We invited Mayor Rybak to the Web Challenge before his keynote at Minnesota Business mag’s Community Impact Awards but we understand he has a city to run (and we’re across the river). But he’s with us in spirit (a.k.a. Photoshop).
Winning the Web Challenge is no less glorious than summiting Mount Everest to earn a Super Bowl championship in thin air before safely descending on a waterslide while high-fiving everyone in your path. But winning fabulous prizes is nice, too. Volunteers spend raffle tickets in pursuit of these treasures:
New New iPad: Were you one of those suckers who bought the “New” iPad a scant seven months ago? Sooth your anger at Apple by winning this NEWER New iPad and go back to your rightful spot of having the shiniest, newest toy available.
Lego Death Star: Bored on the weekends with nothing to do? This 3,800 piece LEGO Death Star may be for you. At 16” tall and 16” wide, it’s an imposing addition to any LEGO collection. Get yours now before the Death Star is permanently “upgraded” to include mouse ears.
Fitbit + Sleep Tracker Thingee + Scale + Belt: While programming is hard work, it unfortunately doesn’t come with the same physical fitness benefits that a career in logging does. Win this prize package and you’ll have more data on your health than you can shake an empty Pringles can at. It tracks steps, stairs climbed, distance, calories burned and measures how long and well you sleep. The Nathan Shadow Pak (it’s NOT a fanny pack, ok!?) discreetly carries your personal items while you run.
Minecraft package: Not sure how to properly express to your special someone that you have an unhealthy obsession for Minecraft? Winning this prize pack should do the trick. If assembling your brand new Minecraft LEGO set while wearing the Creeper cardboard mask doesn’t do it, perhaps the magnets, pins and note cube will. If all else fails, perform a one-person Minecraft reenactment around the house with your foam Minecraft pickaxe and sword as props. They’ll surely get the message then.
Etsy Giftcard – $250: For when you can’t justifying buying a walnut baguette cutting board, a vintage brass camel figurine and a beaded crochet bracelet on your own dime.
Nest: Thermostats. BORING, right? Not so. This beauty will make your home look like it’s out of the Jetsons as it learns your schedule. Trust us, this little guy isn’t sentient, so there’s no danger of it taking control of your home appliances – what it will do is help you take control of your monthly utility bills by changing temperatures based on when you’re home and away. Coming home early? Use the mobile app to connect to your thermostat. No SkyNet here!
Apple Thunderbolt Display: For work or for play, everyone can use a bigger monitor. This 27-inch model by Apple also manages to pack in some extra whiz-bang features like LED backlighting, a FaceTime HD camera, 3 USB 2.0 ports and more.
Intuos5 Touch Medium: Sometimes a mouse and MS Paint just won’t do. When that situation arises you’ll be happy to have this powerful multi-touch surface tablet. With 48.8 square inches of working area, this is perfect for designers and illustrators alike.
Canon Rebel T4: If it’s good enough for a paid celebrity endorsement from Andre Agassi, then it should be good enough for you. Fault!
Wii U Deluxe Set (not pictured): Do you find today’s consoles too boring for your tastes? Wish that you had more screens to look at? Never fear, for the Wii U is (nearly) here. As soon as your copy arrives at Nerdery HQ, we’ll send it off to you to enjoy this all new gaming experience. And then maybe you can explain it to us… we’re not entirely sure how it works.
2012 Chicago Overnight Website Challenge from The Nerdery on Vimeo.
The Nerdery has debuted on The Flyover 50, a list recognizing fast-growing companies in the middle of the country.
“Flyover 50 aside, our Nerd cred has spread well beyond our stomping grounds here in Middle-earth,” said The Nerdery’s Chicago branch manager Dave Kam, seemingly confusing the company’s geolocations with the fictional setting authored by J.R.R. Tolkien.
“Flyover 50 honorees are proof that there are plenty of reasons to land in the central U.S,” said Fred Coulson, managing partner of Five Elms Capital. “We created the Flyover 50 to highlight great companies in the middle of the country for potential employees and customers.”
“Give a nerd a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a nerd to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
– adapted proverb, some liberties taken
Congress just got an earful from a group of Nerdery-mentored 8th grade students from Project Infinite Green who hit up Dave Kam, our Chicago branch manager, for some after-school tutelage in programming.
“Their advisor, Catherine Greenspon, heard about us due to the Overnight Website Challenge and contacted me to see if we would be interested in building an app for them,” said Kam. “I told them we could mentor the students so they could build it themselves. It was decided that they would come in and we would give them guidance.”
Project Infinite Green was built to encourage STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education by taking school children on a journey through U.S. energy sources.
“The kids have studied both renewable and nonrenewable energy sources,” said Catherine. “After completing the nuclear module, our nuclear team decided that our nation, at large, does not understand the realities of nuclear energy. Their plan is to start a nuclear awareness campaign – one component of the campaign is the nuclear awareness windows mobile app.”
“The programming of the app has forced the kids to really think about the variables of the nuclear plant,” said Catherine. “We also have one student, Jeremy, who is now thinking he wants to be Dave when he grows up. He was originally thinking of becoming a chemical engineer.”
The students are in D.C. May 16-18, presenting to the STEM ED Caucus (members are from both the House and Senate) and the Global Environment Facility (The GEF). Catherine said she hoped Congressional leaders would “give the kids a global perspective on their green business plans and also help them apply their plans to emerging countries.”
“I would wager even Congress is never really ready for their day with Congress, but I think the kids are well on their way” said Kam. “They have a wealth of information and various presentations they have prepared. The web app we worked on is just part of all that. I was impressed with their eagerness to learn. Not just about HTML/CSS/Javascript, but about things in general. The kids are focusing on nuclear energy and have been doing a good amount of research on the subject. They are pretty much like sponges and soak everything up.”
“The Nerdery has provided a unique opportunity for me to learn to code,” said Kevin, an eighth-grader with Project Infinite Green. “Dave spent over 20 hours helping us develop our app. With his expertise we have created an excellent beta version of our Nuclear Awareness app.”
Asked if he sees any future Nerds among these students, Dave replied, “I’d say so! The kids have shown a high degree of self motivation and should succeed in whatever they choose to pursue in the future. They should now have basic HTML/CSS skills and have a better understanding on how web technology works. They were briefly exposed to Javascript and OOP (Object Oriented Programming) as well. So hopefully that sparks their interest in software development in general.”
“My time at The Nerdery has been a wonderful,” said Philip, an eighth-grader. “I was able to learn more about computer coding than I would have been able to learn on my own in 24 hours. The people here are also very friendly and they make my stressful Wednesday more fun. We also learn about each other while we are here and how well everyone is doing with computer coding … I believe that The Nerdery is the best place ever!”
“It was great working with people who may not know what exactly web development entails and getting the opportunity to explain it to them and even guide them while they got their hands dirty doing it,” said Dave. “It was a lot of fun!”
“The team didn’t want to leave on our last night,” said Catherine. “ They were all wondering when we would see Dave again. He has a fan club.”
The Nerdery today became a Preferred Marketing Developer (PMD) of Facebook® Apps. Facebook established its PMD program to represent the various technologies in the Facebook ecosystem and to recognize companies that develop holistic solutions. To qualify, The Nerdery included examples of its development work on the Facebook platform in its application, including apps created – some with ad agency partners – for EA Sports, Kraft, Norton, Purina, and Tampico.
As part of the rites to passage in becoming a Preferred Marketing Developer, Nerdery software development manager Dan Krueger attended an invitation-only developer conference at Facebook’s Menlo Park, CA campus. Find The Nerdery’s Facebook PMD profile by searching companies in the Preferred Marking Developers Directory.
The Facebook Preferred Marketing Developer program recognizes companies that have developed technologies in one or more of the following specialty areas: Page management solutions, ads management solutions, services and platforms for building socially enabled integrations, and/or tools for Page Insights analysis.
“The application process was highly selective so we compliment you on your success,” wrote a Facebook representative to selected companies on the competitive climate among applicants for the Preferred Marketing Developer program, whose mission is to help developers build products that make social marketing easier and more effective. The Nerdery is among 141 new companies added to Facebook’s PMD program, which has 232 interactive firms from 35 countries overall.
As a Preferred Marketing Developer, The Nerdery is deemed sufficiently Nerdy to create Facebook apps with features such as:
Said Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in a recent letter to investors, “We have a saying: ‘Move fast and break things.’ The idea is that if you never break anything, you’re probably not moving fast enough.” The Nerdery endeavors to be a good steward within the development community regarding keep current on Facebook platform changes – and equally diligent about keeping clients and partners informed about how platform changes may affect apps/business, including these communiques:
Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook, Inc. For that matter, The Nerdery is a servicemark of The Nerdery.
Twin Cities EE, serving Franconia Sculpture Park
The Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen, serving Little Voyageurs Montessori School
Team Pegacorn, serving Metro CISM Team
The Return of the Team Redundancy Team Part 2, serving Minnesota Environmental Partnership
CodeX, serving Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless
Push N Run, serving Hourcar
Raxacoricofallapatorius, serving The Windmill Project
PHP Nerds- Beta, serving Answer
Drupal Rocks!, serving Bakken Museum
Full Court WordPress, serving Youth Performance Company
Ruby.MN, serving Career Solutions Inc
Team BIOS, serving Community Neighborhood Housing Services
Drop Shadows Not Bombs, serving North Star Therapy Animals
Run PHP, Cancer Legal Line
Get Off My LAN, serving TVBYGIRLS
Ruby Off Rails, serving Center for Homicide Research
Sleep-Deprivation Research Team #4, serving The Valley Friendship Club
Extra credit goes to rightful-braggers Two Unicorns, One Moon for their pro bono work on behalf of West African Medical Missions. Team captain Jason Reed is a four-time Web Challenge veteran, and a champion of this initiative in every sense of the word. Thanks, and special congrats to the returning volunteers from last year’s winning TST Media team.
Moving on, thanks for letting us rock-star your rooms, Continuing Education Conference Center – particular thanks to all-night go-to-guy extraordinaire Mike Wybierala.
Thanks, judges Christine Durand, Christian Erickson, Dana Nelson and Jamey Erickson, for assessing the applications of 68 eligible orgs to pick this year’s nonprofits, and for joining us Sunday morning to assess overnight accomplishments.
Caffeine … I’m getting emotional here – expect to be hugged for pulling me through, again. I won’t forget this.
For supporting our nerdathon since it began, thanks to event sponsors VISI (offering free hosting to nonprofits) and Benchmark Learning (gracious hosts of our pre-Challenge needy-meets-nerdy speed-dating ritual).
In-kind supporters, thanks for all you’ve contributed, like:
Thanks also:
Thanks, food fetchers: Kristen Schell; Diane Yang; Tracy Fuller; Cassi Hansen; John O’Neill; Sean Latterner; Eric Johnson; Tor Swanson; Jeremy Como; Jim Martin; Erica Tava
Other volunteers, all of them up for whatever, many of them up all night: Dave Kam; Jodi Chromey; Ericka, Ben, Max, & Jaycie Kimball; Gillian Reynolds; Eric Myers; Josh Klun; John Krenz; Wade Kallhoff; Dave Bucklin; Kris Szafranski; Ken Sykora; Mitch Buckland; Heather Keller; Janet Waack; David Medwid; Jon Huff; Katie O’Neill; Tom O’Neill; Mike Derheim; Mike Schmidt; Phillip Brand; Michelle Fuller; Matthew Alden; Jay Peyer; Greg Wurm; Lindsey Hagan; Eve Poeschl; Jamie Lindquist; Ginger Bucklin; Mary Ann Bucklin; Caleb Newby; Karsten Lundquist; Alyssa Fuller; Leah Otto; Matt Tonak; Hillary Heinz; Tom Johnson; Mark Hurlburt; and Jessica Mogen.
Nerds are grateful to Nerdery founders Mike Derheim, Mike Schmidt and Luke Bucklin for creating a company where good ideas are given time to get even better.
For spreading the word on nerdy deeds – and future such opportunities, thanks to MPR, WCCO, KSTP, KARE 11, FOX 9, Star Tribune, Biz Journal, Pioneer Press, Tech.MN, MPLS Egotist, GiveMN.org and others.
Nonprofits, please measure the success of your new site any way you can, and let us know how it helps your organization “move the needle.” Keep in touch.
Nerds, tell us what can we do better or differently to lure you back next time.
Finally, an extra special thank you for anyone I may have fool-heartedly forgotten. C’mere, you…
Twin Cities EE, serving Franconia Sculpture Park
The Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen, serving Little Voyageurs Montessori School
Team Pegacorn, serving Metro CISM Team
Honorable-honorable mention:
The Return of the Team Redundancy Team Part 2, serving Minnesota Environmental Partnership.
CodeX, serving Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless.
Push N Run, serving Hourcar
Raxacoricofallapatorius, serving The Windmill Project.
PHP Nerds- Beta, serving Answer
Drupal Rocks!, serving Bakken Museum.
Full Court WordPress, serving Youth Performance Company
Ruby.MN, serving Career Solutions Inc.
Team BIOS, serving Community Neighborhood Housing Services
Drop Shadows Not Bombs, serving North Star Therapy Animals
Run PHP, Cancer Legal Line
Get Off My LAN, serving TVBYGIRLS
Ruby Off Rails, serving Center for Homicide Research
Sleep-Deprivation Research Team #4, serving The Valley Friendship Club
During more normal business hours the more than 4,200 hours of pro bono services freely given would have a real-world street value of about half-a-million dollars. The 18 nonprofits were chosen from a field of more than 80 applicants, and the 18 teams were picked from a field of 34.
The Nerdery wishes to thank everyone involved – volunteers, nonprofits, judges and sponsors alike – for using their time and talent to help others. Event sponsors: VISI; Benchmark Learning; Arthouse; Bacio; Crave; Espresso Royale; GitHub; Gyropolis; Izzy’s; Jimmy Johns, The Lacek Group; MinneWebCon, Peace Coffee; Pizza Luce’; Red Bull; Sopranos Kitchen; St. Agnes Baking Co.; Unwind Within; Zelo.
Judges (selected nonprofits, will also pick winning dev team)
· Christine Durand, communication director, Minnesota Council of Nonprofits
· Christian Erickson, principal, Zeus Jones
· Jamey Erickson, founder and creative director, Sevnthsin
· Dana Nelson, executive director, GiveMN.org
Since 2008, volunteers from the interactive community have donated more than $2.5 million worth of professional services to 84 nonprofits in Minnesota and Illinois. The Nerdery continues to consider this just a good start.
To hear about future nerdathons and relive this one, visit:
Twitter: @the_nerdery #webchallenge
Blog.nerdery.com
Facebook.com/TheNerdery
Vimeo.com/thenerdery
flickr.com/photos/nerdery
Previous media coverage: http://tc2012.overnightwebsitechallenge.com/media
This weekend, this event enters its fifth year with all the wide-eyed wonder of your typical four-year-old. As proud parents of our still-maturing nerdathon, we seek continued progress – and our eyes light up when we see it.
Competition to get into the 2012 Twin Cities Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge was tougher than ever as more than 34 teams applied and more than 80 nonprofits lined up for a shot at pro bono services. For your team or nonprofit, such incremental growth suggests you’re fairly fortunate just to be here. Glad you could make it.
Last August, this initiative grew up even more when we took the show on the road, organizing ten development teams to serve ten nonprofits in Chicago at the first-ever Web Challenge away from the Twin Cities. All roads lead from here.
A couple years ago the late great Luke Bucklin said, “We are committed to this event as long as there are good nonprofits whose websites could be better, powered by nerds.” Still, we consider our progress just a good start. Both of these blanket statements will always be true, just as we’ll always be grateful to our colleagues, partners, sponsors and, ultimately, friends throughout our community who rally around the cause – and the causes of so many nonprofits who earn this rare opportunity.
This weekend, volunteers will give the nonprofits they’ll come to know about half-a-million dollars worth of their time and talent – pretty good work for a four-year-old.
Whether you’re on the giving end or the receiving end of this bargain, thanks for being a part of an ever-growing initiative.
Yours truly,
Mike Derheim, CEO and Co-President, The Nerdery
Several nerds and nonprofits are about to find out they’ve been selected for the 2012 Twin Cities Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge, and they’ll be stoked. Most of the volunteers know from experience what they’re getting themselves into while the nonprofits are complete newbs who’ll also soon learn what to expect when expecting nerds.
The fine facilities we rent at the U of M for this shindig will somewhat comfortably accommodate 18 teams and their designated nonprofits, meaning several well-meaning, completely qualified teams of volunteer web pros and all-too-many needy nonprofit organizations will be disappointed. We’ll keep doing this, so please keep trying – maybe we’ll get the Metrodome or some other bigger tent next time around.
The envelope, please …
The nonprofits are:
Volunteer teams are:
Huge thanks to the judges who helped sellect the nonprofits:
More at http://tc2012.overnightwebsitechallenge.com/ and http://nerdery.com/news.
