Silicon Prairie News

The first-ever Startup Weekend Omaha kicks off at 6 p.m. tomorrow evening at What Cheer. There's still time to register ($45), or if you're on the fence, we've been kindly given two tickets to give away from Shane Reiser, one of the organizers of the event.

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment below with the reason you'd like to go to Startup Weekend, or copy and paste the following into a Tweet with your reason added to it:

Startup Weekend Omaha kicks off tomorrow, I want to go because ____ http://spne.ws/8C2 #swoticket

At 7 p.m., I'll be picking the two winners and announcing them in the comments below and on Twitter.

Here's more about Startup Weekend Omaha from omaha.startupweekend.org/about.

Startup Weekend Omaha is a community building startup event. Participants get together with local developers, marketers, designers, enthusiasts and start companies in just 54 hours.

The participants that attend a Startup Weekend decide what they want to tackle over the weekend and come out at the end with several developed companies or projects. Attendees are responsible for bringing the same desire and passion to the project and walk out of the room with the task at hand, in a short 54 hours. Sound intense? It is.

A typical weekend might go something like below, although most weekends find their own schedule that works best:

Friday

• 6 p.m. – Everyone gets together; figures out who else is there; what would be interesting to build
• 7 – Pitches start
• 8 – Teams start breaking off
• 9 – Hopefully teams have solidified their concept and created an elevator pitch (even a simple one) by now
• 10 – Break off to a bar or coffee shop to continue the discussion and attempt to paper prototype out their application

Saturday

• 9 a.m. – Crowds pour in; work starts on development
• Noon: Lunch
• 3 p.m. – More coding and business plan development
• 6 – Special guest drop-ins and pitches from the teams
• 9 – Gut check on the product; basic prototype building; group get-together for drinks and to talk about the products everyone is working on

Sunday

• 9 a.m. – The day’s work starts again
• Noon – Projects are being developed; live website with signup is possibly set up; more special guests drop in
• 6 p.m. – Sink or swim time for those looking for a weekend launch
• 9 – Presentations from each company; what worked, what didn’t, what could go better and contacts are exchange for those continuing in the future

What do Attendees get?

• Startup Weekend provides an unprecedented level of networking, team building, learning, and life challenges for its attendees and their communities
• 6-7 meals and drinks
• Sometimes a company emerges, sometimes one doesn’t, but every time people leave with more experience, insight, knowledge, friends, and resources than they came with

Cost to participate is $45 and you must buy a ticket to officially become registered. Students can grab a ticket for $35.