Nathan T. Wright, Andy Brudtkuhl, James Eliason, Karri Wells, Rich Drake, Andrew Roger and Hillary Brown will be presenting at Impromptu Studio for What I Learned at South by Southwest 2009. For those who were not able to attend SXSW you will get to  hear about everything they learned.

Like most of our great events, there will be a keg of beer from Olde Main and snacks on hand donated by Technology Association of Iowa.

RSVP today, tickets are limited.

Over a hundred people showed up to make the Ugly Christmas Sweater party a success. We had Longface Ale and Dinky Wheat from Olde Main (who is quickly becoming our favorite sponsor).  We asked attendees to to bring donations for the Central Iowa Shelter and couldn’t have been more excited about the quantity and quality of items donated.  Jason Walsmith of The Nadas provided the live music for the evening which was made possible by our other sponsor for the evening The Technology Association of Iowa.

After the Ugly Sweater Party we took the donations to the Central Iowa Shelter and started organizing for a New Years Eve dinner at the shelter which we were helping Doug Mitchell and Claire Celsi organize.  Thanks to the Des Moines Register inviting volunteers to join us in serving dinner we had an amazing turn out that night and were able to go out and serve dinner to everyone. Claire was able to get cornbread donated by Famous Dave’s and our own Daniel Shipton made the chili for the evening. Volunteers brought cookies, drinks and all the chili “fixin’s”.

Overall we were very excited that for the holiday season we were able to have fun and really get out and help those less fortunate than ourselves. We want to thank everyone who donated items and their time. It wouldn’t have been a success without you.

Check out our flickr photostream for more pictures of the event!

Impromptu Studio has had tremendous luck when it comes to attracting sponsors for events.  The newest sponsor to step forward to connect with our community is The Technology Assocation of Iowa.

The Technology Association of Iowa bills themselves as the voice of Iowa’s high tech industry:

The Technology Association of Iowa (TAI) is a member-based, not-for-profit organization accelerating the success of Iowa’s technology industry.  TAI works to create and sustain a positive environment for technology-based economic growth and job creation through innovation, advocacy and leadership.  Visit their website at www.technologyiowa.org.

The Technology Association of Iowa also runs the “academy awards” of Iowa’s technology industry, the Prometheus Awards:

Iowa’s largest and most prestigious awards devoted to promoting and celebrating the innovation and high-tech excellence in Iowa. This showcase honors companies and individuals who represent the best and brightest in technology and business and have demonstrated outstanding leadership and innovation. For more information on the 2009 Prometheus Awards and to see the criteria for the 17 award categories, visit www.technologyiowa.org/awards/2009/.  The nomination period ends December 22, 2008.

So, please visit their website to submit your nomination for the 2009 Prometheus Awards. You can also check out @TechnologyIowa on Twitter.

We also want to acknowledge one of our guests favorite sponsors, which is Olde Main Brewery. We reached out to Olde Main through their @OldeMain Twitter account which is ran by Jill Haverkamp.  Jill and the folks at Olde Main have been great to work with and we are glad to work with them again for the Ugly Sweater Party! They will be supplying two kinds of their tasty beer that are brewed locally in Ames, Iowa.  Everyone should stop in at Olde Main when they are in Ames for good eats and great beer.

All of the event info: The Epic Ugly Sweater Party