StartupCity- startup showcase, conference, unconference all under one roof….

The Smart Techie (the technology magazine) is organizing an event called Startup City- this is a potpourri of a conference, unconference (birds of a feather gatherings) and industrial exhibition style startup showcase booths. The event is slated for the 24th of May in Bangalore. The formalized conference is a day long event and features prominent industry members, VCs etc (the agenda is here). Startups wanting to exhibit their product or conduct live demo sessions would have to pay 30K for a 3X2 metre booth. Quite a few startups have signed up already - Sloka, Netcore, Pramati, mChek etc). Attending the event is complimentary for technical professionals- they have to register using this form and once approved, the invitation will be emailed back. Alongside the conference & the startup exhibition, there will be a closed door CEO conclave, to be attended by CEOs and Managing Directors of over 150 startups. This is to facilitate an informal discussion amongst the senior management about best practices.

The event is sponsored by Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, Nokia & Amazon.

To facilitate networking during the event, the event organisers have created an online tool called Smart Connect. Attendees can log into the tool and find out who else is attending, send them messages and even connect with the speakers before the event itself. Sounds quite an idea.. lets hope this actually works out well.

I am a trifle intrigued by the idea of startup showcase booths. While I am not attending the event itself, I’d be interested in knowing how this actually works out. We have all become used to the idea of startup presentations, live demos etc in a conference or unconference style setting. Can startup demo booths prove more effective in catching attention and creating awareness? Do any of the readers of this blog have any prior experience of this? How does this actually work out? Do share your feedback in the comments section.

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