08 Oct

Weekly Wrap Up – 10.8.10

The “Weekly Wrap Up” post is published every Friday and highlights the concluding week’s activities and events through text, images and video. I hope you enjoy and encourage you to subscribe via RSS and/or Email.

My Friday morning coffee is the start of the end of the week. I am looking forward to relaxing this weekend. It will be the first time in months I have not been traveling, attending networking events or involved in other engagements. My free schedule, coupled with the weatherman’s prediction of 70 degrees and sunny, provide me with endless opportunities of how to spend my time.

The highlight of my week was Tuesday night. Recently I have been becoming more active on Brazen Careerist, an online network of young professionals. The site is continuously improving its User Interface (UI) and adding additional functions; this week was no different. Network Roulette was BETA tested twice this week. The plug-in, aimed at helping users build and manage their network, is described by Brazen as “online speed dating that’s actually useful!”

The concept is simple, combine a real life networking event – elevator pitches and all – with online networking, add a touch of speed dating, and the result: Network Roulette. Each of the 400 participants logged on between 8-9PM EST on Tuesday evening and answered two simple questions in less than 140-characters:

  1. What are you looking for?
  2. What are you providing?

All participants were randomly paired together for 3-minute sessions. Users were able to “next” their conversation to move onto a new contact, or add the other participant to their network on Brazen’s online community. I participated in the test-run for a mere 30 minutes and was introduced to 10 new and interesting young professionals. All were from varying fields at different stages of their careers. However, everyone shared a common interest: the desire to build their community and interact with their new contacts.

The feature was once again tested last night, but I was unable to partake due to a scheduling conflict. I look forward to being able to utilize Network Roulette at any time through the Brazen Careerist website. I encourage all of my readers to visit their site, create a profile, become involved, and of course, try out the Network Roulette feature.

I am looking forward to playing golf before the end of the season, reading in my backyard and attending the Alpine Classic Invitational Car show this coming Sunday. Following my relaxing weekend I will be returning, once again, to my alma mater, Skidmore College. This coming weekend is not only Celebration Weekend and my “Zero Year Reunion,” but the first alumni event for the Skidmore Wombats Ultimate Frisbee team.