I spent the last weekend in Indianapolis, Indiana, as part of the inaugural 2012 Powder Keg Conference put on by The Verge celebrating StartUps, Developers, and Innovation in the central hub of Indiana. While I’d been to Indiana before, I’d never made it to Indianapolis, and it was beautiful to see another Midwestern city in the Fall. I was fortunate to join a host of talented and diverse speakers including Julien Smith, Kate Endress, Scott Case, David Blaine, Scott Dorsey, Dave Knox, Jonathon Perrelli, and many more. I’ll recap some of the best tidbits and ideas on this blog in the weeks to follow, but I wanted to share some of the photos of this beautiful city.

 A view of downtown Indianapolis.

 Looking down Washington Street.

The other side of Washington Street. 


  Of course, what would this post be without a couple of images of the stage and the presentations! 

29 thoughts from raising $29,000.

I gave a presentation on raising more than $32,000 for Charity: Water in less than nine weeks, detailing the ins-and-outs of the campaign and what it’s like to swim from Alcatraz without wearing a wetsuit (or a swimsuit!). The behind-the-scenes scoop detailed the energy I put into campaign fundraising, what I learned from talking to over 500 people, how I did it with a full-time job and extracurricular projects (note: just do it) and the details and distribution of donation amounts and what sort of tactics worked most effectively. I’m so excited (and still somewhat blown away) that we managed to raised $32,000 in such a short amount of time. My heart is filled with gratitude–thank you all, so much. 

And some sneak previews…

  • In the next couple of weeks, I’ll be on an episode of MTV’s The Buried Life–watch my Twitter or Facebook accounts because I’ll share it there first! When The Buried Life’s Duncan Penn found out that I was swimming from Alcatraz naked, he asked me if I’d help them out by teaching them how to swim the channel, too. (We wore swim suits for the episode, fortunately). Stay tuned!
  • I have several goodies and give-aways coming up soon, including copies of Julien Smith and Chris Brogan’s new book “The Impact Equation” and the recent film “I’m Fine, Thanks,” by Adam Baker; watch closely!
  • I’ve also opened up one more spot each for December and January for the Start Something Project, a one-on-one program that I opened up last June and have been quietly working with some incredibly talented, ambitious, creative folks (November just got filled!). Keep your eyes on your email, and if you’re interested or curious about the program, it’s a one-month intensive coaching program that works on creating clarity + strategy for your current work situation, projects, and dreams. Feel like working together? For details, check out the project page. 
Have a great week!