Dustin is the founder of TEDxUMN and Co-Organizer of TEDxMinneapolis. By day he works as an IT consultant, but we met to talk about his long-running passion for events.

We discuss how he began and what keeps him going in events, his goal of creating a legacy, and what it’s like starting the same event twice at two different points in your life.

Show Notes & Links

TEDx Minneapolis

TEDx UMN

Artcrank

MN Morel Fest

Music in this episode is Love Passion by Black Star

Vilay Dethluxay has been producing events for pretty much her whole life, and her resume includes work for CoCo, Playboy, and Vita.mn's 2011 Annual "Hotness" Party. We talk about her history and recent work with Sound Unseen, Cult Collective, and Pollen.

Find out what inspires Vilay to continue working as a sought-after event designer and cultural curator, and what has brought her back to the Twin Cities after working in glamorous markets like New York and LA.

Jamie Millard

Meghan Murphy 

Episode 14: Tricia Khutoretsky

SXSW

Black Hearts Ball

Work Redux - Entrepreneurship (April 27 @ Turf Club) 

Lucy & Co. 

Victoria is a long-time volunteer with the Friends School Plant Sale. She has had a lot of roles with the event, and is currently on the buying committee and general oversight committee. We talk about how the sale has grown, how you sustain a totally volunteer-run event of this magnitude, and how you fall in love with an event.

Friends School Plant Sale

music in this episode: "Let's Be Friends" by Ben K Adams

Patrick is the Founder and Executive Director of Ignite Minneapolis, a “a high-energy evening of 5-minute talks by people who have a burning idea—and the guts to get onstage and share it with their hometown crowd.”

We talk about the history of Ignite, the unique talk format, and how Patrick got the ball rolling in Minneapolis and continues to develop the event here. We also talk about what’s coming up in the future (two events in the next two months!) and why Patrick believes Ignite is so important for local leaders.

Pecha Kucha

Lars Leafblad 

Episode 19: Mykl Roventine 

Episode 7: Live at Ignite 7 

Surly  

Chris Menning: Internet Memes vs. Flash-in-the-Pan Microtrends

Bush Connect

Ignite Minneapolis: @ignitempls on Twitter & Facebook; watch talks on YouTube 

music in this episode: booster.ignite by by Floating Isle

My guest this week is Greg Flanagan. Greg talks about the upcoming Mini Maker Faire, his background at The Mill, and his work with Leonardo’s Basement, the University of St. Thomas, and Tree on a Hill Workshop.

Hack Factory - Twin Cities Maker 

Nordeast Makers 

Steve Jevning 

Music in this episode is Bicycle Ride by 8-BITchintendo 

Betsy and I talk about how her background in education and experience teaching English in Japan prepared her for her job as Visitor Services Coordinator at Summit Brewing Company. We also talk about the details that go into planning some of the events that are held at the company, including their annual Backyard Bash.

Show Notes & Links

Summit Brewery

Rathskeller

Minnesota Music Coalition

Lizzo

Charlie Parr

Secret Stash Soul Revue

Doomtree

Sam Adams

JET

Gustavus Adolphus College

Backyard Bash

Music in this episode is Victor Record - Beer Barrel Polka 1939

Sarah Edwards is the founder of I AM MPLS, I AM St. Paul, and I AM Kindness. Sarah and I talk about the positive side of failure, the frightening moment that you commit to an event, and some advice for anyone who’s thinking of trying something new but doesn’t know where to start.

Show Notes & Links

Sarah Edwards

I AM KXNDNESS

Jesse Draxler 

Kim King 

Motion 504

Music in this episode: Kind of Love by Cherry Daikiri 

Evva Kraikul is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Glitch. Glitch is a non-profit organization at the University of Minnesota that hosts numerous video gaming initiatives and activities throughout the year, including GlitchCon, which was the focus of this episode.

Why did they decide to start this event, how did they attract major gaming companies and personalities to participate, and what’s next for Glitch? Insert coin and press start to find out.

Show Notes & Links

GlitchCon 

Light Grey Art Lab

All Your Base Are Belong To Us (original)

Music in this episode: Videogame Theme, by The J. Arthur Keenes Band

Get to know all three Captains of Grown-Up Club: Taylor Baldry, Tim Lovett, and Victoria Nohl. Since 2013, Grown-up Club has hosted a series of ridiculous, participatory events for wayward adults. Perhaps the most ridiculous--and interesting--is the Singles Exchange, where participants gave terrible powerpoint presentations about their single friends as a means of playing matchmaker.

We talk about all their past events & plans for new events in the upcoming year, and how the individual team members’ strengths combine to make Grown-up Club so dynamic and unique.

Show Notes & Links

Grown-up Club

Facebook page

Newsletter

Ahoy! Join me as we set sail for this week’s podcast with special guest Sarah Peters. We talk about how she helped to create Open Field at the Walker, the genesis of her Floating Library project, and Northern Spark: how the festival has changed over the years and their vision for the future.

Show Notes & Links

Walker Open Field  

Sarah Schultz - Director of Education at the Walker  

Steve Dietz - Founder, President, and Artistic Director of Northern Lights.mn  

Northern Spark

Nuit Blanche 

Art Shanty Projects 

Sam Gould - Red76  

The Floating Library  

Music in this episode is “Great Open Sea” by Wellington Sea Shanty Society