Another quarter, another TECH cocktail. And another great time.

Frank Gruber and Eric Olson (seen here confessing) continue to do a fantastic job with the event. TC4’s venue, John Barleycorn in Wrigleyville, accommodated the crowd much better than TC3’s Amira (see our TC3 review). And unlike Amira, the managers at Barleycorn saw fit to provide more than two bartenders.

Event Overview

For those who are unfamiliar with TECH cocktail, it began as a relatively informal event at State. Publicized via word-of-mouth and blogs, the event drew about 150 people, mostly Chicago techies and bloggers. TC2, held at the Gramercy, was packed–something around 350 showed–and the venue bulged at the seams. More biz types showed for TC2. TECH cocktail 3 was held at Amira in the NBC Tower and brought even more business types, recruiters, and B2B folks. In my view, it lost some of the grassroots flavor of #1 and #2.

I think TC4 regained some of the original flavor, although it’s lost a bit of the spontaneity. For this episode, Frank and Eric established a hard limit of 500 RSVPs. The event “sold out” in under 24 hours, but the attendees were mostly folks plugged into Chicago technology, rather than hangers-on (who can’t be blamed for flocking to an open bar!).

I think the limit on RSVPs helped, but I’d suggest Frank and Eric send some sort of “pre-invitation” to the principals in Chicago tech. I know some people who should have attended but weren’t able to RSVP in time.

Highlights of the Night

• A 6 foot llama. The llama is the mascot of Audiosnacks, a company founded by Chicago’s Mike Salvatore. Judging by the number of photos from TC4 involving the llama and twentysomething girls (that one’s with Kristen Nicole of 606tech/Mashable), I’m planning to borrow the costume for my next non-TC outing to Barleycorn.
• Dayglo beer (2.5 free hours worth of it). Singlehop’s Matt Wolff (seen here with Jeff O’Hara making a face at me) seems to have a thing for glow-in-the-dark. Last time it was martinis, this time it was beer.
• Gumballs. Distributed once again by the Singlehop girls, the most popular of which was certainly Allison.
• Apple TV, as in a free Apple TV. Brad won one from Transwestern. I don’t know Brad’s last name but I can still envy him.
• The Wii. Two Nintendo Wii’s were set up at the back of the room for entertainment. I would’ve played but I kept within 5 feet of the bar at all times.
• Sportcoats and Menuism t-shirts. The outfit of the night.

You can find information on all the event sponsors and demos at the TECH cocktail blog. FYI, the winning demo (as driven by text message votes) was Menuism’s. (Also see the WindyBits interview with Menuism.)

Also see the TC4 photos at Flickr, which are tagged with “techcocktail4.” You can even find pictures of yours truly.

Conclusion

TECH cocktail continues to be the biggest and best party in Chicago tech. Each TC has been held in a different venue, but I hope they stick with Barleycorn in the future: the room is the right size, with plenty of space for demos; the bar is big and easily accessible; and the room is wide open (compared to the narrow spaces at Amira and the Grammercy).

Organizer Frank Gruber, seen here looking popular, summed it up by saying, “With TECH cocktail 4 offering lots of fun activities and another excellent turnout, which included an appearance by the 6 plus foot llama, I think this might have been our best TECH cocktail yet.”

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 15th, 2007 at 1:42 pm and is filed under Articles. Both comments and pings are currently closed.