Blog sosAssociates

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

Stuart and Julie enjoying the eclipse watch party

On August 21, 2017, the first total solar eclipse in the continental United States since February 26, 1979, occurred. It was also the first total solar eclipse to cross the entire country (from Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean) since June 8, 1918! We knew this would be a special day!!! Stuart used his last available vacation day to fully experience the phenomenon, and our son Kevin joined us as well.

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

Friday, August 4, 2017, PechaKucha Night Akron at The Well

We always have a good time at PechaKucha Night Akron! We want to congratulate the PechaKucha Night Akron leadership team for their success, and thank the presenters and sponsors who made the night possible.

Here is the information we gathered from the Friday, August 4, 2017, PK Akron Volume VIII at The Well Akron Community Development Corporation.

Author(s):
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

Cleveland Foundation's Common Ground - Bringing Us Together to Talk About Our Joint Future

I first learned about the July 30, 2017, Common Ground event from an announcement by Global Cleveland on Twitter. I immediately knew I needed to attend, and share my thoughts about it in my blog.

I also want to thank Cleveland Foundation Senior Marketing & Communications Officer Jennifer Trivelli, who reached out to me via a Twitter direct message on July 7th to confirm that I knew about #CommonGroundCLE -- Greater Cleveland's largest outdoor community conversation and meal.

Author(s):
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

BlueBridge Networks Third Non-Profit IT Innovation Summit

I attended the BlueBridge Networks Third Non-Profit IT Innovation Summit on July 27, 2017, at the Cleveland Museum of Art as a guest of Kevin Goodman, managing director and partner at BlueBridge Networks.

This was the second time I have attended this nonprofit IT summit, having attended in the BlueBridge Networks Non-Profit IT Innovation Summit II on November 5, 2014. I want to thank Kevin Goodman for inviting me again, and let the presenters know how much I appreciate them taking time to share their knowledge. 

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh,

Everyone at camp was told that they had to write a blog post about camp, so I decided to write you this letter.

This was my eighth year at Cleveland GiveCamp, and it started off with a lot of hard work! Kevin and I had to set up enough chairs for the 200 GiveCampers that were coming for the weekend of July 21-23, 2017. The camp was on a boat and in an airport, which was very cool, ...

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

July 1st Sunset - Lakefront LodgeJuly 2nd Sunset - Edgewater Park July 3rd Sunset - Lake Erie Bluffs July 4th Sunset - North Coast Harbor

We had four days of fun and four sunsets on Lake Erie!

Our extended Fourth of July weekend, July 1-4, 2017, was filled with many activities, each day ending with a beautiful Lake Erie sunset!

Thank you to all the great organizations that made these four days of fun possible. We look forward to visiting many more Northeast Ohio venues to enjoy Lake Erie sunsets.

 

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

ArtLens Exhibition - Visitors exploring during Crash Party

Back in 2012, we wrote about attending a Crash Party, which introduced the ArtLens App and related gallery. Through this event, we became fascinated with the ways that the Cleveland Museum of Art uses technology to engage their visitors. Since 2012, we have visited the gallery and used the app many times and have written several ArtLens-related blog posts. We have watched both the ArtLens App and related gallery gradually evolve to expand their functionality and ease of use.

When we were invited by Cleveland Museum of Art Chief Information Officer Jane Alexander to attend the 2017 ArtLens Crash Party on June 21st, we knew that major changes were coming -- changes that were not just evolutionary, but revolutionary!

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

"Brand-New & Terrific: Alex Katz in the 1950s"

We were fortunate to receive an invitation to attend the April 26, 2017, Cleveland Museum of Art's "Alex Katz Media and Influencer Exhibition Preview."  The exhibition opened on Sunday, April 30, 2017, and will continue through Sunday, August 6, 2017. 

The museum's Director of Communications, Caroline Guscott, and Communications Associate, Kelley Notaro, greeted us as we arrived to start the evening. They introduced us to Curator of American Painting and Sculpture Mark Cole. It was great to have Mark Cole at the preview, so that we could ask questions about the paintings and learn some art history of the time period represented by this exhibition of Alex Katz's work.

We also met Diana K. Tuite, the Katz Curator from the Colby College Museum of Art.

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

March for Science Cleveland - April 22, 2017

To celebrate Earth Day, most years, we attend the Earth Day Coalition's EarthFest, and have written blog posts about our experiences at the event the past two years.

Earth Day 2017 was different -- out of some very negative things happening in our country, a very positive movement to take action grew! We mean, of course, the national March for Science in Washington D.C.!

The same day that it was announced that the national March for Science would be held on Earth Day, April 22, 2017, we learned to our delight that there would also be a March for Science in Cleveland!

The good people of Northeast Ohio came out in force! Congratulations to the March for Science Cleveland for this grand success!

Author(s):
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

sosAssociates.com Blogiversary: Five!

2012 to 2017!!! Our fifth Blogiversary of celebrating the fun of exploring our community and writing about our experiences!

Thank you to my great co-writer and wife, Julie Smith! I always enjoy sharing the journey with her.

Since my first Hello, World! My First Blog Post! on March 8, 2012, I have expanded what I have written about as Julie and I are in our fifth year of blogging. Please take a moment and scroll through and view the topics of the 36 blog posts from 2016, and the seven posted so far in 2017, that you will see at the bottom of this post! As I wrote last year: "It brings me joy to look at the blog posts we did this past year -- great memories of fun times, plus the anticipation of a new year full of possibilities!"

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

The BIG Event: The PlayhouseSquare 2017-2018 KeyBank Broadway Series Launch Party!

This was the third year that we were invited to attend the PlayhouseSquare Launch Party for the KeyBank Broadway Series. Thank you, Digital Marketing Coordinator Alyssa Brown  for inviting us to attend this great PlayhouseSquare event on Tuesday, February 28, 2017!

It was an evening of fun and anticipation as each show of the new season was announced. For the past two years, the Launch Party announcements took place at the 2,800-seat Connor Palace Theatre, but this year, the event sold out the 3200-seat State Theatre!

In 2015, we learned that Cleveland draws the largest audiences in the country for these touring Broadway productions. This year, the Launch Party audience was the biggest ever for the event, so it will be exciting to find out if this will lead to the largest attendance in the history of PlayhouseSquare's KeyBank Broadway Series.

Author(s):
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

Record high temperatures at Brite Winter 2017!

On Saturday, February 18, 2017, Mother Nature did not deliver the normal sub-freezing temperatures that we have come to expect at Brite ​Winter. This year, we had record high temperatures across the area.

Unfortunately, Julie was not able to attend this year, so I went just for some of the evening activities this year with my son. Congratulations to the Brite Winter leadership on their eighth successful year! 

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

PechaKucha Night Akron Volume 6 at the Akron Urban League

Another full house for PechaKucha Akron!

On February 3, 2017, PechaKucha Akron had another huge and very successful event, this time taking place at the Akron Urban League facility. When we arrived, we were surprised by the large size of the venue, but not surprised when 415 attendees arrived. We knew that PechaKucha Akron is a must-attend event in Akron, and we knew to come early to get good seats.

This blog post contains the official PechaKucha Akron descriptions of the talks, and videos from the event, as well as tweets in which attendees shared information and photos.

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

Cleveland Museum of Natural History's Think & Drink with the Extinct: Biomimicry!

January 18, 2017 - Biomimicry!

This is the third blog post we have written about a Cleveland Museum of Natural History Think & Drink with the Extinct event. Each event has been a unique experience.

Think & Drink

Raise a glass and increase your knowledge of the natural world at one of the brainiest happy hours in Cleveland!

We did not know that the very first Think & Drink with the Extinct that we would attend, with our brand-new membership, on January 18, 2017, would feature the University of Akron Biomimicry Fellowship Ph.D. candidates we had already written about in our blog twice! We were excited to learn of their new product based on biomimicry principles, and meeting some of the other students. It is great that the museum gives the opportunity for many people to learn about the unique ideas being developed at Akron University's Biomimicry Fellowships!

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

2017 North Coast Harbor Ice Fest, and Science Center and Rock Hall Free for MLK Day

We have really enjoyed attending the North Coast Harbor Ice Fest in the past, but normally only came to the event in the evening to see the final ice sculptures. If you have never seen the beautiful carved ice lit up at night, you really should.

This year, the Ice Fest took place on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Monday, January 16, 2017. It was combined with the annual free admission to two great Cleveland institutions for the MLK holiday -- Great Lakes Science Center and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum -- that are located on North Coast Harbor.

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

From Hidden to Modern Figures

We were really excited when we saw the Cleveland Foundation Center's tweet announcing that the Cleveland Public Library and NASA Glenn Research Center would be sponsoring the program NASA From Hidden Figures to Modern Figures on Saturday, January 14, 2017. Having attended and having written previous blog posts about tech events at the Cleveland Public Library and about NASA Glenn Research Center, we knew we needed to clear our calendars to attend this event.

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

#NewYearsEve and #NewYearsDay #Thanks!

It was a good year for us. We have many people to thank for all the activities and events that we attended in 2016. This blog post includes our year-end thank-you tweets, and the list of all our 2016 blog posts.

As we have done for the past two years, we have created this blog post to remind us of the fun we had this year, and to show our appreciation. There are many people/organizations that we did not have a chance to mention -- to you all, we want to also say thank you!

Author(s):
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

TechPint Winter 2016 at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Cleveland

TechPint Winter 2016 was held at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland on December 6, 2016. I have gone to other events at the museum, and attend many of their exhibits throughout the year -- it was a great location for this entrepreneur event.
 
As my way of thanking the TechPint organizers for such a great event -- I really had a great time connecting with many people there -- I have created this blog post, which captures some of the tweets and resources from the evening. 
Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

360 Degrees of Holiday Fun - University Circle's 23rd Annual Holiday CircleFest

We had a such a great time at University Circle's 23rd Annual Holiday CircleFest on Sunday, December 4, 2016, that we wanted to share our photos and tweets/retweets of the day to thank all the sponsoring organizations. Unfortunately, Julie only was able to attend the early activities, since she had a choir performance, but Stuart stayed to the very end of the evening activities.

One of the great things about the day is the people who work at the sponsoring organizations, who warmly welcome and talk to visitors. Stuart wants to give a shout-out to the people he met during the day. Their actions show how to effectively engage visitors to University Circle.

Author(s):
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

@Flashstarts Demo Day 2016 - #FSDDay

I was very impressed with the Flashstarts 2016 Accelerator Class. At the November 30, 2016, Flashstarts Demo Day, the startup founders made their presentations, after which I had a chance to talk to them. I also truly enjoyed meeting other new people and reconnecting to the people I knew who attended this event at The City Club.

Author(s):
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

Stuart O. Smith, Jr., PechaKucha Talk

It all started when I received an email from Michael Christoff, who is one of the members of the PechaKucha Night Cleveland leadership team. He wrote that he was inviting me to a special first-time-ever PechaKucha Night Cleveland Past Presenters Happy Hour. This would be an event where the 250+ PechaKucha Night Cleveland presenters from the past eight years would be invited.

Although Julie and I have written blog posts about PechaKucha Night Cleveland and attended many of their events, I had never done a PechaKucha talk myself. I was extremely honored to be invited to this closed event for people whose presentations I greatly admired. It meant a lot to me.

But it got even better -- I was in for a BIG surprise!!!

Author(s):
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

Creative Fusion Murals

Two months before the Creative Fusion Spectacular, on Saturday, September 17, 2016, my wife, Julie, and I attended an art event of The Cleveland Foundation's Creative Fusion program. There we saw three new Cleveland murals being created as we watched, near Transformer Station in Hingetown.

Then, when I heard that The Cleveland Foundation had arranged with Ohio City Incorporated to have their Creative Fusion Spectacular on Saturday, November 19, 2016, I knew I wanted to attend to take a special tour of the finished neighborhood murals, and see the temporary Creative Fusion Gallery at 2529 Detroit Avenue, Cleveland.

Author(s):
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

Akron Mini Maker Faire 2016

This is the fourth Akron Mini Maker Faire that I have attended at the Akron-Summit County Public Library Main Library. The Akron Mini Maker Faire is a very impressive Maker event, and I always enjoy it. The library reported that more than 1,600 people attended!

This year, it was fun that the Akron Mini Maker Faire was held on November 12, 1016, since this was the week after the Cleveland Mini Maker Faire. This made November 2016 the Maker month in Northeast Ohio!

 

Author(s):
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

Web Development SIG: So Long, and Thanks for all the Free Web Development Training!

Today, November 19, 2016, the third Saturday of this month, seems like an appropriate day to formally announce that I will not be running the Web Development Special Interest Group (Web Development SIG -- WebSIGCleveland.org) any longer. I chose today to announce this because the Web Development SIG has met on the third Saturday of most months for the last 10 years.

The main purpose of posting this today is to thank the many presenters who have made the Web Development SIG a success. You will see some of their names listed in historical content below. Thank you to those who have made presentations during my tenure -- January 21, 2006 to March 9, 2016 -- and to those who worked with my predecessors. I truly will miss learning from you.

Author(s):
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

For Freedoms: MOCA Cleveland Town Hall Discussion

 
MOCA provided a video of the full Town Hall, so I decided to gather it and other information, and create a blog post. A lot of good discussion occurred at this event, which I think is worth sharing with others.
Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

 

Cleveland Mini Maker Faire 2016

The 4th Annual Cleveland Mini Maker Faire took place on Saturday, November 5, 2016, and we have attended three out of the four. It was a day for creative people to share their passion with others. 

Again this year, the Cleveland Mini Maker Faire was located in the Cleveland Public Library Main Library complex, and was presented by Cleveland Public Library and Ingenuity Cleveland.

We felt honored that the Executive Director/CEO of the Cleveland Public Library, Felton Thomas, Jr., greeted us by name as we entered the library, and invited us to explore this special Maker event.

 
Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

PechaKucha Night Akron Volume 5 at The Bit Factory

We were looking forward to the November 4, 2016, PechaKucha Night Akron Volume 5. From past experience, we knew that PechaKucha Night events were always interesting, and because Stuart had heard of The Bit Factory, but had never visited it. 

We were rewarded by our attendance at PechaKucha Night Akron Volume 5 with great talks, interesting location -- The Bit Factory -- and Akron Soul Train art.

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

CircleTrek Walking Tour of Cleveland's University Circle

A year ago, we were invited via Twitter to go on the final CircleTrek Walking Tour of University Circle for 2015. We really wanted to go, but unfortunately we had a conflict.

We have been very busy in 2016, and it feels like suddenly it is one year later. Luckily, we saw a tweet announcing the "...final FREE #CircleTrek guided walking tour of the season," and Julie signed us up to attend!

It was a brisk morning on Saturday, October 22, 2016, when we found ourselves with a group of other people interested in learning about our city's University Circle. As we were on the tour, we kept finding personal and family connections. This made the tour more interesting to us, as we personally related to the history and current developments of Cleveland's University Circle.

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

Always fun to be able to get close to the animals at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History

We had a great time at the Wednesday, October 19, 2016, Cleveland Museum of Natural History's Think & Drink with the Extinct, so we wanted to share our photos and tweets from the evening. The theme for the night was "Wildlife," which Stuart knew would be of special interest to Julie. It is always fun to be able to get close to the animals at the museum.

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

Akron Art Prize 2016

 

Like many of our adventures, it all started with a tweet!

Like many of our adventures, it all started with a tweet!  Akron Art Prize 2016
 

Through this tweet, we learned about and decided to attend the Akron Art Prize Finale Reception on Saturday, October 1, 2016. We enjoyed seeing all the Akron Art Prize entries first at Summit Artspace, and then attending the awards reception at the Akron Art Museum.

We had such a good time and were so impressed with the artwork, that we wanted to share our photos and tweets/retweets from the event.

Collage of Akron Art Prize 2016 art

Author(s):
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

BVU Ohio Nonprofit Technology & Communications Summit

I want to begin with a BIG thank-you to BVU Director of Communications and Technology Melanie Meyer for inviting me to attend the inaugural BVU Ohio Nonprofit Technology & Communications Summit on Friday, September 30, 2016, as their guest representing the good work of Cleveland GiveCamp.

The mission of BVU: The Center for Nonprofit Excellence "is to promote business volunteerism and foster excellence in nonprofit organizations." This has led Melanie and me to explore how Cleveland GiveCamp can reach out to the nonprofits served by BVU. As a provider of free tech solutions to Cleveland and Akron area nonprofits, it seemed logical that Cleveland GiveCamp be present at BVU's first tech summit. Cleveland GiveCamp has the largest number of tech volunteers of any of the nation's other GiveCamps. 

Author(s):
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

Final 2016 Cleveland Caucus Event: Presidential Debate Watch Party

Thank you to the Cleveland Young Professional Senate, the Cleveland Foundation, and The City Club of Cleveland for the Greater Cleveland Caucus events that took place in 2016. I think this type of activity is very important to our community as a starting point for making positive change and plans for the future.

After attending the final Greater Cleveland Caucus event for 2016, I decided to write this blog post to:

  • Thank the organizers
  • Capture some of the information shared about this final event
  • Encourage people to learn about the Greater Cleveland Caucus by reading my past blog posts and related materials
Author(s):
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

Awakening: Ingenuity 2016

The 2016 IngenuityFest weekend took place on Friday, September 23rd, through Sunday, September 25th. This is the fifth annual blog post I have written about IngenuityFest, plus I have written about other Ingenuity Cleveland-sponsored events.

Every year, I try to live the full IngenuityFest experience by attending all three days and talking to as many exhibitors as possible. It was really great this year to reconnect with some of the artists and techies I met in previous years, and get to know some tech people that I had read about online, but had not met in person. IngenuityFest is like an annual reunion of creative people in Cleveland! 

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

Cleveland Museum of Art Chalk Festival 2016

Every year, we visit and write a blog post about the Cleveland Museum of Art's Chalk Festival. It is one of our favorite events in our community. This year, we also visited other art events on the same weekend, so we included our @sos_jr tweets with photos of these events as well. Enjoy!

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

"Take a Hike," Cleveland! - 2015 & 2016

We think that the Historic Gateway Neighborhood Corporation "Take a Hike" Cleveland tours are the greatest! We recently went on the Warehouse District Tour, in 2015 attended the Gateway District Tour, and have written blog posts in 2014 about the Playhouse Square Tour and Canal Basin Park in the Flats Tour.

Since we did not have time to write a blog post about the tour we did last year, we decided to include our @sos_jr tweets about @GatewayCLE tours from both 2015 and 2016 in this blog post. It is our way to share the experience, and more importantly, to thank the sponsors and partners for these great tours.

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

PechaKucha: Part of Five Days of Cleveland Creative Free Fun

At the start of the week of August 15, 2016, we were prepared to write a blog post about how lucky we are in Cleveland to have PechaKucha Night Cleveland (@PKNCLE), which was coming up on Friday, August 19th. As the week progressed, we realized that, starting on Wednesday, we were going to have the opportunity to attend five consecutive free creative arts events! All of these events deserved at least a special mention and a thank-you, while some even warranted a full blog post.

Thus, this blog post has morphed into something different. While focused on PechaKucha Night Cleveland, it will also include mention of the other free creative events, and an additional inaugural arts event. This is our way to publicly thank the following organizations for their work to provide these free arts events:

Author(s):
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

My 7th Cleveland GiveCamp - Free Tech Solutions for Nonprofits in 2016

The Mission of Cleveland GiveCamp is to pair creative and technology talent with nonprofits in need.

Cleveland GiveCamp Weekend on July 29-31, 2016, marked the seventh year of serving nonprofits from the Cleveland and Akron areas. I am fortunate to to be part of Cleveland GiveCamp every year.

Cleveland continues to have many creative people volunteering (over 225 registered for 2016). It is believed that Cleveland has the largest GiveCamp in the nation. It is exciting that again this year there were so many volunteers that the tech volunteer tickets sold out, and a waiting list had to be started.

7th Cleveland GiveCamp - Free Tech Solutions for Nonprofits in 2016

Author(s):
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

Cleveland Shines at the Republican National Convention

Another month, another BIG 2016 event where Cleveland shines -- The July 18-21, 2016, Republican National Convention!

July is the third consecutive month in 2016 where Cleveland had a huge event that reflected positively on our area.

While I did not attend the actual Republican National Convention, which was directed to out-of-state convention delegates visiting Cleveland, I did attend related events that engaged many local people and visitors.

With the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame offering free admission, the unveiling of the new Cleveland Public Square, and special programing by the great cultural institutions of both North Coast Harbor and University Circle, there was an amazing amount of activity crammed into four days.

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

NASA Glenn Research Center 75th Anniversary Open House

Here it is...

NASA Glenn Research Center Celebrates 75 Years With an Open House

When Stuart saw this headline in a Cleveland Scene article on March 11, 2016, we knew we had to be there! Our first full blog post was about a tour of NASA Glenn Research Center as part of a Cleveland NASA Tweetup in 2012. We were excited to go back for another tour!

We attended the NASA Glenn Research Center 75th Anniversary Open House at Lewis Field on May 21 and 22, 2016. There was so much to see that the two days just left us wanting to see and learn more.

Author(s):
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

YPCLE: The Millennial Caucus

On Saturday, May 14, 2016, the Cleveland Young Professional Senate held their fourth annual YPCLE: Young Professional Civic Leadership and Empowerment Conference at The City Club of Cleveland. This year, it was entitled YPCLE: The Millennial Caucus, and was part of the Greater Cleveland Caucus Series. This series is the result of a partnership between the Cleveland Young Professional Senate, the Cleveland Foundation, The City Club of Cleveland, and others.

I am so glad that I was able to attend this event, and pleased that some college students who I invited also attended. I look forward to learning how the ideas developed at the caucus will be become an action plan for our community.

My goal for this blog post is:

  • to give those who did not attend information on what occurred

  • to create a public repository for some of the information I gathered in relation to the event

  • to remind us of the work yet to be done

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.
Julie & Stuart at the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA Championship Parade & Rally
We did not think that we would be attending the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA Championship Parade on Wednesday, June 22, 2016, but at the last minute Stuart was told that he would have the day off. It seems many other employers also recognized that this was a once-in-a-lifetime event for people in the Greater Cleveland area, and let their employees attend. The number of people attending the parade was close to the total number of people who live in Cuyahoga County!
 
The day was significant for the Cavs and their fans, and for the city as a whole, since this is the first major sports title in 52 years for Cleveland. Beyond that, we want to express how impressive it was to be at such a large event with so many friendly and courteous people. Not only did we experience this, but we have since spoken to others who felt the same way. By our nature, we tend to always expect the best from people, but this event surpassed even our best expectations.
Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

Earth Day Coalition's EarthFest 2016

We were excited to learn that Earth Day Coalition's EarthFest 2016 would take place on April 17th, the Sunday before Earth Day 2016 (April 22nd). We had a great time last year at EarthFest 2015, and were looking forward to attending again this year!

What made it even more fun this year is that while we were promoting the event on Twitter via @sos_jr, we ended up winning tickets from @GCRTA to attend the event!

Winner! EarthFest 2016 tickets!

Thank you, Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority - RTA!

Author(s):
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

Cuyahoga County Public Library Innovation Center

I have attended the grand opening of the Cleveland Public Library TechCentral MakerSpace. The technology center staff at the Akron Public Library gave me a tour during the Akron Maker Faire. Now, I am pleased to be able to write about the Cuyahoga County Public Library's new Innovation Center at their Garfield Heights Branch. I was fortunate to be part of a special orientation tour given to members of the Cleveland Digital Publishing Users Group (CDPUG) for their March 31, 2016, meeting.

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

PlayhouseSquare 2016-2017 Broadway Series: Broadway Glamour in Cleveland!

It was an evening of excitement and anticipation!! The announcement of the 2016-2017 KeyBank Broadway Series was a Broadway production itself!

Clevelanders have come to expect PlayhouseSquare and partner organizations to provide great theatre. We think that Cleveland theatergoers who have never attended the 2016-2017 KeyBank Broadway Series Announcement Celebration would be happily surprised by the high level entertainment and engagement of the launch. It is not a simple announcement of the upcoming season, but instead a very entertaining production with musical guests and interesting interviews with facts about the upcoming season's Broadway shows and about PlayhouseSquare.

The announcement of each show was accompanied by a special surprise. PlayhouseSquare presented the evening as a Cleveland event, not just a theatre event, to encourage pride in our city.

Author(s):
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

Greater Cleveland Caucus: A Town Hall Meeting on Community Solutions

The Saturday, March 12, 2016, inaugural Greater Cleveland Caucus: A Town Hall Meeting on Community Solutions engaged over 400 attendees from throughout Greater Cleveland to spend their Saturday morning in serious dialogue about key community issues. In addition, representatives from more than 70 nonprofit organizations staffed informational booths before the caucus started, and then joined the attendees in brainstorming priorities within eight “caucus areas.”

I want to start by thanking the Greater Cleveland Caucus Series partners for this 2016 initiative. I hope that the Caucus Series, and their related events (such as debate watch parties), provides structure for positive outcomes for Cleveland's future, and acts as a catalyst to involve more Greater Cleveland citizens in that future. 

 

UPDATE -- MAY 9, 2016: Videos of the Fred Talks speeches from the March 12 Greater Cleveland Caucus Town Hall have now been added to this blog post!

Author(s):
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

sosAssociates.com Blogiversary: Four!

2012 to 2016!!! Our fourth Blogiversary of celebrating the fun of exploring our community and writing about our experiences!

Like last year, I want to start by thanking my great co-writer and wife, Julie Smith! I always enjoy sharing the journey with her.

It brings me joy to look at the blog posts we did this past year -- great memories of fun times, plus the anticipation of a new year full of possibilities!

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

Brite Winter 2016 - #Brite16

Since we have enjoyed Brite Winter for several years now, we are posting our @sos_jr tweets and photos/videos as our way to thank and congratulate the organizers of this unique outdoor winter event in Cleveland.

We visited Brite Winter 2016 during the evening of February 20, 2016, but the full event went from 3:00 p.m. until 2:00 a.m. on the West Bank of the Flats. We did not get to see everything, so be sure to look at some of the tweets we shared from others.

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

Cleveland's North Coast Harbor Ice Fest 2016

Having seen the incredible ice sculptures last year, we made it a point to attend the second annual Cleveland's North Coast Harbor Ice Fest. 

We are posting our @sos_jr tweets and photos/videos from Cleveland's Ice Fest at North Coast Harbor here as our way to thank the organizers.

The Ice Fest was located between the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and the Great Lakes Science Center. The Cleveland Ice Fest at North Coast Harbor is a great event -- worth taking the time to visit!

Author(s):
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

PechaKucha Night Cleveland Volume 27

PechaKucha Night Cleveland is always a good time, so I want to share with you my photos and tweets from PechaKucha Night Cleveland Volume 27. It took place at the Music Box Supper Club on February 18, 2016.

I don't know if it is possible to capture the full atmosphere of the evening in a blog post. I do hope it will encourage you to go in person to a future event to truly experience it live!

Author(s):
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

Cleveland Waterfront Panel: Is Development Paying Off?

I was very fortunate to see on Twitter an announcement about a very interesting panel discussion. On Tuesday, February 9, 2016, I attended the discussion about recent developments on, and potential future plans for Cleveland's lakefront and riverfront.

By arriving early at Lakewood Public Library, I was able to get a good seat for this function, which soon became a standing-room-only event! 

Even though I had heard about most of the projects separately, it was exciting for me to hear about all of them at one gathering! It was great to hear directly from these panel members, who are intimately involved with these projects. 

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

PechaKucha Night Akron Volume 2

Akron creatives from diverse disciplines present their work in a unique format -- 20 slides of 20 seconds each.

We were excited to spend the evening in Akron at the Akron Civic Theatre, since we had not been to this great venue in years. We attended the second PechaKucha Night Akron on February 5, 2016.

If you have never attended a PechaKucha event at any of the over 800 cities around the world, we strongly suggest you do so. We were very impressed with the second PechaKucha Night Akron. We had already written blog posts about two of the presenters, so it was great to get updated on their current work, and learn about exciting developments from the other presenters.

Author(s):
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.


#NewYearsEve #Thank You!

On New Year's Eve 2015, I decided to continue the tradition that I started last year, by creating thank-you tweets. I have shared these thank-you tweets (and related tweets/retweets) in this blog post to thank the individuals and organizations mentioned, for adding value to my life in 2015, and to remind me of the fun times I had in 2015. Thank you!

Author(s):
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.


Smarter #SocialMedia Tips

I have always enjoyed reading Janet Cho's #SocialMedia Tips articles, so I was honored when she contacted me to be featured in her column. 

Smarter #SocialMedia Tips from #HappyinCLE Stuart O. Smith Jr. (@sos_jr)

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

Bloggers Tour - Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse

Although it is a very busy time of the year, and we had visited the Cleveland Museum of Art and University Circle recently, when we heard about the Ohio Blogging Association's University Circle Holiday Night Out, we knew we had to make the time for this special night. We know that we will remember this fun evening for a long time!

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

GE Lighting's Nela Park National Christmas Tree

The Smiths have a family tradition of driving to GE Lighting's Nela Park two weeks before Christmas to see their annual Christmas lights display. Of particular interest to us is seeing each year at Nela Park the replica of the National Christmas Tree. We also enjoy discovering each year's decorating theme.

This year, the Nela Park holiday lights display featured Cleveland landmarks. Therefore, we decided to not only see GE Lighting's Nela Park, but also to see the holiday lighting at the landmarks themselves. 

 

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

Case Western Reserve University's think[box] Thinkapalooza!

On October 27, 2015, we were very fortunate to be invited to attend Case Western Reserve University's think[box] Thinkapalooza!

Even before the new think[box] space opened, we had heard about how great it was going to be. Thinkapalooza was part of the grand opening of Case Western Reserve University think[box]'s new space for promoting innovation and entrepreneurial enterprises. Its new name is the Larry Sears and Sally Zlotnick Sears think[box] and it is located in the Richey Mixon Building. It is one of the largest centers of its kind for an academic institution.

think[box] is a resource that will first focus on the students, faculty, and staff of the university, but will also be open to others in the surrounding community.

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

Pumpkinville's 50th anniversary year!

The Smith family has a tradition of going to Pumpkinville each fall. This year, on Sunday, October 25, 2015, Julie and Stuart also went to Holden Arboretum after visiting Pumpkinville. We decided to write a blog post, since this year, there were some special situations to note.

Since it was Pumpkinville's 50th anniversary year, we wanted to include a few of our photos to congratulate them. 50 years in business is worth noting! Pumpkinville is located in Kirtland, Ohio.

We also had reasons to make special note about our fall visit to Holden Arboretum. We were especially excited about experiencing the new Murch Canopy Walk and Kalberer Emergent Tower. They had just opened on September 6, 2015, and they were incredible!

Holden Arboretum's new Murch Canopy Walk  Holden Arboretum's new Kalberer Emergent Tower

Author(s):
Julie Smith, Stuart O. Smith, Jr.

Cleveland Play House Community Open House

We want to take this opportunity to congratulate the Cleveland Play House on their centennial, and for earning the 2015 Regional Theatre Tony Award!

We were fortunate to be able to attend the Cleveland Play House Community Open House on Saturday, October 24, 2015, which was part of their Centennial Celebration Weekend.