Rent What’s New Site

I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to visit Rent What’s website recently, but if not, you have got to check it out.  The website has always been terrific, but recently they added some great new content and redesigned the navigation to make it even more user friendly.

The site really is fun to explore, and they have made it so easy to find what you are looking for.  I love the new Backdrops page (check out the LED backdrop information – remember, I posted about them last week), and the addition of separate web pages for each of the Specialty Drape Collections (such as the Rockin’ Red Drapery) means there is lots of inspiration for the show or event designer.

So, whether you’re looking for a drapery rental or just in the mood to check out some cool pictures, this is a gorgeous site to look through (and I bet you’ll come up with some great ideas for your next show or event!).

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Star Drops

Ever wondered how music tours achieve the “starry night” effect onstage?  Well, for years they have used drapes with embedded fiber optics.  But the fiber optics tended to be bulky and difficult to manuever.

Today, more and more, fiber optics are being replaced by LEDs to produce a stunning light display that mimics the appearance of a gorgeous starry night.  These LED Star Drops are manufactured utilizing a durable black synthetic velour on the face along with a strong but lightweight black lining, with strings of LED lights inserted between the face and the lining.  A controller (which can be used on its own or with a lighting board) is used to manipulate the pattern, frequency (speed) and intensity of the blinking “stars.”

Our sister company, Rent What?, has found these LED Star Drops to be quite popular in their rental inventory.  As a matter of fact, last year they were used by the “So You Think You Can Dance?” tour (among others).  Want to learn more?  Check out the “Starlight LED Backdrops” page on the Rent What? website.

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Megan on Blog Talk Radio

As a result of her trip to Shanghai in June, Megan was introduced to Angie Strader, host of “What’s Your Bottom Line?” on Diva Toolbox Radio Network, and was asked by Angie to appear on the show.  The show aired live last Tuesday, and it was a really interesting experience, both for Megan and the rest of us here in the office.

Megan was asked to call into the show, as well as go onto the show’s webpage, a few minutes the show went live at 2:00 pm Central Time (noon here on the West Coast).  Angie had another guest for the first 15 minutes of the show and then went live to Megan as that day’s featured guest.

It was really a fun experience here.  Megan sent out a company-wide e-mail asking that she not be disturbed during the live radio interview, and even put a warning sign on her closed door (it reminded me of those red lights at TV studios – “Silence – Taping in Progress). 

Meanwhile, we all logged onto the Internet to listen to the interview while we worked.  It was a great interview, but a little surreal to be sitting in our offices a few feet away from Megan and yet hear her being interviewed on Blog Talk Radio!

If you want to hear more from Angie Strader, you can listen to “What’s Your Bottom Line?” live each Tuesday at 2:00 pm Central Time (3:00 pm Eastern, 12:00 noon Pacific), and there are also a number of previous shows available.  I’ve also just checked out her blog, and I found her posts quite interesting.  I especially liked the post titled, “Why the heck are you going it alone?”

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My Trip to Shanghai for DWEN

As Lynda has mentioned in previous posts, I was honored to be invited to participate in the Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network conference, held in Shanghai, China, in connection with the World’s Fair.  I have been to China once, but that was many years ago, so it was great to return. 

I started the trip out on a high note. Had a terrific flight over with China Eastern Airlines and landed safely and well rested. The Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai was the venue selected for both accommodations and the program. The hotel is fantastic, and as a guest the services were flawless.

We were absolutely floored to be greeted at registration with an unexpected (and completely amazing) attendee gift kit featuring a Dell Vostro 3300 laptop fully loaded with Windows 10.  I am personally putting it to use already!

Started the program out with an evening cocktail party at the M Bar on the Bund. It was a lovely evening where we spent several hours meeting and greeting and getting to know each other. The group (75ish) was small enough to be able to get around and really dedicate some time to learning what everyone is doing. I was fascinated to learn of the stories – so many of them with similar threads and certainly similar challenges. There was a lot of commonality. Really interesting. I believe that there were 10 countries represented at the conference.

One goal that I had in attending was to meet inspirational CEO’s and learn their stories and discover their challenges. No problem meeting this goal –  I felt very humbled by meeting these women. There was a tremendous amount of authenticity amongst the group.

The programs were excellent. The live link to the Bloomberg DWEN Group on LinkedIn was a great idea. I have not seen this type of tool used live in a presentation program before – and I am completely sold on it now. It really benefits the attendee. Having the attendee comments posted live throughout the sessions allowed the speakers to keep the content relevant and also made it possible to generate some great break conversations.

There was a focus on innovation and technology. The theme was definitely “mission first”. Passion and commitment to innovation and business development was very strong amongst the group.

The session with Frog Design was fascinating. We participated in a hands on activity in smaller groups that challenged us to really push typical business concepts to the limit and develop our own innovative business plans. Despite having had a business for 14 years and also having a 2 year old startup company I found myself really scratching my head – collaborating with my team was great. 

This was an incredibly inspirational group – in particular I was very inspired by Ingrid Venderveldt (CEO Clean Air Conversions). 

After the conference ended, I was luckily enough to have a free day in Shanghai to explore.  I loved visiting the garment district and seeing bolt upon bolt of lovely fabric.  I also visited several textile mills – fascinating!

I arrived home last Thursday, exhausted by jet lag but energized by this incredible experience.  What an great opportunity, one I won’t soon forget.

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Photos and videos of DWEN

There are so many great photos and videos available online of the Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network conference in Shanghai that I just had to share. 

Dell created a DWEN Photo Set on Flickr that is terrific (there is even a great photo of Megan).  Seeing all of the photos tiled together really gives a sense of the amazing energy of the conference.

Even more exciting are the videos that Dell has posted to their DellVlog under the playlist DWEN Shanghai 2010.  It is so incredible to watch and listen to these amazing people (primarily women).  I was especially inspired by the video “Q&A with Cindy Gallop”.  What a fascinating women she is – as soon as I watched the video, I went straight to her website IfWeRanTheWorld.com to learn more.

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DWEN uses social media to connect the world

Yesterday, I posted about Megan’s visit to Shanghai as part of the Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network (DWEN) conference.  On the same topic – I am really inspired with the way that social media has been used for this event, both as a way to connect the participants and as a way to connect the conference to the world at large.

Here are just a few examples:

LinkedIn

DWEN utilized this resource to connect conference participants before, during, and after the event, to discuss events and share information. 

Facebook

With its Dell for Business page on Facebook, DWEN is able to provide conference information and updates to Facebook users everywhere.

Twitter

If you are a lover of Twitter, then the DWEN page is the place to go for information on the conference.

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BNet Article on Megan and Sew What

I don’t know if you are familiar with BNet, but it is a great resource on the web for business and management articles, videos, news, white papers and much more. 

One of the things I really like about it is that it really is, as it says, geared to the working professional.  The language and tone is just right – not highfalutin’ academic language, but not dumbed down language either.  Just solid, well-written information.  I especially love the “crash courses” for everything from “How to Manage the Media” to “How to Build a Better Office.”

I just learned about BNet recently, after Joanne Cleaver interviewed Megan for the BNet article “How to Take a Cottage Industry High-Tech.”   Of course, it is always exciting to have Sew What? featured online or in print. 

However, this article in particular really gives a good picture of how Sew What uses technology, while also allowing readers in other industries to take away ideas on how they could take similar steps in their own business.  It is great to feel as if our example could be inspiring others.

(By the way – it was great fun taking the photo with all the Sew What? staff playing around with fabric!)

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Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network

Exciting week – Megan is in Shanghai as part of the Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network, taking place along with Expo 2010 Shanghai (aka the World’s Fair).  What a terrific opportunity for Megan to have the chance not only to attend the DWEN conference, but also to be invited to speak.

Of course, with the power of technology, Megan is almost as connected to the office as she would be if she were here!  She took a laptop with her, so she is able to login to her computer here at Sew What? via Wifi from her hotel or the conference.   Isn’t technology amazing, that she can be halfway across the world and still able to access her computer here?

I got an e-mail from her last night, and she said that the conference is excellent.  I can’t wait to hear more about it when she returns.

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Photos on Flickr – We’ve Come a Long Way

You know – I’m not that old (I’m in my mid 40s), but it amazes me to think of how much technology has changed in my lifetime. For at least half maybe more) of my life, you needed a camera and film to take a photo .  How many times did the opportunity for a great picture arise, but you didn’t have a camera with you, or you were out of film?  I know it happened to me a lot.

You had to finish the roll of film (12, 24 or 36 frames), take it to be developed, and then wait for the results (when I was younger, it took several days to a week, but eventually you could pay extra for one hour service).  Only then would you have your photos (and the negatives).  Want to give a copy of a photo to a friend or relative, customer or business associate?  You had to take the negative to the store to have a copy made, wait for it (just like before) and then give or mail or Fed Ex the photo to your friend or customer.  Not exactly a quick process.  And if the negative was lost or damaged?  Too bad – the photo is gone forever.

Today, it is so quick and easy to take, store, and copy photographs – all digitally.  We have digital cameras that are about the size of credit cards.  Our cell phones even have cameras, not to mention e-mail capability, so we can snap that pic and instantly e-mail it to a friend or colleague. 

We can save the photo files to our computers and back them up to DVDs or Flash drives – so that they last forever.  We can distribute them electronically or print copies ourselves in an instant using a color printer.

And then there is Flickr – which gives us the opportunity to make our photos available to thousands of people all over the world.  On some of my previous posts, I have included links to photos of our projects on Flickr.  Well, I was looking in Flicker today, and I thought, how amazing is this!  There are so many incredible photos on Concerts and Photostream – 152 in all.

If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you know how much I love the Rent What? Silver Satin Series.  Well, there is a set just for those drapes.  There are also sets for Wide Format Digital Printing, Austrian Curtains, and much more.  And new photos and sets are continually being added, so it is always fun to go back to the photostream to see what’s new.  It’s definitely a photostream to bookmark.

I have always been pretty computer-savvy – my father had one of the first home personal computers, and I have used computers in one form or another for many years.  Even so, I can’t help but be amazed when I consider the changes brought by technology within my lifetime.

And I haven’t even mentioned Facebook or Twitter or Linked In, or DVRs or Wiis or iPhones or Blackberries or Kindles…I’m excited to see what’s next.  How about you:?

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World’s Fairs and Classic Chairs

Adam and I purchased two vintage Barcelona chairs back in 1996 right after we got married. A classic design, these chairs had previously been in the lobby at the Heinz Ketchup factory. The salesman’s big pitch included the fact that the design had first been presented in the German Pavilion at the 1929 Barcelona Exposition. Designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the Barcelona Chair design was timeless, and we were certain that they would not only suit us, but serve us long and well.

With our 14th wedding anniversary upon us this week I can say that we have never once regretted the investment, nor tired of their streamlined design. They hold pride of place for us now – one in our entry at home and one in our entry at the office. They remind us every day, be it arriving to work or arriving home, that premium quality and bold design are priceless. That in every product decision we make, we must ask ourselves, how will what I build today represent me tomorrow? Will this decision be lasting and for the long term? How will others perceive the piece in years to come? Am I creating tomorrow’s trash, or tomorrow’s treasure?

On this note I am excited to be traveling this June to Shanghai to attend the 2010 Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network, where I will have the opportunity to surround myself with thinkers and doers and dreamers alike. The opportunity to meet some of the very brightest women in business and discuss technology and business with them is certainly a privilege that I will cherish. And in fulfilling a lifelong dream, the Dell conference is perfectly timed with the World’s Fair 2010 being hosted in Shanghai. I’ll have my eyes and ears open to all that these amazing women, and the World’s Fair, have to offer. You never know, perhaps I’ll come home with a fresh new outlook on small business and a couple of new chairs too……

Megan

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