By Nicole Jordan

Give me a T! Give me a U! Give me 5! What’s that spell? Well, nothing, but it stands for SoCal’s most prominent and well-known (and attended) tech event — Twiistup, now on it’s 5th event!

If you haven’t heard of Twiistup yet it’s held twice a year on the west side of LA and connects people from technology, entertainment and media and focuses on the inspiration and innovation that start-ups and entrepreneurs bring to the industry and economy. Each event features several start-ups chosen by a panel of judges (Sarah Lacy was just announced) to ’showoff’ their products & services to influential bloggers, fellow tech-heads, investors, the media and those interested in learning about what’s hot in tech. To date, Twiistup has attracted thousands of attendees and followers, including entrepreneurs, investors, media, job seekers, job providers, practitioners and people in a range of related fields.

The next Twiistup is scheduled for February 12th, 2009 at the same bat time, 7pm-midnight. July’s swank soiree at the Viceroy hotel featured a full game arcade and the uber-cool and uber-humble, Steve Wiebe of King of Kong fame, attempting to set the new world record.

How do you begin to top that? You hold the event in a private airplane hangar often used for filming television, movies and music videos. So appropriate for LA! And all that space (15,000 square feet!) will allow more people to attend, like those 600+ folks who were on the wait list for Twiistup4 because the event sold out before they got their tickets.

Showoffs range from under-the-radar to established companies with innovative products and solutions. The only rule is that the product, website, service, what have you, is accessible to the general public by February 2009. Successful submissions will be judged on the following attributes:

• Contribution to technology, innovation and entrepreneurship, theory and community
• Value and appeal to Twiistup attendees
• Original, inspirational or thought-provoking content

To get your start-up in the queue to be considered check out the submission page. Or if you know of a company that should be invited to apply just let the team know and you’ll be entered into a drawing to win free tickets to the event.

Important Dates for Showoff Applicants:
• Proposal form due by: Dec 2, 2008
• Notification of acceptance: Jan 2009
• Twiistup 5 Showoffs announced: Jan 2009
• Twiistup 5: February 12, 2009

I’ve seen some of the initial plans. You don’t want to miss it. Get your tickets now before they’re gone. Price is $75 and includes an open bar.

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