OPEN HOUSE @ Mesa Chamber of Commerce

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Music, Fun & Frivolity [Heh? Wotz that?]

ALL DAY 8-5

Who's the dude?

BizBash > Mesa Start-Up Crowd Mics

Back on March 4, 2014 reporter Mitral Sorrells published an article with this headline
New App Turns Smartphones Into Microphones
The new Crowd Mics app allows meeting and event organizers to turn attendee smartphones into microphones.
Ever attended a public meeting when you could not here questions from the audience? This app solves that problem . . . and two guys, the Holladay brothers - from Mesa did it.

Gathering audience questions and feedback at a meeting or event is usually done by positioning stand microphones around the room or by passing around a wireless unit. Crowd Mics, an iOS and Android app released last week at Launch Festival, provides a new option: it connects audience members’ smartphones to the room’s sound system, so every person has his or her own microphone.
Image and excerpts from article readers can see by going to this link >> http://www.bizbash.com/new-app-turns-smartphones-into-microphones/new-york/story/28005/#.Vngum5XSnIU

Phoenix Biz Journal had this report written by Hayley Tingle today
Dec 21, 2015, 6:36 AM  MST                   
This Mesa startup that turns your smartphone into a microphone just raised $1M in its seed round                    

The app turns smartphones into wireless microphones at live events.

Link >> http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/blog/techflash/2015/12/this-mesa-startup-that-turns-your-smartphone-into.html?ana=e_phx_rdup&s=newsletter&ed=2015-12-21&u=QU7bVbydM2U4wrdSLqhnXw091bba69&t=1450716508

 

So how does it work? The speaker on stage plugs a smartphone into the room’s sound system and creates a name and access code for the event in the Crowd Mics app. Audience members download the app and enter the code to join the event. When they want to ask a question or make a comment, they tap their phones, and the presenter will see a list of people who want to talk in the order they came online. The presenter can enable an individual microphone, mute a microphone, or put the system in “open mic” mode so anyone can comment. Audience members can also submit text comments to the presenter through the Crowd Mics app, and the system offers basic polling functions.

Crowd Mics is free for audience members. The event organizer, presenter, or venue pays for access to the system based on the size of the crowd. It’s free for 20 people or fewer, and then starts at $25 for 50 participants.
[that information above, excerpted from the BizBash article, may have changed]

Check out the Holladay brothers on Twitter: https://twitter.com/crowdmics?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

 

2 hours ago - View on Twitter

We are excited to announce our $1M seed round led by @Sandhillangels! #eventtech #eventprofs aztechbeat.com/2015/12/cr…

News: State Quarterly Personal Income, Q1 2015 - Q3 2015

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) has issued the following news release today, EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 8:30 A.M. EST, Monday, December 21, 2015
State Personal Income: Third Quarter 2015
State personal income grew 1.3 percent on average in the third quarter of 2015, the same pace as in the second quarter, according to estimates released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal income grew in every state with third-quarter personal income growth rates ranging from 0.6 percent in Alaska to 2.2 percent in Nebraska and South Dakota (table 1).
Not much, but some subject to the usual post-quarter revisions, momentum to report [to use a favorite phrase by mayor John Giles - but this was noted in the release:
The largest percentage increases in the third quarter were in Arizona and Oregon where nonfarm earnings grew 1.6 percent.
Readers can see the entire news release by going to this link >> http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/regional/spi/sqpi_newsrelease.htm

Here are some details extracted:

Earnings in professional services grew 1.7 percent in the third quarter following a 1.8 percent rise in the second. 

This industry contributed the most to personal income growth in California, Michigan, and Utah.

Earnings in health care grew 1.6 percent in the third quarter following a 1.4 percent increase in the second.  

Health care was the leading contributor to personal income growth in New York and North Carolina in the third quarter.

Earnings in finance grew 1.5 percent in the third quarter following a 1.6 percent rise in the second quarter.  

Finance was the leading contributor to personal income growth in Arizona, Connecticut, and Delaware in the third quarter.

Earnings fell 1.9 percent in mining in the third quarter, after falling 5.5 percent in the second quarter and 0.6 percent in the first quarter. 

This subtracted from personal income growth, particularly in North Dakota, Wyoming, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Alaska, Louisiana, and Texas.

[Quarterly state personal income estimates for 2015:I and 2015:II have been revised]

Next quarterly state personal income release – March 24, 2016, at 8:30 A.M. for fourth quarter 2015 and preliminary annual 2015.

All-In One Sunday Afternoon > New Urban DTMesa

Ex-mayor Scott Smith used to say about downtown Mesa that "Boring was OK".
Every single time your MesaZona blogger walks out the door most every day onto the streets on/off Main Street he's always excited and surprised what's in the panorama of the cityscape.
High expectations are one thing, but then again when you're feeling mellow on a sunny crisp Sunday afternoon stepping-out to see what's-there-to-see it's no problem at all avoiding crowds or dodging traffic - and finding a random act of kindness by "a group of friends" from Chandler for the homeless on the streets

Wot About Those Year-End Wrap-Ups? . . . Have You Heard from City Hall?

Here's a checklist of elected and appointed officials  who swear to open government, engaging the public, transparency, and being held accountable for what they do, and have been doing in 2015:
Mayor John Giles
City Council Members Glover, Kavanaugh, Finter, Richins, Luna and Thompson
City Manager Chris Brady
Ass't City Managers Kari Kent and John Pombier
City Econ & Development Director Bill Jabjiniak
Housing & Community Director Liz Morales
City Chief Technology Officer Alex Deshuk
Have they taken the time to inform residents and taxpayers of their accomplishment for this year? What got done - not promises, projections, challenges or opportunities.

If not, readers are invited to contact City Hall [see how easy it is]
http://www.mesaaz.gov/city-hall

Time for TED > The TED Radio Hour

Whatever happened to radio in this digital in-the-cloud Internet of Things time?
It's alive and doing very well, thank you very mucho for asking, dear readers.
Always good at this look-back/look forward time of the year to take the time to listen and lend an ear or two listening to National Public Radio's The Hero's  Journey.

From the Odyssey, to Robinson Crusoe, to Star Wars — why are we drawn to stories about heroes?
And what do they tell us about ourselves?

This hour, TED speakers explore what makes a hero's journey - and why we can find a hero in ourselves if we really take a good look.

Where do some people get started?
Find out >>
Dame Ellen MacArthur's journey began when she discovered sailing. . . Setting off in 2004, Dame Ellen MacArthur sailed 26,000 miles in 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds — becoming the fastest person to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe. She was made a dame by Queen Elizabeth II in 2005.
During her record-breaking solo sail, Dame Ellen came to a realization: our survival as a species depends on our reliance on a finite supply of resources.
In 2010, she launched the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which works with government and business to transition from a largely wasteful linear economy to a regenerative circular economy.
Here' a link to listen to and watch the 5:45 video >>
http://www.npr.org/2015/12/18/458508346/how-does-a-heros-journey-begin

Readers can access the whole playlist here >>
http://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/

Year-End Wrap-Up > The State of Education in Arizona + Mesa

What's with these spoon-fed-to-reporters stories or videos that completely fail to report the facts? [see farther along in this post]
Please note an article by Tim Galen on 17 December 2015 in Phoenix Biz Journal 2015 In Review

Did you hear about how Arizona's poor reputation in education cost the state a few thousand jobs?

That was just one of our top stories from August 2015, as our economy reporter caught up with a handful of decision-makers from two companies that considered Arizona for an expansion and up to 3,000 jobs total. But the state lost out because of its education reputation.

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2015/12/17/how-arizona-lost-3-000-jobs-new-state-slogans-and.html

Apart from Arizona's "poor reputation" [bad achievements levels are facts]  in education that's failing to educate schoolchildren - even with millions thrown at school districts for administrator and teacher salaries - the state is losing jobs.
First ya gotta be honest to at least recognize there is a big problem that's not finding a solution even after getting paid to do it --- it's NOT ENOUGH to say school leaders "want to boost test scores" . .

Readers can see the ratings for all public schools in Mesa by going to this link >> https://azreportcards.com/Map/Results?locationSearch=mesa.

Mesa school leaders want to boost test scores
By Shelley Ridenour, East Valley Tribune December 17, 2015
The article never states the test scores, and uses one source, Joe O'Reilly, with the  title of Executive Director for Student Achievement Support in the district.
Student achievement? . . . Or do you wanna call it lack of achievement or more bluntly failure to deliver results or failure to achieve basic educational goals?

The motto for  Mesa Public Schools is "Unprecedented Excellence in Education."
In November of last year voters approved a whopping $31.8 Million dollar budget override to prevent unwieldy class size, to maintain school security, and to continue teacher technology training, costing the average-priced homeowner $146 in annual property taxes.
Question = is the school system doing its job to educate kids?
AZ Merit results clearly say NO.
 

 

According to what Mr. O'Reilly says in the article, there are "large numbers of students" in lower proficiency levels across Arizona [ .       ]. . . In Mesa, not enough students are considered proficient or highly proficient."

To be clear, not enough of the 9,044 employees in one of the city's biggest taxpayer-funded employers are doing their jobs to educate children to the higher levels of achievement that can attract talent and jobs to Mesa . . . that's a problem looking to get solved.

Readers of this blog can see the entire AZ Merit Test Scores assessment in this report card for the Mesa Unified District.
Here's the Report Card from the Arizona Department of Education in this link >> not trying to hide a bad report card here, folks
https://www.azreportcards.org/Assessments/Assessments

AzMERIT is the assessment given to third- through 11th-graders in Arizona that determines how students are learning based on Arizona's College and Career Ready Standards. In November 2014, the Arizona State Board of Education voted to replace AIMS with AzMERIT In Spring 2015, approximately 45,000 Mesa students took AzMERIT assessments in English Language Arts (ELA) and math on computer or on paper. Parents received the scores at the end of November 2015.

Performance labels for AzMERIT are Highly Proficient, Proficient, Partially Proficient and Minimally Proficient. Cut-off scores for each performance label were determined based on what students at each grade level should know.

Students that do not achieve at the proficient level might not get promoted to the next grade level.

 

In the interest of being fair and balanced, here's a link to a 2:40 You Tube video uploaded by Mesa Public Schools on November 12, 2015 before test results were released https://youtu.be/zskbSaEqUC8

... and here's a link to a 2:15 You Tube video uploaded by Cronkite News on December 3, 2015 after test scores were released showing scores coming up short https://youtu.be/W138yuty3Dw

 

Here's a visual for achievements in English Language Arts for Mesa students: 33% passed.

On the Math scores 38% passed