South Florida Social Geeks

As most of you may remember, about 4 weeks ago, Outback Steakhouse held a promotion where they were giving away free Steak dinners.  However, unlike almost every promotion on the web today, they chose to mail the dinner vouchers through the USPS as opposed to making them available for download to be printed out.

contact our team http://outback.com/contact  and we will take care of you.

I just want to say thank you! I got my free steak dinner today.. After all the confusion and issues during the giveaway— it was great to know that you guys handled it! Can’t wait to enjoy it!!!

{UPDATE 9/29/2011} Since posting this entry and reaching out to Outback through Twitter, I have received a response from Outback Steakhouse’s marketing team.  This response not only included a direct tweet, but also an offer to call and speak with me directly.  Already, that earned them some points back in my book.

It would appear as though they chose to go with the snail mail to make the voucher seem more special, and to insure that it was truly redeemed by one per person without being printed out multiple times.  This makes sense, and something that I should have thought of.  For that, I withdraw my complaint and respect their decision to go through this process instead.

They also explained that the vouchers were being sent out in at least 2 different batches and that appeared as though both mine, and my father’s, were in that second batch.  However, to address my concerns, in addition to those vouchers, they offered to FedEx me and dad 2 each an additional voucher.  

I thank @Outback for their professionalism.  They uniquely utilized Social Media through their marketing strategy as well as how they responded to various complaints.  I also look forward to continuing this newly developed relationship.

If you’re a member of this community, or reading this post, then I have to assume that you, like myself, are interested in helping to put Florida on the national, if not international, technology map.

What is the Startup Bus?

For those of you who have never heard of the StartupBus, imagine The Apprentice meets The Amazing Race meets Incubate Miami, but with a technological twist to build a start-up from scratch ON THE BUS.

Five buses, one from each of the following cities, are headed to SouthBySouthwest in Austin, TX: San Francisco, New York, Cleveland, Chicago, and Miami.

Since we are the South Florida Social Geeks, Steve Repetti, from Radwebtech, and I are helping the bus leaving from Miami search for The South’s best and brightest to join us on this journey to Austin.

But, before you sign up, keep in mind that this trip is not for those of you with the faint of heart.

Don’t think this is going to be your standard road-trip, oh no.  In fact, you could almost say that this is the marathon of start-up competitions.  Not only do you have to have the drive and determination that powers the entrepreneurial spirit, but you’ve got to have the endurance to live on lack of sleep and be willing to live for a few days with complete strangers.

Each bus will have an estimated 25 to 30 people, with skills ranging from Coders, Graphic Designers, Webmasters, Copy Editors, Technical Writers, and Social Media Specialists to people with financial and business backgrounds to those people who are Creative/Artistic, and like to think outside the box.

Just like an Incubate event, those who have great startup ideas will be given time to present their proposal to the bus.  Then, everyone on the bus will be given time to mingle and group up into different teams.  You could end up part of a team, or if you are really passionate about your own idea, you could even spend the entire bus working on it yourself (but where’s the fun in that).   Your team could develop a killer web application, or if you find that none of you are developers, you might just end up with jaw-dropping a power-point business model that will blow everyone away.  It will literally be a free-for-all until we get to SxSW, where all the teams from the various buses will be given the opportunity to present their in front of some of biggest venture capitalist around.

Let that sink in for a second.  You’ll be presenting to the venture capitalists.  That means that there is the potential, even if you’re not the team chosen to win, that some investor out there might say, “Hey, we really like that idea and want to talk more about it with you.”

Now, even though the entire bus might not end up together as a single team, this is still a national competition and the people on this bus would be seen as representing “The South”.  That’s why this South Florida Social Geek wants to make the contingent from Florida as prominent as possible.  We will be wearing our southern state pride loud and proud, laying down the smack and doing some trash-talking.  We want to show the rest of the country at the single largest technological start-up conference in the nation that “The South”,  not San Francisco, not New York, not Cleveland, not Chicago, and not Los Angeles is the place to be.  Let’s show them that we have the talent so they will want to either move here, or set up some offices here.

How do I get on the Startup Bus?

If this is something that has your interest, keep in mind that space on the bus is extremely limited, so there are a few hoops you’ll have to go through to get seat on the bus.

1. Go to http://startupbus.com and click on “Find Out More: Connect with Facebook“
2. Wait for someone to “vouch” for you.
3. While you are waiting, leave a comment below telling me why you think I should vouch for you. We are only given 2 invites/people we can vouch for, so you better make it a compelling argument.  And remember, to the right are your friends who want to get on the bus. Vouch for one of them, or vouch for someone via email, but vouch wisely.  These may be the people you’re relying on to launch a company.
4. NOTE: leaving a comment below IS NOT the same as submitting your reasons to the StartupBus.  What we are asking for is why we should vouch for you and give you one of our limited invites.  Don’t be surprised that there are no comments showing up because they are being screened, kept private.
5. Once you’ve been vouched for, you’ll be asked to tell the StartupBus group why you think you’re the the most scrappy hacker, do-er, thinker, designer or connector and how that’s going to help you to go toe-to-toe with some of the best minds in startups.  Personally, I would recommend that you mention in your application that you were referred by the South Florida Social Geeks, perhaps mention me and, or Steve by name, since it couldn’t hurt.
6. Then, the StartupBus team will pick the best of the best to get a seat on the bus.

What if I want to be a sponsor for the Startup Bus?

If riding on a bus for 3 days with complete strangers isn’t your cup of tea, but you like the idea of The Startup Bus and would like to donate, we are also looking for local financial sponsors to help ease the financial burdens of each individual rider:

Think about it.  Not only would you and/or your company/organization be getting national exposure at SxSW, but you would also be helping support your fellow Southerners by helping them focus on the end goal without the daily financial burdens that they might otherwise incur on a trip such as this.  Remember, this is the same festival where Twitter and Foursquare got launched into the national spotlight.  If you want to sponsor the bus leaving from Miami, please contact either me or Steve directly.

What are you waiting for? The bus rolls out from Miami on March 8th.  SxSW goes from March 11th through March 20th.  Let’s get on the bus and head to SxSW!!!!!!