MyQuire.com

We just got back from debuting the next version of MyQuire at DEMOfall 07. We had a great time showing our new product to a bunch of smart folks and were very excited to for the chance to tell the world we have arrived.

The path to DEMO

Getting to DEMO was a rollercoaster ride. We started off thinking we wouldn’t be ready in time to apply for DEMO as our new release wasn’t coming out until later this Fall. Yet as we learned more about the conference, we realized a demo would be enough (seems obvious in hindsight – DEMO/demo), so we applied about 3 weeks after the deadline, talked to Chris Shipley the next day, and were in.

We spent the next month and a half pushing hard toward DEMO, making sure that all the pieces of the product fit together, getting the nuts and bolts of our stage presentation worked out, and making sure we had enough back-ups to survive any situation. After a heroic final 24 hours of testing, we dropped 5 boxes off at FedEx last Friday, and then headed to San Diego on Sunday.

Setting up

Once we arrived Sunday morning, we knew we had arrived at a well-run event. Everything was planned to the minute. We had our on-stage practice, met some of the other folks, and got ready for a hectic three days.

Monday, the conference officially launched. We hadn’t received the fifth box, which had the computers we were using in our DEMO booth, and we were still putting final touches on our presentation, so we were a bit nervous. Finally, around 3pm, the box arrived, and we could join the crowds in the demo pavilion tearing into boxes like it was Christmas – a plasma here, an LCD there. We also had a few final practices to get the presentation straight, then went outside to meet the other folks who had come early and get ready for two very long days.

The DEMO

Our 6 minute stage presentation, which you can see below, was on Wednesday morning, so Tuesday was spent just running through it a few more times in between stints manning our booth. We had a range of conversations, and we also had a chance to talk to some of the other folks demonstrating. Wednesday, we got to the stage at 7:30am to check everything, grabbed breakfast, then waited impatiently for our chance to go onstage. David, our CEO and founder, and I headed out and got started.

In retrospect, it feels pretty easy. It’s only six minutes, right? The lights were a bit too bright, and the crowd is hard to tear away from their email. But in the end, it was great to get out there and tell the world that MyQuire is here and ready to change how we do projects.

Quire, Inc. CEO David Steinberg took the stage at this years DEMOfall 2007 Conference. Enjoy a sneak peek of the new MyQuire. Keep an eye out for updates this Fall. More to come concerning DEMO later this week.

San Diego-based Many Hands Foundation is our Craigslist Boot Camp attendee award winner. Many Hands will receive $500 from Quire to be used to support their efforts in 2008!

Many Hands was founded by Mack and Mary Alice McKinney, who have been leading volunteer work teams to places around the world since 1969. Since 1992 the focus has been on rural villages in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa, and in 2006 to the community of Silindile.

Next year, two Many Hands teams of 16-24 people each will spend 24 days in Silindle to construct a multi-purpose annex to the church building Many Hands helped build in 2006. The community will decide the uses for the new annex which will be designed for classroom, meeting space, and even small community library uses. Volunteers will also be working to find an internet service provider willing and able to provide service to Silindile. As in past years some team members will also be teaching computer and business skills to budding entrepreneurs in the community.

Between now and then, Many Hands will be coordinating delivery of donated books to Silindile and putting together computer hardware and software packages to be delivered by the teams.

In years past, coordinating trip project information was cumbersome. Many Hands administrators in various locations used multiple emails to coordinate efforts. In reaching volunteers participating in the trips, newsletters were a static, one-way flow of information. MyQuire unites communication among the Many Hands community with a dynamic and collaborative communication flow. Many Hands administrators can get real-time feedback and MyQuire is well-suited as a toolset for the people coordinating the work that directly impacts quality of life in among Silindile's community.