The DC Twestival event was a fun success for local Twestival coordinator and volunteer, Peter LaMotte! A night of charity started on the microblogging social network, Twitter, brought together around 200+ local technology professionals, marketing and PR professionals, bloggers, journalists and photographers, including local news Fox 5 to Local 16. We managed to raise over $1000 for Charity: Water! The gloabal event goal was to reach $1 million and so far the totals are showing $250,000. With 202 cities participating and over 10,000 people world-wide this amount will provide for 55 water projects that will bring 17,000 people clean, safe drinking water. Check the Twestival website for the latest totals as some counts are still coming in for appropriate statistics. The global organizer, Amanda Rose, also posted information on Mashable.

A huge thanks to Peter LaMotte and all volunteers for putting our nation’s capitol on the Twestival map! Next year will be tremendous and I look forward to more local support and coverage for such an epic charity.

See Fox 5 Footage, images from photographer D.C. Hughes and photos from photographer, Shannon Evans.

Local 16 Photo courtesy of Shannon Evans, Sevan Photography

This past Wednesday, Feb11th, a few PR professionals and area DC Twitter users met up at The Park on 14th to chat with Sarah Evans! She was in town on business for Elgin Community College attending the ACCT Legislative Summit. Thanks to Mark Drapeau and Stephanie Anderson for coordinating the impromptu tweetup at The Park on 14th, a DC hybrid restaurant and upscale nightlife venue. Mark and Sarah are also guest writers for Mashable and are well known in the social media scene. Sarah made herself available to DC professionals and put a face to the name. Great personality!
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DC Twestival, chaired by Peter Lamotte, Director of Marketing for GeniusRocket, is an event for Twitter users and more! Give to charity through Charity: Water by donating $10 for your ticket or $15 at the door of lDC venue, Local 16! Help show support and action for the global crisis of unclean water and lack of water systems in developing countries. You can even donate by downloading great tunes submitted to Twestival.fm at $5 per track!

All funds collected will go to benefit the Charity: Water initiative, %100!

On Twitter:
Follow @twestival | @twestivalfm | @peterlamotte | @dctwestival | @nakeva

Event: Twestival
Tickets: $10 in advance, $15 at the door. BUY HERE.
Location: Local 16
Address: 1602 U St NW, Washington DC
Time: Thursday | 12 FEB 2009 | 6PM - until
More info on the Washington Twestival Facebook Event page.

* Giveaways and gift bags
* Silent Auctions (Tickets are separate from door entry)

DJ Entertainment by:
:: DJ Cardigan :: DJ SYNZ :: DJ Outlaw
* Special appearance by local artist The Paxtons performing their donated track on Twestival.fm and more!

Check out the track donated by DJ Nakeva!

Cocktail specials include:
$4 rail drinks
$4 Red and White wines
$4 Miller Lite, Yuengling, Coors and Peroni

Sponsors:
- Tran Recruiting: www.tranrecruiting.com
@tracytran and @tranrecruiting

- ReturnMoi: www.returnmoi.com

- Harvest Time Tracking Software: www.getharvest.com
@harvest

- Body Friendly Yoga: www.bodyfriendlyyoga.com

- Coaching by Justin Sachs: www.justinsachsonline.com
@justinsachs

- The Right Job, Right Now: www.susanstrayer.com
@DailyCareerTips

- PurrfectPlay: www.purrfectplay.com

- Hooks Book Events: www.hooksbookevents.com

- Tryst: www.trystdc.com

- Sticky Fingers Bakery: www.stickyfingersbakery.com

- Yelp: www.yelp.com

Come out to DC Twestival at Local 16 and “Tweet.Meet.Give” with other Twitter fans! Its not just about Twitter considering the guestlist. You could meet with local Technology startups, business executives, and social media enthusiasts.

In Depth:

Twestival! “What the heck is that,” you say? Its a one day event organized by Twitter users bringing awareness to a global crisis of unsafe drinking water and its uses in developing nations. The chosen charity to help do something that would bring a better water solution to these countries? Charity: Water. If you are on Twitter, the popular microblogging social network, you know it does not take much to get a group of people together to share and support ideas, solutions, and make things happen! Twestival will bring together 175+ countries to funds and awareness through global volunteer efforts using the reach of Twitter, the enthusiasm of people and the non-profit Charity: Water.

If you enjoy drinking clean water, as clean as most cities can provide, having a latte that starts with clean water, the luxury of taking a clean shower or even having water in your residence, consider this: more than 1 billion people are not so fortunate to have the simple element of clean water at their disposal. There are no bottles of Evian, Voss or Deer Park to turn to as a safe means of drinking water. There are no wells the local people can rely on to provide water systems that would go to a home or shcool. Twestival plans to make us aware and offer small donations that Charity: Water will then use to bring opportunities for wells and clean water to these countries where women and children walk miles to get to a water source for daily living requirements. We can help, starting with Twestival! See you there.

TwitterButtons.com

A tweetup is scheduled at Indique Heights for DC/MD/VA Twitter enthusiasts. The Indian cuisine restaurant is located in Chevy Chase, MD and serves up Indian cocktails, entrees, tapas, and menu items for the vegetarian. Come out to Indique and meet local Twitter users @shashib, @jillfoster, @stevenfisher, @joelogon, and me @nakeva. I’m sure with the personalities that show up there will be a range of topics for conversation! Read the Washingtonian or Open Table review of Indique Heights restaurant.

Event: Tweetup at Indique Heights

Time: 7:30PM - Monday FEB 9, 2009

Address: 2 Wisconsin Circle, Chevy Chase, MD 20815

Phone: 301-656-4822

The Twin Tech III event was held at Lux Lounge, Thursday, Jan 22nd. This time Peter Corbett, found a venue to hold a crowd of 2000 avid technology and social media enthusiasts and it was not a disappointment! As CEO of iStragtegyLabs Peter makes intuitive decisions on a daily basis. Lux Lounge provided attendees with access to four floors, an open bar which only lasted just short of an hour and music. Several sponsors were present and providing demos for their product or service such as GeniusRocket, Host Ventures, and the skills of Zvi Band, President of skeevisArts. Zvi was able to develop a system that displayed tweets from Twitter on the LCDs around Lux Lounge so people could be interactive and experience immediate gratification from using the Twitter service like pros.

Check out the iStrategy Labs recap and The Washington Post article written prior to the event. We patiently await the revelation of Twin Tech IV.

Become a fan of iStrategy Labs on Facebook, or follow Peter on Twitter.

For the photo slideshow, click the picture below of Alan Ferguson, Dr. Mark Drapeau, and a glimpse of Jessie Newburn.