From improv actors to news hackathons: A recap of DSW and ONA

We’re winding down from an insane week of events and conferences that happened right here in Denver. Denver Startup Week and the Online News Association conference took place last week and we were there in the thick of it. If you weren’t able to attend, or didn’t see us there, here’s a quick recap of what we were up to.

We debuted the majestic Bearglecorn to the world of Snapchat

We had Snapchat geofilters featuring your friendly neighborhood Bearglecorn placed all around the city so event attendees could add some pizzazz to their snaps. Note how much better every picture is when you feature a bear/eagle/unicorn hybrid.

We hosted Startup Stories as Told Through Dramatic Portrayals, and had the Mayor himself attend

What happens when you combine stories about the ups and downs of running a startup with the comedic antics of improv actors? Hilarity. Oh, and did we mention that the Mayor of Denver attended to share his own stories? We were only a little excited about that. A little.

We met some amazing folks at the job fair and had a mixed-species shirt swap

Name's Ryan feels most at home in the winged embrace of the #Bearglecorn. #DENStartupWeek #jobfairy @HoneyBadgerKT pic.twitter.com/l2ofe8KaIQ

— Name.com (@namedotcom) September 15, 2016

The job fair was not only insanely crowded, fun, and the best we’ve ever been to considering it featured 3 open bars (no joke), but it also lead to a meeting that must have been predestined. We met the charming folks from Built In Colorado and learned that they also have a magical beast that they call their mascot. So obviously this had to happen.

The #DENStartupWeek job fair hasn't even begun, and something momentous has already happened. @BuiltInColorado pic.twitter.com/eB2DJ3WrvH

— Name.com (@namedotcom) September 14, 2016

Drinks were on us at the Hacks/Hackers Colorado ONA Happy Hour

We were lucky enough to team up with the Colorado chapter of Hacks/Hackers to keep the booze flowing at their happy hour. It was a blast to meet so many journalists and tech industry workers in The Denver Press Club’s  beautiful space.

We brought together journalists and developers for Hackthe.News

It wouldn’t be a week with Name.com without a hackathon—so we brought together the attendees of ONA and DSW for one big hackathon event geared towards using technology to create solutions for sustainable journalism.

Hack The News is about to start! So many people!!! @OpenMediaOrg @namedotcom #denver #hackathon pic.twitter.com/XgEHBp4eAL

— ⎝ EvangelistNinja ⎠ (@EvangelistNinja) September 16, 2016

This event was a little different from our usual style because it actually consisted of two hackathons—the first, a quick 2-hour hack like we normally do, and the second, a competition for more time-intensive projects that have already been developed. It was amazing to see the ideas that unfolded, and work with a panel of media specialists to determine our winners.

Nancy is part of the team responsible for the Internet Archive, and she's pitching https://t.co/DxtVXP7oBX. #ONA16 pic.twitter.com/UT1Y9RKlCq

— Name.com (@namedotcom) September 17, 2016

It was a crazy week, but we enjoyed every minute of it. Thank you to all of the wonderful people we met or worked with throughout both of these events. We hope you had as great of a time as we did.

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