It’s been said that the apps that break out at Austin’s South by Southwest festival are those that help festival-goers navigate and orient themselves within the sprawl of parties, panel sessions and gigs.

The 2007 edition of SXSW was Twitter’s big moment, the tipping point for the now iconic service. The following year, many thought that SCHED*, a web-based event calendar and agenda builder, would be the breakout service of 2008 — the “new Twitter.”

Though such expectations were inflated by the media, SCHED* provided useful personalized schedules that have endured through two editions of the festival. The latest edition of the app now includes mobile support, iPhone compatibility, and the ability to integrate with iCal and Google Calendar.

As the organizer of a “proto-SXSW” here in the U.K. — LSx 2009, the second Leeds Web Festival — I figured this was a great opportunity to put SCHED* through its paces with the somewhat smaller schedule of events for LSx. Also, it’d be a useful trial run for a fuller deployment in 2010, when LSx will likely merge with the Live At Leeds music festival.

Here’s how things work:

1. Upon making an inquiry via the SCHED* web site, I was put in touch with the company’s business development people to collate our requirements and also to discuss which plans and pricing would be most appropriate for LSx. At this stage, SCHED* simply needs to understand the demographics, audience size and dates. The company offers Basic, Premium and Premium Plus plans, ranging from $399 to $850, depending on features rather than usage. The company was generous enough to let us experiment with the app using a nonprofit discounted plan.
2. Once the invoice is settled, you need to provide a logo, official conference/festival name, URL of the official site, your chosen SCHED* subdomain (http://lsx.sched.org), event location and the beginning and end dates.
3. Once your new site is live, it’s administered and updated in batches using a SCHED*-supplied offline Excel spreadsheet or online Google Spreadsheet. It initially seems an odd choice to utilize a spreadsheet interface to administer your SCHED* site, but the complexity of venues, events and categories would likely not work well at all in a web-based HTML form.

It’s unfair to compare SCHED* to Twitter as a SxSW breakout service — Twitter is a consumer app, whereas SCHED is really intended for festival and conference organizers. However, I found SCHED* to be competitively priced — compared with Crowdvine and Expectnation — and  it certainly adds value to the audience of a conference or festival. What’s perhaps even more valuable for organizers is the level of direct support and account handling that the company provides, something that’s lacking in most of the self-service web services around today. Well done for great service, SCHED*.

If you are involved in organizing meetups, BarCamps, work events and other gatherings, SCHED*’s a powerful tool for organizers and attendees alike.

What tool do you use for scheduling your events?

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There have been many posts about engaging with coworkers and clients via Twitter, IM, Facebook, and other social networking sites. Those are a great first step to keep in touch with real people throughout the day, but what about those times when you just need to get out of the house?

I’m lucky to live here in Portland where we have a large number of freelancers, consultants, telecommuters, and other remote workers. We frequently get together during the week for coworking sessions at coffee shops where we each work independently, but by meeting in groups, we have people to watch our computers when we go to the bathroom, share quick stories, or get feedback on a tough issue. There are a few coffee shops where my web worker friends regularly congregate, and I can almost guarantee that I’ll see someone I know wander in during my visit.

If you aren’t lucky enough to have something similar already, consider scheduling it. How about coffee shop Wednesday? Pick a few friends who are also busy and who know that the purpose of the day is work (not chatting), and then find a place with solid wireless and caffeinated beverages. I typically save up those tasks that don’t require extensive concentration (responding to email, proposals, contracts, etc.), since you might not do your best strategic recommendations with the distractions of a coffee shop.

Beer and Blog Geek Meetups

photo used with permission from Aaron Hockley.

I also rely on attending regular events where I can interact with people who have similar technology interests. In some cases, I attend events that already exist. Here in Portland, we have events like Beer and Blog, Portland Web Innovators, and many user groups. I also noticed a few gaps, which I filled by working with other people to help start new groups like the Online Community Manager Meetup and PDX GeekChix. Attending existing events and starting new ones is a great way to meet new people and increase your interactions with other human beings offline.

What do you do when you crave human interaction during the work day?

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Image via Wikipedia (LibSyn)

Before I fell asleep last night, I started thinking about what I’m spending on Web applications. I take advantage of the free levels of apps whenever I can, however, in some cases, I have to give in and pay for the services.

Don’t get me wrong – I don’t have buyer’s remorse, but I do think I need to get a firm grasp of what Web apps or SaaS’s I have on autopay on my business credit card because it is getting to be too easy to charge these things.

Here is the list of Web apps I’ve been paying for and why I pay for them:

• Basecamp – $24/month – to keep track of communications and files with clients.
• FreshBooks – $24/month – to manage client invoicing.
• Typepad – $89.50/year for three blogs (about $7.45/month) – to develop three of my many blogs.
• Constant Contact – $15/month – to send out my occasional e-newsletter.
• Cafepress – $6.95/month – to sell Second Life swag.
• LibSyn- $5/month – to host my Cybergrrl Oh podcast about Second Life.
• SpinVox- $9.99/month – to convert my voicemail messages into texts and emails. (My service in the U.S. is actually through UReach.
• MeetUp – $72/6 months ($12/month) – to host several Meetup groups.

Total Fees – $104.39 per month or $1,252.68 per year

I began thinking that I should pay more attention to these payments. If the app is really valuable to my business, maybe I should consider paying for a year’s subscription in advance. Often, an annual subscription is discounted so I could save some money.

Then again, it might just be negligible. CafePress, for example, comes out to be $5/month for an annual subscription which would save me $23 for the year. Well, the theory sounded good when I was thinking about it. Still, if I were to subscribe to many more apps and sites, maybe the savings would become more significant.

Sites like Freshbooks and Basecamp don’t offer an annual fee. They use a pay-as-you-go model without committing you to a long term contract. Freshbooks does offer a lump sum payment where you can opt to pay for a number of months in advance but without any discount.

What are you paying on a monthly basis for Web apps and sites? Which ones and what do they do for you?

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So I had to laugh when I saw Unplug Your Friends, a site which lets you send an intervention email to those you know who may be suffering from what they call Screen Addiction.

A fill in the blanks template lets you pick out the appropriate intervention terms and zips off an email alerting them about your concern, along with a link to an amusing “see the light” video.

Unplug Your Friends is brought to you by the folks over at Meetup, and it’s a clever bit of marketing. I love Meetup’s slogan of Use the Internet to get off the Internet!

As tongue in cheek as this all is, it is also a reminder that there are others around us that we can communicate with outside of Twitter. I know for certain that people say witty and interesting things in person as well.

Whether it is for convenience or a matter of comfort – we flock to our online communities, and we do connect there. But personal meetings and group interactions are important as well. Plan a Meetup, or a Tweetup, or join a bowling league. Take some time time to unplug, step away from your computer, and turn off messaging on your phone.

And invite your friends – even if you have to drag them away from their laptops kicking and screaming.

How do you unplug? Do you or your friends need an intervention?

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You can search by zip code or general location to find something interesting and RSS feeds can be created to match your specific event criteria. It has the obligatory reminders, recurring event creation, and I really appreciate their efforts to help ensure the privacy of users and event locations.

Formerly called Travelers Table, MeetingWave is re-branding to acknowledge that meetings occur everywhere and perhaps their old name was limiting interest in their service, but is it enough?

It may not seem fair to judge a site like this based upon the limited content but no matter how good the platform may or may not be, success is entirely dependent on community involvement and with sites like Meetup or even evite already firmly entrenched here, it may be hard for MeetingWave to attract the folks it needs to be useful.

I honestly didn’t find much of interest to me in the Chicago area, and absolutely nothing out in the suburbs where I spend the majority of my time. While there are a lot of “business opportunity” sort of events, I didn’t see much in the way of networking related to common interest. Also, the inclusion of “romance” meetings seems very out of place for what was pitched to me as a professional networking site.

I also experienced a couple of troubling issues during my registration and testing. The first thing it did after registering me was to lead me to a screen where the only option available was to create my own invite. I really wasn’t ready to do that but there was no other navigation or option for me (like a cancel button.) I had to close the window, revisit the site and log in again. I did this for the purpose of review, otherwise I likely wouldn’t have bothered.

I did have a couple of other navigation issues as well. Occasionally input screens were too long for my display and since things are set to auto-center on the page, I couldn’t get the submit button to stay visible long enough for me to press it. I had to go to full screen mode to increase my display area enough to proceed.

Your mileage with MeetingWave might vary based upon your location and area of interest. I’m going to plan a local tech-worker coffee get together and see what happens. It’s free to use both as a planner or guest so it might be worth a shot to see if you find what you are looking for. Let us know how it works out.

How do you connect with like minded folks where you live, work or travel?

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