MyQuire.com

I'm really excited (and proud!) to announce RAPIDGrant, a new MyQuire program we're kicking off to recognize the efforts of an innovative non-profit MyQuire member organization.

On November 23rd we'll award a single $5,000 grant to the MyQuire non-profit member who most successfully demonstrates the spirit of innovation in its work.

It's been an honor over the last months to work with non-profit MyQuire members. We're inspired by the amazing work you're doing and we're proud that MyQuire is helping you work more efficiently, save time and money, and achieve your mission. Now it's our turn to honor you.

Do you have a unique approach to solving one of the world's problems? Tell us all about it. There are no restrictions as to type of work you do or the community/country you serve (animals, people, the environment, etc.). Our judging panel will select the non-profit organization best able to show how its creative approach is making a difference in the world. Eligible organizations must have at least one registered MyQuire member. Preference in judging will be made to entrants actively using MyQuire to do projects in their organization and entrants who have the ability to use the effect of networks to create MyQuire projects of scale and significance.

We've tried to make the application process as simple as possible. Get complete program information and an application here. All entries must be received by November 12, 2007 (Winner will be announced on November 23rd)

Good Luck! I'm looking forward to reading about all the interesting, inspiring, impactful and innovative work you're doing.

David

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.

Exciting news to share!

MyQuire will make its public debut at the prestigious DEMOfall 07 conference held September 24-26 in San Diego, California. Out of hundreds of aspiring participants, MyQuire was one of only 70 companies chosen to present at this invitation-only event.

The conference format is well-known (for those in the know): each participant takes the stage to present for 6 -- count 'em: 6 -- minutes. That's only 360 seconds. But as our CEO David assured me yesterday, "In some ways, 6 minutes is a very long time."

For us, it's going to be an incredibly fun challenge: with everything that's going on with the product right now, there's so much we want to tell everyone about. But being constrained to 6 minutes will be an excellent object lesson in the importance of brevity.

Can't wait!