There are two major industries in Los Angeles, tech and entertainment. When it comes to bringing them together, LA has emerged as the clear leader.
I thrived in the international community in Tokyo. Coming back to America, at first I missed being a leader of this and that, and being a regular at networking hives like the Economist group.
Today I happily participate in the Los Angeles scene instead.
So much has happened in the networking scene in one year.
On-line, I got a head-start on Twitter and watched it go mainstream. Facebook now hums with adults. Spurred by the gradually deteriorating economy, LinkedIn has more, well, links.
IRL (in real life) meet-ups and on-line relationships intertwine. One of the fascinating pieces of glue pulling them together is photography. Flickr’s storage platform and FacebooK’s photo tagging system makes timely sharing easy.
Over this year Wm. Marc Salsberry has emerged as The Man taking tech glitterati photos in Los Angeles. There are other shooters of course, including my fabulous husband Ray, who took this popular photo of Marc January 11th as we exited PhotoLA.
Wm. Marc Salsberry by Ray Gordon
A year ago, Kevin Winston, My Space movie marketer, was just starting up Digital LA. Now attendees from Sony Pictures, Yahoo!, FOX Interactive Media, Google, Disney, WB, NBC, Vivendi Games, and other entertainment, studios, ad agencies, startups, and tech companies mingle at sold-out monthly gatherings. The January 28th happening at Coco DeVille was electric.
Kevin Winston and I at WebTV Jan 15
Feb 5th, I got a Social Networking Insider newsletter from Marc Lesnick and Mark Brooks that read:
SNC2009 West will be in Los Angeles and is scheduled for (June 25-26). We’ve moved it from SF to LA because … LA is becoming the new ‘hot area’ for tech.
Hollywood Web TV Meet-Ups bring together the Digital Film set. Tubefilter’s Marc Russell Hustvedt hosts these events and recently created an award, the Streamys. I nominated The Last Single Girls webisodes series that The Courage Group produced with Jerusha Stewart. The February 4th meet-up at maniaTV Studios was immense. My marketing savvy NYC pal, Tim McHale recently concurred with me that LA is where digital film is happening.
Sean Michael Beyer and I taken by Kent Schmidt at WebTV Feb 4
Efren Toscano and his handsome TechZulu crew are out and about live streaming the key LA tech meetups, including BarCampLA Oct 26 at Mahalo headquarters where I spoke on “Single Life: On-Line/Off-Line Integration”. TechZulu celebrates their one year anniversary February 11th at the Beverly Wilshire Sidebar.
We’ll be at TwistUP 5 February 12th at Santa Monica airport. SingularCity is a media sponsor.
The women in tech and film in LA are not being left behind.
LaLaWag got me on video at Girls in Tech, answering a question no one else had a real answer to, “Who are the female heroes of tech?” My answer: Esther Dyson!
Robyn Nicole Cohen), Girls in Tech LA host, here with Jackie Peters and Laurie Percival @V Lounge Jan 27. Photo by Wm. Marc Salsberry
Jackie Peters, founding partner of Heavy Bag Media, hosts SMCLA events. January 11th, we enjoyed her Sunday brunch. Here’s Anita Ondine who was on her “Social Media Club LA – Focus on Film” panel (photo by Ray Gordon).
You never know when everyone’s favorite recruiter, Melissa Hooven, may show up so make sure to have enough business cards on hand.
Melissa Hooven, Marsha Collier and I on New Years Day at the Belvedere (photo by Ray Gordon)
Famous author of the eBay for Dummies series, Marsha Collier, and I will be at Lotay Yang‘s Black Card Circle Foundation Black Tie at the Ritz Carlton Feb 7.
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