As we approach “the wee hours of the morning,” I’m thoroughly impressed by the professional efforts the Overnight Website Challenge developers and non-profits continue to put into their websites.  The night hasn’t been without much-needed stretch breaks, power outages and plenty of caffeine, but every one is hanging in there. At the time of this posting, the teams have five hours left to code.

Below are links to stories of the interested media since beginning of the day yesterday.

KARE 11

Minnov8 Podcast

Pioneer Press’ Leslie Suzukamo

WCCO and Fox9 News also covered the event, so we will share those links are they posted.

On a cold Minnesota morning, 12 non-profits were introduced to the web development teams that will transform their websites within the next 24 hours.

The paired teams are:

Code Cowboys and Access Press
Model.Citizens and Athletes Committed to Educating Students
Groovy Goolies and Battered Women’s Legal Advocacy Project
Namaste and Caring for Kids Initiative
Praxis and District 202
Team Inetium and Friends of Fort Snelling
The Kibarian Express and Global Citizens Network
TC Open Circuit and Hopkins Minnetonka Family Resource Center
Team IB (returning champions from last year’s event) and Rein in Sarcoma Foundation
Ruby.MN 2.2 and Resource Center of the Americas
Pollywog Stew and Students Today, Leaders Forever
Mighty Polymorphin Power Rangers: Extra Awesome and YEA Corps

While all the non-profits are participating for the first time, there are many familiar faces from last year’s event.

KARE 11 made an appearance around 12:30 p.m. and interview Mark Hurlburt and Mark Malmberg, the creators of this event. Keep an eye on the news at 5 and 6 p.m. for us!

Throughout all of February, my excitement has been building up for the end of the month.

No, not for March Madness.

Sierra Bravo’s Overnight Website Challenge is happening again! This Saturday, 12 web development teams will be paired with 12 non-profits to create a sparkly, new website for the non-profits – within 24 hours.

Last year, VISI was a presenting sponsor of the event and offered a free year of web hosting to each of the newly created websites. This year, we are proud to be back sponsoring the event and offering the same free hosting to these deserving non-profits.

Check out last year’s coverage and check out the Overnight Website Challenge page to learn more about this event. I’ll be back in that room with 150 people racing to beat the 24-hour countdown.

Other fun resources about the event:

KARE 11 featured the web challenge already this past Saturday. Check out the video online.

Follow the challenge on Twitter at www.twitter.com/webchallenge and use the hashtag #webchallenge in your updates.

The Non-Profits.

The Teams.

VISI is proud to sponsor the first ever CloudCamp Minneapolis.  CloudCamp is an unconference where early adapters of Cloud Computing technologies exchange ideas. You are encouraged you to share your thoughts in several open discussions. End users, IT professionals and vendors are all encouraged to participate.

Proposed agenda:
9:00 - 10:00 networking, unconference organization
10:00-10:15 Lightning Talks
10:15-11:15 Cloud SME panel
11:30-12:15 Sessions round 1 (4 sessions)
12:15-13:00 Lunch
13:15-14:00 Sessions round 2 (4 sessions)
14:15-15:00 Sessions round 3 (4 sessions)
15:30 After Conference Happy Hour

You can get the rest of the details on the conference and register online at CloudCamp Minneapolis.

I attended the Minnesota High Tech Association (MHTA) CIO Panel for the first time a few weeks ago.  The event was an eye opener — very worthy and without disappointment.  It occurred on our first big snow storm of the year (remember, one of the first days it took two hours to commute to work).

The CIO panelists were fantastic.  The panelists were from the likes of Federated Insurance, Medtronic, Assurant and Honeywell.  They spoke to:

- the change of thinking occuring due to the economy

- the growth and mentoring of technology professionals

- the balance of local to globalized business and product offerings

I posted a copy of the presentations online.  You can find out more about MHTA at www.mhta.org.