For the past month a core group of folks from BrainJams New Orleans has been working together to find ways to help the New Orleans economy.  While there is still a large humanitarian need there for disaster relief and recovery, I have felt strongly that someone needed to pay more attention to the economic recovery - throwing money at the situation would not solve the bigger problems.  So the original purpose of the event there was to bring together small businesses with technologists to empower them with the knowledge they need to help rebuild their businesses.

While the turnout for the event may have been small, the impact clearly was very large. Earthlink Blogger Dave Coustan (who was with us in New Orleans) has written an exceptional article on what we are doing as a result of that event. Our primary focus thus far has been on "adopting a small business" who we could help to use best practices for operating a business with emerging Web 2.0 technologies.  Jeff Harris introduced us to the Sclafani Cooking School and we have been working out a plan for the past couple of weeks which we are moving to implement this month.

I was pleased to see Hollywood stepping back into the picture to do their part in the recovery of New Orleans. This past Monday a delegation of women, including Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Garner, toured the devastated parts of the city to meet with families and children trying to adjust to life after Hurricane Katrina. Witherspoon and Garner are working with the Children's Defense Fund, an organziation that plans to open more than 20 schools in communities along the Gulf Coast: 13 for Louisiana and nine for Mississippi. I applaud their efforts to bring attention back to the needs of the residents and those wishing to come back home.

Hotel Maison De Ville, New Orleans

After Hurricane Katrina, many small businesses were focusing on rebuilding and reopening.  One small business, Hotel Maison de Ville and Audubon Cottages, is taking on this task with a technological twist.

This New Orleans’ French Quarter boutique hotel has been working with Carly Lesser of CDG Solutions and her Washington, D.C.-based team.  They wanted a way to connect the hotel’s many loyal and long-standing customers with the hotel staff.  It took over six months to fully re-open and during that time, Carly worked with the hotel staff on how to use digital photography and a web site called Flickr to keep past, present, future, and prospective guests informed about the Hotel.

Operating as a non-profit organization, Chris and I believe in being 100% transparent with the BrainJams expenses.   The idea is not to make money on the BrainJams event - simply to cover the expenses associated with each one, and if there is anything left over, we will apply it towards the next 'gathering'.   The totals for the New Orleans event are now in, and unfortunately, it looks like we came up just a bit over $300 short.  Bummer.  We always strive to have the events pay for themselves, but it seems we missed this mark on this one.  BLAH - I hate being in the red...  The attached spreadsheet reflects our cost for the event excluding travel for Chris and myself and if you have any questions, please direct them to me at kristie [at] brainjams [dot] org.  Cheers.  

 "Whoever shows up are the right people, whatever happens is the only thing that could have."

This could not have been a more appropriate lesson, which I am so grateful to have really learned within my heart rather than just understanding in my head. We had 15 people show up yesterday, which really through a curve ball to the design of the schedule (we planned on 30ish based on feedback and promises of local community leaders who did not even make it there themselves - more on that later). By being present though, we were able to adapt and make the most of the amazing people that were in the room with us.

We learned a great deal and we have some really important work to do going forward.

This is the final session from our small, but powerful mixup of New Orleans natives and people who care and time did not forget. Photos to be posted shortly to Flickr along with some other great photos from Carly and Dave Coustan.

I'm an active blogger about New Orleans, but not yet living in the city. (I will be by 6/1). I hope to see some active reporting tomorrow out of the event and after it's over. I wish I could be present, but I'm still in Fargo, N.D.I've been working with a set of NOLA Bloggers, networking online and in person, trying to work together to help through communication with the city's rebuilding. I wish y'all the best of luck tomorrow, and hope I may learn something via blogs that I won't (alas) be there to learn in person.  

Meet Mickey. A man with a plan. In most cities, I prefer the Smarte Carte, but here, the human touch is a welcome upgrade. It seems that the airport maintenance staff at Louis Armostrong International Airport have 'misplaced' the majoority of the Smarte Cartes, which is helping out the baggage handlers immensely.

Mickey reminded me of when the carts used to be a buck and they gave you a quarter back if you returned it. Now it is up to $3 and somewhere recently I actually was charged $5. Still only get a quarter back though. Mickey reckons you should be getting $0.75 back at least - simple math he says.

I agree. And we were glad to pay for the latest and greatest in baggage handling technology - the human touch. Quite an entertaining, informative experience - and it beats the tech every time. Might be a new routine for me from here on out.

I took time on my flights and during the hours it took me to find a wireless connection to pulse the "spirit of New Orleans", ask locals a lot of questions, and listen, listen, listen.  Here are some of the quotes:

"You go BrainJams!  There are so many needs in New Orleans.  We will need help for at least 10 years.  The helpcan be almost anything.  However, it needs to be on things we have identified that we need help with."  Small business owner with four food processing plans on the Louisiana gulf coast and a fleet of 10 fishing vessels.

"You mean the technology community wants to help?  We got all these checks from technology companies into the American Red Cross for the first few months after Katrina.  Now, they are nowhere to be found.  Don't people know thisis when we really need the help!!!  We haven't even cleaned up and the Hurricane season is just about to start again.HELP!"  New Orleans City government employee.
 
"This is my first time back to New Orleans after Katrina.  If I known things were still this bad, I would be organizing a group like BrainJams for the Airlines industry.  In fact, I will bring it up at our convention today," Continental Airlines executive attending an Airlines industry conference in New Orleans.
 
"BUSINESS SUCKS!  Please help us," small business owner on Bourbon Street.
 
"We have so many technology needs it isn't funny.  For example, it would be great to have a community web site with functions like bulletin boards.  For example, we still don't know where all our former staff is after Katrina.  Each hotel, such as us, posts a request for updates from our employees on our web site.  But, it would be much more efficient if there was a New Orleans wide web site for that kind of information, updates on the rebuilding process (so dispersed people know about key updates - such as the Superdome reopening on September 24, 2006), etc."  Hotel manager, Central Business District. 

Our buddies at HuckaBuck have come through again, working a deal with the producer of the Backbeat Jazz Fest Series to offer $5 off each ticket to everyone attending BrainJams. Hello, that is 1/3 off! These guys truly have the Midas touch. If you would like to go to the Backbeat Jazz Fest and save a few dollars in the process, simply find me at one of the following locations and I will give you a pass: BrainJams Planning dinnerWednesday, May 3rd at 8pm Alpine Restaurant 620 Chartres Street, New Orleans (in the French Quarter) BrainJams UnConference Thursday, May 4th from 9:30am - 6pm Louisiana Technology Council 1215 Prytania Street, New Orleans Of course I could always post the ticket here, but that would be cheating the system. :)