Wednesday, September 2

Need help in naming an event - got some ideas?

In July, a bunch of people on the nextNY email list were discussing an event that happened in San Francisco:
This was all over the news here (bay area) last week:

http://www.jobnob.com/blog/2009/05/jobnob-san-francisco-happy-hour-be...

Basically Jobnob was hosting a happy hour calling unemployed people to come and join startups, but, without pay. So many people showed up that they couldn't get much done and the startups there were overwhelmed. This of course surprised most people. Something to think about."

Moreover, there are laid off people on severance who will lose their severance if they take a paying job. Some of these individuals may be interested in "sweat-for-equity" positions at startups (I've spoken to a few).

Should NYC have an "unpaid" job fair trying to connect these people with startups similar to the one out in San Francisco?

I'm not suggesting it makes sense for laid off people to take unpaid jobs instead of looking for their next paying job, but could be an opportunity for those on severance looking to contribute to a promising early stage NYC startup.

Just a thought.
So - a group of us got together and have been working to make this happen. The challenge is - how to name the event effectively.

Details for Naming
Usually, when I collaborate with a company - I talk about the target customers they are aiming for to help attract the correct people to a product (in this case, an event).

We are planning on having 100 companies take tables at the event, and having no more than 6 people per table at one time. We are expecting a wide turnout - guestimating around 3000 seekers.

The offer (similar to what the Levin Institute is doing) is a 10 week, 10 hour per week commitment to each side of the relationship - where the professional is giving the company a trial period of experience - so that both sides get an understanding of the skills and opportunites of each other.

Our key words that we are speaking toward are respect, relationships and professionalism. We break them down as follows:
  • Respect for individuals and companies - since both are hard hit in these times
  • Relationships - because every business engagement is a relationship
  • Professionalism - because this is about being professional on both sides of the table
Our target audiences are the professionals that are looking for opportunities and the companies/startups/non-profits that are interested in engaging talent for the purposes of growing themselves and the skilled talent.

We have come up with a couple of names - but I am trying to come up with the right one - and we are stuck (or at least I am). Each of these names have the same tag line - Connecting Skilled Professionals with Opportunities:
  • unpaidjobfair.com
  • cultivatenewyork.org
  • positionaudition.com
  • linkupnyc.org
I like one of them in particular, but I could use your help in figuring out which is better and which we should choose.

Please comment below and I will follow up.

Thanks!

P.S. You can see the notes of our efforts here: http://bit.ly/k8zk7

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I know you're focusing on startups here, but I run a meetup that is heavily attended by cultural organizations and non-profits. A lot of them have tech and creative needs that they can't necessarily afford to pay for, so they end up doing nothing and fall behind the curve.

I've been wanting to do some sort of speed-dating style event to facilitate matchmaking between institutions and developers/designers/creatives looking for exposure and to build up their portfolios with reputable cultural companies (major museums, galleries, etc). Was thinking of doing an event similar to this, but would be great to maybe join forces...

Greg Palmer said...

I like Cultivate NY because it references creativity and growth.

(Also, I owe you an e-mail).

Lee said...

Cultivate

Anonymous said...

GroundSwell
BarnraiseNYC
GroupStart

Sanford said...

Greg/Lee/Rob - thanks alot for your ideas.