Throughout Big Omaha 2012, mentions of “interconnectedness” have been hard to miss. Interconnectedness is a major theme for Big Omaha 2012, and one local company with some Big Omaha history is helping spread that theme. What Cheer, an Omaha-based web strategy and design company, is back with another Big Omaha gem called Small Talk.
Small Talk is a web-based chat application made specifically for attendees at Big Omaha. There is no app to download, so all users have to do is visit bigomaha.com/smalltalk on their phone or tablet and begin making direct and instant contact with anyone attending the conference.
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Alex Gates (from left), John Hobbs and John Henry Müller of What Cheer have created several apps for Big Omaha since the event’s inception.
What Cheer is no stranger to working with Big Omaha. The team done something special for the conference every year since the inaugural event in 2009. Here are the links to their past projects:
- 2009 – Before the first Big Omaha, the hype was building and What Cheer wanted to do something special around their love for Omaha. This was the birth date of the original “I live in Omaha.” at an unofficial pre-party.
- 2010 – What Cheer hosted/sponsored the official pre-party with an early internet theme called “Network Neighborhood.” You may remember the incredible MIDI music.
- 2011 – What Cheer created the 2011 QR code find and seek game which was very popular among Big O. attendees.
- 2012 – And of course this year, What Cheer molded Small Talk.
One of the problems of Big Omaha is not getting the chance to connect with all the smart and interesting people you intended to in a few short days. Even in a great social environment, like Big Omaha, some people have a hard time meeting new people. We wanted to help the shy guy (staring at his phone in the corner) initiate valuable new connections.
We thought a messaging application made sense to help solve these problems and support the interconnectedness theme.
SPN: How did the ticket giveaway go leading up to Big Omaha?
JHM: Great! This year for our ticket giveaway, we created an Omahawide Hot or Cold game. Players would move around the city and the website (on their geo-enabled smartphone) would give them “hot” or “cold” clues based on their location. We had a lot of people following along online on the live map. http://iliveinomaha.com/hotorcold/
SPN: What originally attracted What Cheer to Big Omaha and why did you want to be involved?
JHM: I knew both Dusty and Jeff from the creative/tech community before they started Silicon Prairie News. When they announced they were putting on a conference I had no idea what was in store. The mission of Big Omaha aligns nicely with that of What Cheer.
SPN: Briefly touch on how or why Big Omaha aligns with the mission of What Cheer?
JHM: We’ve worked with a lot of great startups and love the culture and energy around startups. We also love Omaha and believe anything can be done here in the Midwest.
Silicon Prairie News’ coverage of Big Omaha 2012 is presented by CoSentry. For more than a decade, CoSentry has provided startups, web-based enterprises and larger organizations a safe, secure, affordable network of computing and data storage facilities.
Learn more about CoSentry at cosentry.com.
