Do you know an incredible individual or tech company deserving of some recognition for their accomplishments? The NCET Awards will honor those who have “greatly enhanced the growth and prestige of Greater Reno-Tahoe’s technology community.” Nominations are now open, with a deadline of October 1. An awards dinner will be held at Reno’s Peppermill Hotel on October 21, 2008 following the Silver & Gold Venture Capital Conference.

Download Nomination Forms Here

Categories:

People

• Technology Entrepreneur of the Year
• CIO / CTO of Year
• Technology Educator of the Year

Companies

• Technology Company of Year
• Technology Start-up
• Green Company of the Year

View awards criteria here

Awards Dinner – October 21, 2008
Peppermill Hotel Casino, Reno
following the Silver & Gold Venture Capital Conference

Please submit each nomination on a separate form. Nominations must be received by October 1, 2008.

I’ve spent about two weeks there over this summer. Between the Utah Transit Authority’s rail system, my bike and some creative carpooling I didn’t have to drive to one meeting, or even to our offices in Draper. It was like living in San Francisco yet surrounded by mountains and ski resorts. Every time I hang out in downtown catching great music shows (like Lucero and Langhorne Slim) I can’t help but think that Reno is but 20 years behind in size yet poised with the opportunity to focus our town’s growth curve with more emphasis on land resource planning, mass transit and all the green-in-between. Where Salt Lake will suffer is that their hockey-stick growth phase occurred during cheap gas and real estate. Consequently their town is a very car-dependent culture where people live dozens and dozens of miles from their place of work.

So back to Reno:

Jason Geddes kicks ass. Not only does he share in my penchant for cowboy boots, shirts with mother-of-pearl buttons and chasing Chukar, but he’s local visionary leader that’s dragging Reno (sometimes kicking and screaming) into a future that I want to live in. A Winnemucca/Gabbs native, petroleum chemist and former State Assemblyman, Jason assisted Chuck Alvey take the patchouli-edge off of “green” in the EDAWN business development and economic diversification dialog and made huge progress in his time there. Currently he’s a Regent with the University of Nevada and serves the City of Reno as our town’s Environmental services Administrator. He’s also married to Cindy Geddes who’s one of the best writers here locally.

Jason got the Green Summit off of the ground last year. The first Green Summit was held in April of 2007 and served as a dialogue between Council, staff, and citizens on what the City could do to make Reno more “green”. There were almost 400 people in attendance. The 2008 Green Summit is intended to be a report back to the community on action taken since the last summit, and a continued dialogue on what the City should have as priorities in the 2008-2009 Green Action plan.

[Side note: Jason works with another great organization in this community, Nevada EcoNET. Every Wednesday night this summer the City of Reno's West Street Market features “Eco-Nights” produced by Nevada EcoNet. Click here to read about it. Props to Lauren Siegel and the City of Reno for putting this on!] 

Here’s the deets on the 2008 City of Reno Green Summit:

Location: Joe Crowley Student Union-Ballroom, University of Nevada, Reno

Time: 1-5pm, Date: September 20

Program:

• 1:00-1:45 Welcome by Mayor and Council and Report to Community
• 1:45-2:30 Keynote Speaker- Rocky Anderson, Former Mayor of Salt Lake City
• 2:30-3:00 Break
• 3:00-5:00 Concurrent Break-Out Sessions –Moderated
• A- Single Stream Recycling and Plastic Bag Bans
• B- Education/Youth Programs-EnAct/Youth City Council
• C- Green Building and Sierra Green Guidelines
• D- Transportation

Keynote Speaker – The Honorable Rocky Anderson, founder of High Road for Human Rights, practiced law for 21 years; representing plaintiffs in antitrust, securities fraud, professional negligence, and civil rights cases. He then served as mayor of Salt Lake City from 2000 to 2008.

His comprehensive environmental programs, including an aggressive climate protection campaign, achieved a 31% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in Salt Lake City’s municipal operations.

For his leadership on climate change, Anderson received the Climate Protection Award from the EPA, the Distinguished Service Award from the Sierra Club, and the World Leadership Award from the World Leadership Forum.

Anderson is now working to achieve municipal and regional support for climate protection initiatives and to provide grassroots education and advocacy opportunities in the areas of human rights and climate change.

  Incidentally, here’s some photos I snapped on the ‘ol trusty Nokia N95 while I was roaming downtown Salt Lake City with @leilanis during National Ride Your Bike to Work Week campaign. Obviously I thought it was brilliant!

Wednesday Eco Nights: Every Wednesday through Sept. 10 from 5-9 p.m. on West Street in downtown Reno. For more info (and details on exhibiting) visit http://www.cityofreno.com/Index.aspx?page=1517, call (775) 323-3433 or e-mail lauren@nevadaeconet.org.

Upcoming Eco Market Themes:

7/16 – Eco-Wild: Lion, Snakes, and Bears…Oh my!!
7/23 – Eco-Building: Build it Organic
7/30 – Eco-Tourism: Explore Nevada
8/6 – Eco-Transport: Offset the Carbon Footprint
8/13 – Eco-Education: Green Back to School
8/20 – Eco-Camp: Zero Waste Burn
8/27 – Eco-Health: Beauty Doesn’t Hurt
9/3 – Eco-Waste: Cradle to Cradle
9/10 – Eco-Energy: Energize your Conservation

(Lots of cool things happening at West Street Market this summer including “Artisan Fridays” with the Holland Project on Friday evenings through Sept. 12, from 5-9 p.m. Saturday mornings will feature a Farmers and Chefs market starting this Saturday, beginning July 19 and running through Sept. 17, from 9 a.m.-1 p.m.)

Online Registration:
Members: Free
Students, AMA, A2N2 Members $20
Other Non-Members: $30

At the door:
Members: Free
Students, AMA, A2N2 Members $30
Other Non-Members: $40

More Information

View Map

Register Now

-WiFi Wednesdays
-eWeek 2009
-NCET’s Entrepreneur Expo
-Silver & Gold VC Conference

Tuesday, July 15 – 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
$10 donation
RSVP by Friday, July 11 to Emily@NCET.org

Redfield Campus – Nell J. Redfield Building
18600 Wedge Parkway
Reno, NV 89511
(775) 850-2710

vendors and solutions, as well as the newest innovation for residential customers. Tech Tuesday is Greater Reno-Tahoe’s premier technology and entrepreneurial networking event. Stop by and see what’s new on the tech horizon!

Details: Tuesday, June 17, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.; $10 donation

RSVP to Emily@NCET.org

AT&T: 645 E. Plumb Lane, Reno Nevada (park and enter on the west side of the building off of Yori Avenue and follow signs and balloons to the cafeteria.)

It was a long weekend of shooting and we all had an excellent time staying up all night watching Reno native writer/director Justin Francis work his magic. A Flickr slideshow is here.

A year later, Modest Mouse is playing at the Grand Sierra Resort on Tuesday 5/27 the whole Twelve Horses crew is going to support and draw attention to GabrielsLife.org. Modest Mouse is an amazing band in the first place, but this whole experience has made them even more amazing with the attention it has brought to Reno and to GabrielsLife.org.

The Backstory:

Many of you know my best friend / local attorney Matt Francis. We met on the UNR ski team back in 1988. His younger brother Justin Francis is an amazing music video producer/videographer having done music videos for artists like Gwen Stefani, Alicia Keyes, Mariah Carey, the Hives and on and on and on….they guy never stops shooting videos and commercials.

Anyway, he pitched Modest Mouse on shooting a video of their song “Little Motel” in the town he grew up in, Reno Nevada with a script he had written. He asked Cody to play a role in it. If you’ve not seen the video, now would be a good time to watch it so the rest of this blog post makes sense!

Modest Mouse – Little Motel

For obvious reasons, the subject of the video was difficult at best. My wife and I had our reservations about having our son play a role in such a tragic story. I mean, would you? Every time I watch this video I tear up and cry. If you made it through this video and are still dry-eyed, you’re definitely not a parent!

Leilani, Twelve Horses’ Social Marketing Manager, talked my wife and I in to letting Cody doing the video. I work closely with Leilani every day and she’s been a tremendous role model in my life. If you have had the wonderful opportunity to get to know her, then you are undoubtedly aware of the tragedy in Leilani’s life due to Hydrocephalus and the amazing leadership and courage that has led her to launch GabrielsLife.org. If you’ve never read this story or met Leilani, please take a moment to do so and sup[port this organization. Also, there’s a great story that the local newspaper did here: http://www.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080129/LIV/801290331.

Now it’s almost a year later and I’m reading the hundreds and hundreds of comments of how deeply moved people are by this video Justin wrote.

Our family is absolutely proud of being part of a project that has reminded so many people how precious life is and how powerful connections are. Through family, friends and the online social media, tragedy, writing, creativity and friendly helping people have all had an opportunity to inspire each other. That’s cool.

If you’re in Reno Tuesday, I hope to see you at the Modest Mouse concert! We’ll all be there!

Meeting Agenda:

• Preliminary Mission Statement
• List of Interested Persons  -  Planning, Stages of “Buy-in”
• Training / Knowledge opportunities & resources
• Determination of Entity
• Expected Meeting Time, Place, Frequency
• Timelines, Task Lists
• Budget

RSVP to Emily at Emily@ncet.org or call (775) 337-3328.

It’s the single most important VC conference outside Silicon Valley… and it’s happening right here in Reno October 20 & 21.

The 8th Annual Silver & Gold Venture Capital Conference will bring in a substantial base of actively investing angels and venture capitalists, including many Silicon Valley investors and presenting companies. Conducted by NCET, Nevada’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology, Golden Capital Network and the Sierra Angels, the two-day event will feature 30 – 50 angel investor and VC firms, 30-40 early-stage “presenting” companies, and some serious high-power networking. Learn more about how you can be involved by visiting www.ncet.org/venture-capital-conferences.

Save the Date:

When: October 20 & 21, 2008

Time: 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Location: Peppermill Convention Center, Reno, NV

This was a ski season I’ll never forget. BIG snow in Tahoe. And more BIG snow in Tahoe. New fat skis. New thooperphat skis. Seven a.m. KAAAHHHBOOOOMS as avvy control woke us up to unreal powder.

Dozens of days of good times on the hill with dozens of family, friends and colleagues. Hundreds and hundreds of runs with Logan and Cody. Logan can ski everything now. Cody’s almost there. It’s an unreal feeling to not have to wait for the kids anymore!

The free wifi in the lodge at Alpine Meadows made it a little easier to work/ski/work/ski. And the 450+ inches of snow made it easy to ski and ski and ski and ski.

Sad to see it end, but it’s time to get back on the bikes. Here’s some video clips from today with the LoganCody knuck’n around the hill. ‘Till next season!

Cheney Ave. in Reno. Featuring Mark Norris, Jawsh Hageman and Clint Neuerburg. All ages welcome. Don’t miss it!

Anyway, for those of you who know the little snots, there’s a cool video of the contest. Photos here. Cody’s in the red pants and green sweatshirt. Logan is in all black pants, green sweatshirt. He’s got the yellow Reno Bike Project sticker on top of his helmet. They all got Shane McConkey, Tanner Hall and Johnny Moseley huck dolls and were stoked!