A look back at Big Omaha 2011: Day 2 speakers and closing party photos

Pulling up a front row seat at the request of Hauser, speaker Philip Kaplan joined attendees for optimal viewing in one of the best seats in the house. Below are a few of the best from our collection from Friday, May 13 (all taken by Malone & Company).

Some say a picture is worth a thousand words, and they may very well be correct. As we continue to reminisce about this year’s Big Omaha, we find ourselves saying the same. With each of the photos taken by Malone & Company, it’s hard not to share your reflections and experiences from the conference. We’ve put together a spread of photos to take us through each day of the conference, providing enough snippets that there may be more than a thousand words to say.

Below are a few of the best from our collection from Friday, May 13 (all taken by Malone & Company). To see pictures from the Big Omaha Opening Party presented by Rackspace, see our post: “A look back at Big Omaha 2011: Opening party photos,” and for pictures from the first day of speakers, see: “A look back at Big Omaha 2011: Day 1 speakers and concert photos.”

When Friday kicked off, the Twitterverse kept buzzing. Attendees and fans of Big Omaha were busy live-tweeting more than 6,500 times during the conference and more than 9,000 times overall (as of May 15) with the hashtag #bigomaha.

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Quite a few attendees were jumping for joy (more than 23 tried jumping attempts) to be back for another day of speakers, and Malone & Company‘s photo booth captured all their excitement along the way. Available during both days of the conference and the opening party, this photo booth allowed attendees the freedom to play photographer with one simple click. To see all the attendee self-portraits, see flickr.com/photos/siliconprairienews

Back and ready for action, Big Omaha co-founders Jeff Slobotski and Dusty Davidson rehashed the happenings from the day before and prepared attendees for what to expect from the second full day of speakers.

With one full day of standing ovations under their belt, attendees gave their quads another workout with each speaker they welcomed to the stage. This is the second year for the welcoming ovations, a tradition started by MC David Hauser.

At it again, MC David Hauser of Grasshopper kept up the Big Omaha pace and energy, guiding attendees through another jam-packed day of speakers.

Pulling up a front row seat at the request of Hauser, speaker Philip Kaplan joined attendees for optimal viewing in one of the best seats in the house.

In anticipation for the new Ben Nelson Hair Force One app, Nebraska senior Senator Ben Nelson stopped by to pitch a few entrepreneurial goals and a bit of humor to the Big Omaha crowd. Nelson was just one of the notable Nebraskans to stop by the conference as Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle also made an appearance.

Exploding to the stage once again, Big Omaha veteran Gary Vaynerchuk started the morning’s presentations with simple messages that shook the crowd and awoke their core. Context and ideas are “king” and that was just the start of what Gary had to say. For more on Gary’s super-charged talk, see our post: “Gary Vaynerchuk: ‘For the first time ever your ears matter more than your mouth.’ “

During Gary’s presentation he called a line of attendees to the stage for a Q&A sessions yielding questions from many – even from those who tried to match his intensity. Some like, Ef Rodriguez may have nailed it – or, at least it looks like they had tried.

Sometimes doodles are just doodles, other times they are works of art. At Big Omaha 2011, Jeremy Harrington took a different approach to simple doodles and created elaborate sketchnotes documenting every detail of the conference presentations triggering a unique way to recall the days. For more on this memorable work, see our post: “Jeremy Harrington sketches out Big Omaha 2011.”

“In my career,” Philip Kaplan said, “the most success I’ve had is when I’ve gotten in over my head.” And, with the stories he shared, Philip followed Gary’s lead and took his own spin on the impact of fear, peppering his talk with personal experiences of successful and steps budding entrepreneurs can take to do the same. For more on @pud‘s talk, see our post: “Philip Kaplan: Turning cool ideas into successful companies.”

Conference attendees were truly living in solidarity with Oprah this year, everybody got not one – but, two books at the conference. That’s right, in addition to Sarah Lacy‘s book, every conference attendee received a copy of Gary’s “The Thank You Economy,” and each had the opportunity to share a moment with the man himself. Pictured above, Gary Vaynerchuk and Big Omaha event coordinator Danny Schreiber tag team to distribute one of Slobotski’s Favorite Things.

It’s hard not to crack a smile when you’re around this guy, and Jeff and Dusty know this all too well. In his third visit to the conference in its three year history, Gary Vaynerchuk has become a staple addition to the Big Omaha lineup. 

For a man who chooses glasses as a fashion accessory, Neil Blumenthal of Warby Parker framed the eyeglass industry through a new lens for the Big Omaha audience. In his presentation, he asked attendees to think about what products and clothing they choose to buy and how for-profit companies can utilize this consumer help as a catalyst for change. For more clarity on his vision, see our post: “Neil Blumenthal: ‘Glasses are fun, but they are un-fun when they are $500.’ “

Sharing a very personal journey on his trials to become the man and entrepreneur he is today, 2009 Big Omaha veteran Micah Baldwin of Graphicly delivered a sincere message to “always be honest with yourself” and “always do the right thing.” See more on Micah’s presentation see our post: “Big Omaha 2011: Day 2 live blog.”

Big Omaha attendee Trent Allen sits near “This Strange Phase,” an art installation featuring video fragments and pieces of poems projected onto hand-painted wooden panels. For more on all of this year’s art installations, see our post: “Four artists to exhibit at Big Omaha 2011.” 

The Peerless‘ wall art installation was anything but peerless as it gathered crowds throughout the day to view “This Strange Phase.” In the photo above, two of the three artists, Caleb Coppock and Daphne Eck explain the piece and its integration of art and technology to Big Omaha attendee Tim GuthrieFor more on this art installation, see our post: “This Strange Phase provides ‘zentastic’ escape.”

From attendees to speakers – speaker Sarah Lacy was a fan – found the Proxibid simulcast room a great place to retreat from the main stage activities and still stay connected to the action. Complete with low lights and plenty of elbow room to strike the keys and blog, many conference-goers saw this area as a place to enjoy a snack and watch the conference from a different view.

Urban apparel designer and pop-culture icon Marc Eckō presented his take on the transformative power behind authenticity and how to ‘keep it real,’ even throwing in an old school reference to Milli Vanilli to cement his point. Read more on how Eckō kept it real and the mathematics behind his brand, see our post: “Marc Eckō: ‘Just because you talk about it doesn’t mean you did it.’ “

From hustle, fear and the act of faking it to make it, Travis Kalanick of Uber shared with the Big Omaha crowd some straight-shooting lessons he has learned as an entrepreneur. For more pointers from his talk, see our post: Travis Kalanick: ‘Whatever it is that you’re afraid of, go after it’

It could have been hard to tell whether Marc Eckō was a conference-speaker or conference-goer by the way he integrated himself into the conference. From blogging in the bloggers’ lounge to hanging out in the halls of KANEKO, attendees were impressed with his and many other speakers’ willingness to interact on- and off- stage and join in the spirit of the conference. 

Addressing the crowd from a seated position, in his fireside-like chat Bo Fishback of Zaarly revealed an honest look at the hopes and fears of his emerging startup. He talked about the expectations of creating something that’s never been done before and provided examples of how this service works –  for example, Zaarly-ing for a glass of milk. If Fishback was looking to do something that had never been done before he found space in the Big Omaha pasture. For more on the sincere vision for Fishback’s startup and his milk-requesting antics, see our post: “Bo Fishback: ‘Learning really fast is way more important than being an expert.’ “

With Fishback’s subtle on-stage mention for a glass of milk, the Zaarly team had arranged for a little visit from a Nebraska dairy farm friend to fulfill his request and quench his thirst. 

After a few weeks of mooing in the Twitterfield, the mysterious @BigOmahaCow revealed itself as a bovine part of Zaarly’s team when it was usher into KANEKO to deliver Fishback’s Zaarly request. @BigOmahaCow: Told you all I’d be here! #bigomaha http://flic.kr/p/9HaoYB 8:-O

Not quite the drink you’d expect minutes before the start of the Happy Hour presented by Yahoo! but this fresh bottle of milk was Fishback’s beverage of choice as he finished the speaker presentations and closed the Big Omaha 2011 conference with some barnyard brouhaha.

Big thanks to Malone & Company for documenting the movement of the conference. To view the complete album of Big Omaha Day 3 and all other conference photos, see flickr.com/photos/siliconprairienews.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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