IT Martini Hour 2 swept through Columbus on September 18th, just 4 days after Hurricane Ike. But that didn’t stop over 300 IT Pros from brushing aside the fallen trees, power outages, and property damage for the second-ever IT Martini Hour at Park Street Patio.

Columbus’ hometown hero Paul MacCartney (MindLeaders) kicked off the evening with some thoughtful observations about how he landed a CEO role - after beginning his career 12 years ago as a developer. It was great advice for career-savvy IT Professionals!

Next, Ben Blanquera (Progressive Medical) and Steve Gruetter (Platform Lab) brought the mic into the crowd for some one-on-one with IT Martini Hour attendees. This thought-provoking, spontaneous display of interaction was, as one attendee put it, “a perfect blend of IT and Martinis!”

Bruce Pecci (AEP) and Mike Reznik (AEP) participated in a panel discussion that compared their director and BSA roles, respectively. In addition, we got a chance to learn about some of the ‘perks’ associated with being a top IT director at AEP!

Batting cleanup was Steve Harman (Quick Solutions) and Jim Holmes (Quick Solutions), who again took to the crowd in search of answers about IT Professional roles. Steve interviewed a couple of IT Professionals, then finished by interviewing an IT sales professional. Talk about a knowledge exchange!

IT Martini Hour 2 had some great demos as well: Amy Marshall and Bill Balderez from Webbed Marketing provided a step-by-step demo of how to ‘Search Engine Optimize’ your website. And Steve Schade performed a demo of ClaritySoft, a powerful CRM tool for small businesses that specializes in customer segmentation.

A very special thank you is owed to our ‘top shelf’ sponsors for IT Martini Hour 2: Quick Solutions, Donna and Michelle from Coldwell Banker King Thompson, CBTS, and MindLeaders. The refreshments were on them!

And thanks to our community partners: Unicon International, PDM Technologies, Working IT Solutions, Webbed Marketing, ClaritySoft, ProSoft Cyberworld Group, Sign-O-Rama, Park Street Patio, DreamSeats, Platform Lab, TechColumbus, Virgin Fitness LLC, Cafe Apropos, Tony’s Italian Ristorante, C Magazine, and Motiondrift Films.

Last, but certainly not least - thanks to YOU for helping to close out this Summer! We had a great time hosting IT Martini Hour 2, and we’re looking forward to IT Martini Hour 3. Don’t forget to send us YOUR feedback to make the next IT Martini Hour better.