Thanks to the Big Omaha 2012 sponsors, a group of 18 all-stars

It seems cliche to say it but we can’t think of a more appropriate word to describe the sponsor support of Big Omaha than humbling. Companies from around the world not only seen the value in being associated with you – the Big Omaha community – but also value in being a part of it,…


From the opening to the closing parties, sponsors play a huge role in making Big Omaha a memorable event for everyone involved. 

It seems cliche to say it but we can't think of a more appropriate word to describe the sponsor support of Big Omaha than humbling. Companies from around the world have not only seen the value in being associated with you – the Big Omaha community – but also value in being a part of it, and never moreso than they have this year.

BECOME A SPONSOR

We're thanking our sponsors in a series of posts now, ahead of the two day event, so that you can say hello to them in KANEKO, at the parties or on Twitter or Facebook. Each of the sponsors highlighted below has their name associated with a part of Big Omaha, so whether you're having drinks at the "Closing Party presented by Under Armour and Hudl" or playing with blocks at the "First National Bank Building Station," please thank the many organizations who dedicate their time and resources to making Big Omaha possible.

Also, in addition to the list below, we owe a big thanks to our premier sponsor, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and our two major sponsors, CoSentry and Microsoft BizSpark. Stay tuned for post recognizing their support along with that of our supporters and in-kind sponsors.

Please help us thank our sponsors by finding them on Twitter – just roll over their handle to easily follow them.

 

Gist - @gist

On Thursday evening, Gist will be treating Big Omaha attendees to a night out at Urban Wine Company, home to the Old Market's best patio.

About our sponsor: Gist keeps you better informed with less effort by giving you a full view of your professional network in one place bringing together information from across the web for all your contacts giving you the right information at the right moment to get a meeting, deliver an amazing pitch, or just find a better way to make a connection.

 

University of Nebraska - @U_Nebraska

The University of Nebraska will be providing lunch for attendees on both Thursday and Friday, giving entrepreneurs and innovators a chance to talk over a delicious meal in a unique atmosphere.

About our sponsor: The University of Nebraska is committed to nurturing and retaining talent in Nebraska through education, research and outreach on our four campuses in Omaha, Lincoln and Kearney. Programs like the Peter Kiewit Institute (engineering, information science and technology programs), the Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management and the Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program allow students to learn alongside mentors, entrepreneurs and business leaders. Dynamic entrepreneurship programs let students test their ideas and discover potential markets, while technology development offices translate faculty and student research in medicine, technology, biosciences and many other fields into new products and new companies.


Hayneedle - @hayneedle

Tune in to Big Omaha as we live stream portions of the event for free at bigomaha.com/live, thanks to the support of Hayneedle.

About our sponsor: Hayneedle: Discover What You Love for Where You Live

Omaha is our home, but we're all about yours. Shop hayneedle.com and explore over 200 categories of products for inside and outside your home. Built from scratch in the big O, hayneedle.com uses a unique site structure and universal shopping cart to change the way people create ideal spaces where they live. Visit us today and see everything you never knew you always wanted - for your home, your life, your style.

 

Leo Burnett - @LeoBurnett

The support of Leo Burnett makes Expression, an interactive exhibition, possible. Expression is an opportunity for attendees to share their Big Omaha 2012 experience through written or spoken word with the greater Big Omaha community.

About our sponsor: Leo Burnett shares much in common with the mission and spirit of Big Omaha. We’re each champions of the talent and culture of the Midwest. We're each driven by innovation and ideas. Most importantly, just like the most imaginative entrepreneurs you'll find here, we're also students of people – and we strongly believe that creativity has the power to transform human behavior.

Founded 76 years ago in Chicago, Leo Burnett now has offices in more than 84 countries around the world.  Our nine thousand employees help build brands for multinational clients including McDonald’s, Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola and Samsung.

 

Under Armour - @UnderArmour

Friendly volunteers sporting black Big Omaha Omaha T-shirts will be on hand to help attendees and party goers with just about anything. This awesome crew and their sweet shirts are all thanks to our volunteer sponsor, Under Armour.

About our sponsor: Founded in 1996 by former University of Maryland football player Kevin Plank, Under Armour is the originator of performance apparel - gear engineered to keep athletes cool, dry and light throughout the course of a game, practice or workout. The technology behind Under Armour's diverse product assortment for men, women and youth is complex, but the program for reaping the benefits is simple: wear HeatGear® when it's hot, ColdGear® when it's cold, and AllSeasonGear® between the extremes.

Under Armour's mission is to make all athletes better through passion, design, and the relentless pursuit of innovation. Every Under Armour product is doing something for you; it's making you better.

 

Bloom.com - @bloomdotcom

Immediately following Friday's presentations, there is an open bar and appetizer happy hour for attendees presented by Bloom.com.

About our sponsor: Bloom.com – a social beauty network that's revolutionizing the way women find and buy the right products. Discover the latest trends that match your interests from trend-leaders, experts, brands and real women across the world. Receive a personalized shopping experience with relevant, unbiased feedback from thousands of women who are your beauty matches. We are on a mission to use the power of social shopping – saving you time and money by discovering what really works for your personal needs. Discover social beauty at Bloom.com and Never Buy the WRONG Beauty products again!

 

Jim & Karen Linder Family Foundation

For attendees to stay in the middle of the action but give their feet a rest, the relax lounge is perfect for comfortable furniture and unique experiences. Thanks to Jim & Karen Linder for putting their name behind arguably the best spot in the venue.

About our sponsor: Creative, hard-working, ambitious, thoughtful, exciting, aspirational, curious, humorous, humble, passionate, inspiring, interesting, pioneering, innovative, purposeful, and reflective. These adjectives describe the people in the arts, education and business that we enjoy.  Some we’ve met through our philanthropic activities; others have become our partners after we’ve invested in their entrepreneurial vision.  Everyone attending Big Omaha should understand why we support this conference- nowhere else can you find so many people who are described by these adjectives. Thank you for being here.

 

Neustar - @neustar 

When Big Omaha attendees need some quiet in the midst of a crazy day the blogger lounge is the go-to place, and we have our sponsor Neustar to thank for providing the spot to hunker down and get some work done.

About our sponsor: Neustar is a technology and information services company serving the telecommunications, Internet, marketing and media industries. Our technology enables 4 billion phone calls to reach the right person every day, 7 billion text messages to be completed every day, and 16 billion internet queries to get to the right destination every day. We also manage unique, secure databases that allow us to provide companies with information that saves them time and money, helps them to build their businesses, and protects them and their customers against fraud.


Hudl - @Hudl

Friday evening, join us at House of Loom for drinks, great beats and top-notch networking. Thanks to Hudl for being a presenting sponsor to help us end Big Omaha with a bang.

About our sponsor: Hudl provides video analysis and coaching tools to more than 7,000 high schools and small colleges, in addition to over 80 Division I and 12 professional teams across the NFL, NHL, and NBA. Hudl was founded in 2006 and is based in Lincoln, Neb.


Novak, Druce + Quigg - @NovakDruce 

To help us gather all the tweets and super sweet Instagram pics, please tag them #BigOmaha. And for the curious folks, attendees can check out the Twitter feed in the lounge, brought to you by Novak Druce + Quigg LLP.

About our sponsor: Novak Druce + Quigg LLP is a national law firm focused on complex intellectual property matters. With more than 115 attorneys and professionals in offices in Houston, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Washington, DC and West Palm Beach, Novak Druce attorneys help our clients navigate the complexities of U.S. intellectual property law by securing, enforcing and defending their intellectual property rights.

 Novak Druce understands the importance of consistently providing quality services.  We believe intellectual property is a dynamic part of our client’s overall business portfolio and offer a unique approach by practicing intellectual property law with both a prosecution and litigation perspective.

 

Bellevue University - @BellevueU

Attendees can take a break from the main speaking hall and take in the speakers words of wisdom from the comforts of the simulcast lounge. Thanks to Bellevue University for sponsoring this comfortable retreat.

About our sponsor: Whether you are starting your higher education, completing your degree or earning a graduate degree, Bellevue University will work with you. Explore the reasons to earn your accredited degree through our award-winning learning programs and reach your goals.

 

Nanonation - @nanonation

Along with a light breakfast in the morning, attendees will enjoy complimentary beverages, fruit and small snacks throughout the day. Thanks to LinkedIn for sponsoring the breakfast and Nanonation for the beverage and snack bar.

About our sponsor: Whether it's interactive screens that beg to be touched, multimedia signage that demands attention, or mobile applications that fulfill a customer’s every demand, Nanonation offers a powerful software platform to deliver engaging customer experiences – all while monitoring, measuring, and managing each customer interaction. The result is software that makes it easier to connect with customers to stand out and deliver more.

 

LinkedIn - @LinkedIn

Attendees will enjoy a light breakfast each morning thanks to the support of our sponsor, LinkedIn.

About our sponsor: Founded in 2003, LinkedIn connects the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful. With 161 million members worldwide, including executives from every Fortune 500 company, LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network on the Internet. The company has a diversified business model with revenue coming from member subscriptions, marketing solutions and hiring solutions.

 

Schnackel Engineers - @schnackeleng 

Our morning breaks, presented by Schnackel Engineers, give attendees a chance to take a breather and talk with others around them about the speakers they've heard.

About our sponsor: Constantly striving to go above and beyond, we integrate our team seamlessly into those of our clients, creating an invaluable collaboration at a highly competitive price. Schnackel Engineers consistently delivers the most reliable, responsive and competitively priced Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Control engineering services to the Architectural and Construction industry on a local and national scale. We invite you to make Schnackel Engineers a part of your team.


TSYS Merchant Solutions  - @tsysmerchant

Attendees will have a chance to power up their mobile devices throughout the day at the charging station, thanks to TSYS Merchant Solutions.

About our sponsor: 38 million times each day, the people of TSYS® improve lives and businesses across the world with every payment transaction. We make it possible for millions of people to move money between the world's buyers and sellers. Offering merchant payment-acceptance solutions as well as services in credit, debit, prepaid, mobile, chip, healthcare and more, we make it possible for those in the global marketplace to conduct safe and secure electronic transactions with trust and convenience.


SendGrid - @sendgrid

Thanks to our afternoon break sponsor, SendGrid, attendees can take a moment in the afternoon to compose their thoughts and stretch their legs before the last speakers take the stage.

About our sponsor: SendGrid is the email engine behind tens of thousands of web and mobile applications across the globe. By providing a reliable and highly scalable cloud-based infrastructure, we help businesses - from startup to enterprise - communicate more effectively with their customers via transactional and promotional email messages. SMTP & API integration options empower developers to build more faster and focus on creating awesome products for the world to enjoy. We're the experts in scalable email deliverability and analytics…so you don't have to be.


MapQuest Vibe - @mapquest

Going to Big Omaha or the opening parties? Make it easy on yourself and find all the Big Omaha venues, recommended local restaurants, watering holes and coffee houses on a custom map from the folks at MapQuest. Visit bigomaha.com/map.

About our sponsor: MapQuest Vibe, is your shortcut to becoming a local, anywhere.  MapQuest Vibe cuts through the clutter of ratings, lists and pins on a map, by giving you actual rankings of places based on key criteria within a local neighborhood context. The “local knowledge” is generated with a new patented algorithm called VibeRank.  This blended social-algorithmic formula takes several implicit signals (like searches on MapQuest and cartographic data), creates a baseline ranking and then layers on explicit social signals from the new Vibe pages.

 

First National Bank

Our attendees will take a break from building a company and build a LEGO structure for a bit. First National Bank, a company whose building tops the Omaha skyline, has provided a bucket full of LEGOs for our attendees to get creative. Tallest tower wins a tweet from @BigOmaha.

About our sponsor: First National Bank is a division of First National of Nebraska. First National of Nebraska has grown into the largest privately owned banking company in the United States. First National and its affiliates have $17 billion in managed assets and nearly 5,000 employee associates. Primary banking offices are located in Nebraska, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota and Texas.

 

Note: Amy Engle contributed to this post.

Credits: Photo by Malone & Company / Big Omaha

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN's origin »

Get the latest news and events from Nebraska’s entrepreneurship and innovation community delivered straight to your inbox every Wednesday.