while. Too long really. Frank and I have both been very busy. Frank has been working on some new projects at AOL for AIM and on his own and I started work on a new company (TransFS.com). With that said, we are happy to say TECH cocktail Chicago is back for its 11th round.

TECH cocktail Chicago 11 - August 6, 2009

The next event will be held upstairs at John Barleycorn’s in Wrigleyville from 6:30pm - 9pm on Thursday, August 6th, 2009. No surprises there. Same venue. Same time frame. However, we do have one change in the event format that we would like to discuss with all of the TECH cocktailers out there.

TECH cocktail has come to a crossroads. We’re 3 years old and we have a solid community in both Chicago and D.C. along with some other cities. We continue to get requests from around the world to host TECH cocktails in various cities. We’d love to be able to take advantage of all of the interest in TECH cocktail but Frank and I are only two people and we can’t expect great people like Mark Bebawy to continue to help us out pro-bono.

Bottom line: TECH cocktail, in its current state, just isn’t sustainable or able to grow.

What we need to grow is better cash flow, plain and simple. So, for this event we are going to charge for the first time. It will be a very modest charge though since it really won’t take much to make TECH cocktail sustainable. Drumroll please…

The charge is simply $10 per person and it will cover admission to the event and two drinks. If you think about it you’d pay $5 per beer in the city easy so if you drink two beers you have gained because you received $10 worth of beer and the ability to hang out with a lot of great technology folks.

We hope that this charge won’t dampen the enthusiasm for TECH cocktail and we also hope that you all understand why we are moving in this new direction. We want to keep TECH cocktail running so it can continue to provide benefits to the community and to all of you and we hope you feel the same way.

Now that we have all that out of the way here is the registration link.

REGISTER NOW

SPONSORS:

SPROUTBOX

We have some great sponsors this time around including SproutBox. SproutBox represents a new approach to venture capital that is about more than just writing checks. They invest themselves in a company’s success. Each year, they give four hand-picked startups the team, tools, and resources needed to turn their early stage ideas into a revenue-generating reality. If you have an idea you want to get off the ground you should check out SproutBox.

GOING.COM

Going.com is also sponsoring TECH cocktail Chicago 11. Going.com helps people find places to go, people to see and things to do in their city. Going.com was a demoer at TECH cocktail Boston in 2007 and was recently acquired by AOL. Another great success story for a TECH cocktail demoer. We’re happy for the guys at Going and we’re glad to see them come back to TECH cocktail.

CHICAGO MICRO

ChicagoMicro is also back for another round of TECH cocktail. Check out ChicagoMicro for all of your technology product and service needs. They are also a Chicago startup so supporting them helps our ecosystem.

SAPER LAW

Saper Law works with creative entrepreneurs and innovative business organizations on all of their legal needs. Saper Law gives focused an very personal service to their clients and we at TECH cocktail have nothing but good things to say about the work Daliah Saper has helped us with.

If you are interested in sponsorship please let us know (cofounders@techcocktail.com).

Looking forward to seeing you all at the event on August 6th and we thank you again for your continued support. You are TECH cocktail.

Check out the TECH cocktail Champaign 3 Photos

Last Thursday night, TECH cocktail Champaign 3 attracted a couple hundred attendees as local technology was showcased from companies like Wolfram Research, EnterpriseWorks, R Systems, Mimosa Acoustics, The Australian Semiconductor Technology Company (ASTC) and IllinoisRocstar. Thanks to our sponsors and guests for making the event another success. Check out the TECH cocktail Champaign 3 photos.

From organizer Hope Bertram:

Windy City Social is hosting a very cool Social Media/Online Marketing Summit that you’re TC group is going to want to hear about.

It’s Tuesday, June 23^rd from 1:00 pm – 5:30 pm with evening networking and panel from 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm at the beautiful Blackstone Hotel.

Guests will connect with other marketers and learn about the latest trends in Social Media and Online Marketing from leaders in the industry. People will leave the event with new, innovative ideas about how to leverage Twitter, Facebook, SEO, E-mail Marketing and Experience Marketing.

Several of the speakers and sponsors will be on hand for 15 minute consultations where they’ll give attendees immediate steps they can take to improve their actual site or campaigns! AND our speakers are going to pick a few emails and websites submitted by attendees in advance to critique during presentations.

Event Highlights
* Creating an Experience They Will Remember (in a good way!) Cereality Founders
Rick Bacher and David Roth
* E-mail Makeovers Reagan Taylor, NCR eCommerce Consultant
* Top 10 Tips for Improving Your Natural Search Rankings
* Tips on How to Get the Most out of the New Fan Pages From Brad Keown from Facebook * Panel on Using Twitter to Promote Big Business

Check Out the Full Line-up

I’ve sent up discount code for $10 off of the full ticket price for TC members who enter TC10 when they register at http://wcssummit.eventbrite.com

My friend Dave Schappel (not the comedian) has been building up his latest company, TeachStreet, over the past year and I was happy to hear from him that the Chicago portion of the site is now live. TeachStreet is a place where people can come to find teachers for anything and everything that are based in their city. Want to learn drums? Check out TeachStreet. Want to learn Mandarin? There are probably some teachers on TeachStreet that can help you out. If there is something you want to learn, check out TeachStreet.