Innovate Baltimore inaugural meeting recap and HD video

On Wednesday October 7, the first ever meeting of Innovate Baltimore was held at the Gin Mill restaurant. Innovate Baltimore is an unstructured social event for technologists in the area. The event was put together by founders Tina Tyndal and Ben Walsh. Tina Tyndal is an experienced advertising consultant who has marketed everything from video games to Fortune 500 pharmaceuticals brands. Tina also writes a blog called Girls Who Game. Ben Walsh is a producer at video game studio Bethesda Softworks, and in the past worked for the now-defunct Big Huge Games. He has worked with such titles as WET and Age of Empires 3.

“Founded by Tina Tyndal and Benjamin Walsh, our mission includes providing individuals with networking and educational opportunities which will allow them to generate new ideas, foster entrepreneurship and strengthen the professional community in the region. Our meetings spotlight local businesses, talent, emergent technology and trends, all while sharing a drink (or two) with friends.” –InnovateBaltimore.com

The event started around 6:30. As I arrived there was a line of people waiting to start networking. Tina and Ben were greeting the guests, signing them in, handing out name tags and color coordinated sticker/stickers used to assign what profession each person was associated with. There were so many people that attended for this great networking experience that I began to wonder if the Gin Mill would be able to hold them all. Wearing my brand new and ever-so-stylish BaltimoreGamer staff shirt, I was approached by many people and asked about the site. There also were some very familiar faces also such as Mike Worth of the upcoming event GameX, Mike Subelsky of Ignite Baltimore and co-founder of OtherInbox.com, and Eric Ruth of Eric Ruth Games, to name a few. Martin Johnson from the city paper was also on site interviewing several guests.

Since it was a social event, everyone had cards and pens and was eager to talk to the next guy or lady about their profession and goal. If you are the quiet type than sometimes you need a strategy . My strategy for the night was ‘big logo’ shirt, pocket full of business cards, pen, and having my phone ready to enter information on the notepad feature. I spoke with marketing professionals, writers, and hung out in the “gamers corner” as Tina called it, because all the game Industry professionals grouped in the far corner of the bar. I also ran into more staff members from GameX and meeting them finally in person was amazing. A lot of pictures and video were taken by me and multiple other media outlets at the event. I took a 10 minute break to grab a few drinks and then it was back into the crowd.

Before the night ended, Ben stood on top of the bar thanking all who came in support of Innovate Baltimore giving special thanks to BaltimoreGamer. Overall the event had everything you could want: awesome venue and staff by Gin Mill, great hosts, discounted drinks, and people who came ready to network and have some slight drinking fun. If you missed this meeting, the next Innovate Baltimore event will be held in December.

Watch on Youtube in HD 720p »

We also have a few pictures posted in a Picasa album.

Special thanks to Tina and Ben for having me down as a guest and videographer, I had a lot of fun.