The PopSugar/TechCrunch Geek Goes Chic party in Los Angeles is over. The final count - over 1,300 paid attendees plus another 800 on the private guest list. In all, over 2,100 people attended the event last Thursday.

It was our largest event to date, twice as large as the thousand-person events we normally have. And based on feedback, it was a lot of fun for everyone. The only problem was that there were so many people, distributed in three main areas, that it was nearly impossible to find anyone that you were specifically looking for. We’re hoping to have a messaging system on a big screen at the next party to help people find each other.

$13,250 Being Donated To OpenId And DataPortability

As always, we’re donating 100% of the proceeds from ticket sales to charity. We charge $10 to get in the door primarily to reduce no-shows, but we’ve been able to donate tens of thousands of dollars to charity from the gate fees from previous events as well. This time we’re splitting the proceeds between the OpenID Foundation and the DataPortability WorkGroup. Each will receive $6,625 to further their goals of opening up identity and data on the Internet.

Event Wrapup

Thank you to everyone who attended. At one point I looked around and saw nothing but a sea of people, and took the picture to the right (and that was just 1 out of 3 main areas of the venue). I wasn’t able to meet everyone, but I tried. And the people I did meet came from a fascinating mix of backgrounds.

Photos for the event can be found at the TechCrunchMeetup12 tag and on our sponsor site PicApp here. I also want to thank all of our sponsors for the event. Many thanks to our platinum sponsors MySpace, Engage, Global Grind, Velocity Interactive Group, The Rubicon Project, and Geni. We also thank e.factor, CoComment, DimDim, DocStoc, Mahalo, This Next, PicApp, Meebo, ArtistForce, Media Temple, EventBrite, LotusVodka, PerkettPR, Mo’jiva and MailChimp. See more on all of the sponsors on the official party page.

Brian Solis and the Bub.blicio.us team captured lots of photo and video highlights for us. We’ve posted official MeetUp photos, videos and other evening highlights on our dedicated MeetUp page

Lastly I want to thank the whole team at PopSugar for co-hosting the event with us. Let’s do it again next year!

PS - If you’ve written about the event, leave a link in the comments and we’ll add it to the post.

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Mark your calendars for the second annual TechCrunch launch conference, co-produced between TechCrunch and Jason Calacanis: TechCrunch50 at the San Francisco Design Center on September 8-10, 2008.

Like last year at TechCrunch40 (except there will be ten more startup launches), fifty new startups and products will launch over three days. All finalists will be chosen solely on merit; they are not charged to attend or present at the event. The top startup to launch at TechCrunch50, as chosen by the judges and organizers, will receive a $50,000 cash prize (last year’s winner was Mint).

The 40 startups that launched at last year’s event have now raised at over $143 million in venture capital (not all has been disclosed publicly). That’s mostly because they were all excellent startups. But the press and blogger coverage from the event certainly didn’t hurt, either.

We will also be bringing back expert panelists to speak at the event and judge startup demos. Last year’s experts are here. Many of these people will be returning, along with a number of new judges as well. Announcements of attending experts will be made over the next few months.

New Venue, New Format

TechCrunch50 is a three day conference to accommodate the ten additional startup launches, as well as more panels and workshops. We’re changing locations this year. The event will be held at the San Francisco Design Center, a huge and beautiful venue that can accommodate over 1,000 attendees with ease.

We’re incredibly lucky to have the support and backing of a great and growing group of corporate partners. Sequoia Capital, Mayfield Fund, Clearstone Venture Partners, Charles River Ventures and Fenwick & West all returned quickly to support us for the second year in a row. Google and Microsoft reached out as well, and we’re very grateful for their new commitment to our merit-based conference format.

Is Your New Product Right For TechCrunch50?

If your startup or product is launching in the late summer or Fall, TechCrunch50 may be the perfect launchpad for you. The important factor is that the startup has no previous public exposure before the event - the 50 slots are reserved for new products that the audience hasn’t seen before. If launching on the actual date of the event is too soon, we will make a limited number of exceptions to allow you to show a demo of the product at the event instead.

Things To Know:

Official Site: TechCrunch50
Dates: September 8 - 10, 2008
Tickets To Attend: TechCrunch50 Tickets
Application to Launch Startup/Product: Company Application Form
Applications Deadline: Friday, June 27, 2008 (early consideration deadline June 13)

Corporate Partners:

Conference ticketing courtesy of EventBrite

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Filed under: Internet, Productivity, Web services, web 2.0

Need to schedule a meeting with a group of people spread out across multiple offices in multiple time zones? When is Good offers a simple web-based interface for scheduling meetings or events.

The organizer just needs to select a group of times when they are free and enter their email address. When is Good will send you an email with a URL that you can share with other attendees. Each participant will see just the list of times you’ve already flagged as good, and they can highlight the times that work for them. Their responses will be sent back to the organizer, making the process of planning a meeting a lot simpler.

If participants are in different time zones, just click the “use time zones” option when setting up your schedule. And if you visit the page on a mobile device or web browser that doesn’t support Flash, you’ll get a simpler HTML-only page.

[Thanks Keith Harris!]

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UPDATE: Today’s ticket release is now sold out. We will offer additional tickets next week.

We’re releasing 250 tickets for the Geek Goes Chic MeetUp in Los Angeles with PopSugar. These will go quickly, so act fast. If you miss out, please be patient and stay tuned; we will continue to release 250 tickets each week leading up to the event on April 10.

Event Details:

• Date: Thursday, April 10, 2008
• Time: 6:30 pm - midnight
• Venue: Vanguard, 6021 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood (maps: Google / Microsoft / Yahoo)
• Photo/Flickr Tag: PopCrunch2008
• For additional details, see our dedicated event page.

Get tickets here, based on availability. As usual, tickets are $10 to manage the guest list, and proceeds will be donated to charity. All ticket purchases are non-transferable and non-refundable. If you purchase multiple tickets under your own name, your guests will need to arrive together with you at the event. Photo IDs are required for event check-in (attendees must be at least 21 years of age); no paper tickets necessary. Hope to see you there!

Thank You to our growing list of MeetUp Sponsors

We’ve been lucky to receive a strong showing of support from sponsors for the LA MeetUp (We need your help; 1,500 people is a big bar tab). Sponsorship packages are available in all shapes and sizes: dedicated entertainment rooms, specialty cocktails, MeetUp giveaways, demo tables, etc. Please contact Jeanne Logozzo to learn more about how your can participate.

Thank you to our charter MeetUp sponsors:

Co-Host

Partner and Product Launch Sponsors

Product Sponsors

Event Sponsors:

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Update: The first batch of 200 tickets sold out almost immediately. PopSugar readers get the next batch, but more will be available soon. Also, if you plan to attend, please add yourself to the Facebook event here. MySpace coming soon.

This is going to be our best party yet.

PopSugar is a (huge) blog all about fashion, beauty, shopping and celebrity news. TechCrunch is about startups and the geeks that create them. These two groups definitely need to mingle.

So on April 10, in Hollywood of course, we are putting on a huge party with them. The theme - Geek Goes Chic. Expect lots of startup geeks commingling with, well, normal people. Who are most likely attractive. And can carry on a conversation. What could could possibly go wrong? See how PopSuger is presenting it to their readers here.

The party is being held at Vanguard in Hollywood, which holds up to 1,500 people. Like our previous events, there will be sponsors, hors d’oeuvre and an open bar. Unlike our previous parties, not all of the sponsors will be startup and tech related.

Event Details:

• Date: Thursday, April 10, 2008
• Time: 6:30 pm - midnight
• Venue: Vanguard, 6021 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood (maps: Google / Microsoft / Yahoo)
• Photo/Flickr Tag: PopCrunch2008

We’re releasing the tickets in stages - the first 200 tickets are available now. As usual, tickets are $10 to manage the guest list, and proceeds will be donated to charity. All ticket purchases are non-transferable and non-refundable. If you purchase multiple tickets under your own name, your guests will need to arrive together with you at the event. Photo IDs are required for event check-in; no paper tickets necessary. Hope to see you there!

Sponsor Opportunities

The Vanguard is a huge club with outdoor patio and cabanas. The club can hold over 1,500 people, and we expect this to be the largest MeetUp yet. The large-format venue is very conducive to creative sponsorship opportunities that can really showcase innovations in new and interactive media. Sponsorship packages are available in all shapes and sizes– dedicated entertainment rooms, specialty cocktails, MeetUp giveaways, demo tables, etc. Please contact Jeanne Logozzo to learn more about sponsorships.

There are a limited number of sponsorship spots for companies to take “center stage” during the entertainment portion of the evening. The venue has a built-in catwalk, a stage/dance floor and the latest high-tech production equipment.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

From CrunchGear: Check out the high definition trailer for the new Indiana Jones movie on Yahoo Movies. You can’t embed the trailer, of course (that would make too much sense), but they have some ridiculous countdown widget thing that shows the exact number of seconds until the movie is released. In case you are curious:

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On the evening of March 6, 2008 I’ll be moderating a Churchill Club panel discussion in San Francisco on “Bootstrapping As A Start-Up.” Participants include Sean Byrnes (CEO Flurry), Craig Newmark (Founder Craigslist), Gabe Rivera (Founder TechMeme), and Stephen Weir (CEO MadeIt). The discussion will be around starting and growing a startup without outside funding.

This is a very small event - just 30 attendees total (hopefully they’ll video so that more people can watch it afterwards). The tickets are now gone - but the last five have been reserved for TechCrunch readers (and are free). If you want to go, please leave a comment below telling us why you think you would benefit from the event or have something interesting to contribute. Also, given that there are so few seats available, please don’t ask for a ticket unless you are sure you can attend. I’ll choose five in 24 hours.

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Tomorrow 24 states will hold their presidential primaries, the largest Super Tuesday in U.S. history, and what will be, effectively, a national primary.

Last week we endorsed two presidential candidates based on their technology policies - Barack Obama for the Democrats and John McCain for the Republicans. We had good TV and blog coverage of the endorsements (see summary and clips here).

I also had the great opportunity to have a long talk with Rob Hawley, the host of WCBS Dishin Digital. The recording is up at TalkCrunch and is embedded below.

I really like the radio format. There’s no camera staring at you to make you nervous, and you generally have a lot more time to do a deep dive on the topic. This interview was twenty minutes long, v. just 3-5 minutes for most of the TV spots.

Make sure you get out and vote tomorrow.

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Last Thursday the Barack Obama (who we have endorsed as the Democratic candidate for president) campaign announced a record-setting month in terms of donations - $32 million in January alone. That’s the most ever raised by a candidate who’s still in a Primary race. And, his campaign told me today, $28 million of that was raised online.

That means Obama raised more money in January online than Howard Dean raised in his entire 2003/2004 campaign (he raised a total of $27 million). Barack’s $28 million in online contributions came from more than 250,000 contributors. 90% were under $100. 40% were $25 or less, and 10,000 people gave $5 or $10 to the campaign.

Clinton has not released her January fundraising total. One rumor says it was in the $20 million range.

With just one day to go until Super Tuesday, Barack trails Clinton by 1% in the California polls, a key state for both parties. McCain, our Republican endorsement, is leading California polls with a healthy margin. Tuesday may be their day.

Obama’s campaign also tells us that 250,000 profiles have been created at BarackObama.com, which we covered last year.

A roundup of our coverage of the Primaries is here.

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The World Economic Forum at Davos: 3,000 or so world leaders, celebrities and top CEOs (and a couple of bloggers) gather to discuss the major issues of the day.

At one end of the Congress Center is the main meeting hall. At another, private meeting rooms for the super-VIPs. And nestled right in the middle is the YouTube room.

Actually it isn’t called the YouTube room because there is no branding at Davos except for the WEF. But Google is a major partner to the conference, and this year the WEF added a new feature to reach out to attendees as well as non-attendees - the Davos Question. An entire room has been dedicated to this - five computers line the wall, all pointing to YouTube, where attendees can answer the question.

Between sessions this is clearly the place to be. Every few minutes another celebrity or leader walks through to leave a Davos Question response or go to a private meeting in the rooms beyond. The security detail comes first, giving everyone notice that someone interesting is coming. Then the person him/herself and their entourage.

Bono has been by twice. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf came by so many times that people stopped noticing (he was in the background of this CNN report, I had to point him out to get the cameras to pan over). Rupert Murdoch strolled in, as did Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai (recording his YouTube video), UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and former PM Tony Blair, Howard Dean, Michael Dell, Eric Schmidt, Sergey Brin, Chad Hurley, Henry Kissinger and Shimon Peres (the winner of the most intimidating-looking security detail at Davos). All stopped politely for interviews and photos with Forbes, CNN and others (here I am with Peres and Brin, here’s Robert Scoble interviewing Michael Dell).

The entire Forbes team has camped out here for the duration of the event, and editor Carl Lavin wrote his own thoughts about this being the power center of the event. As I sit here now there are no less than four camera crews and a score of journalists milling around.

It didn’t take me long to find the YouTube room, and I’ve spent more time here than anywhere else. This conference is exceptional, and this room is the center of it all. Brilliant move, Google.

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