I often ponder why I moved back to the great Pacific Northwest after studying (& playing) in the California sun?! It's definately not the weather. It must be the air-waves or caffeine they put in the water...or entrepreneur zing in the gas. Maybe it's the amazing sunsets on a summer evening?

Whatever the case, Scientific American thought Seattle was it, voting it the top city for technology. Now, if we could just get a network of angel investors up here!

We hear all the time about city and governments lobbying for improvements in their local resources. Libraries included. You would think it would be all about acquiring new books or computers. Nope. In this day and age of Social Media, corporate downsizing, and working virtual, libraries are fast becoming small meeting havens. Think about it. It's quiet; no loud Starbucks in the background. It's resourceful; plenty of free wi-fi, clean bathrooms, and newspapers and magazines to browse. Finally, it's free.

For the community of Niles, Illinois (just outside Chicago), they seem to be in the heat of battle. Their library is due to be receiving some funds and the town is up in arms on how to spend it. Books v. meeting space.

These are just the types of problems we like to see! :)

There are a lot of articles out there today that focus on building your company exposure thru SEO/SEM, analytics, PPC/CPC, banner advertising...yada yada.

However, but what happended to good ol' fashion articles on why and how to build a good website? Well, I happen to stumble upon a good one yesterday on Slate.com. This one, focused on the suckiness of restaurant & hospitality websites and why they suck. Hmmmm...I thought for a moment. Really...even when we have great sites like Urbanspoon, Yelp, and others?  I couldn't resist given we run into this all the time at eVenues. We've asked ourselves the same question time and time again as we find cool meeting venues and spaces that don't have any website, let along a page, mention or sliver of info by a venue. Wow, I can only imagine how much $$$ each are leaving on the table. Go figure.

Anyway, this article suggests nothing new or innovative, but rather a focus on simplicity with some good reminders. Happy reading - click on picture below.