The moment you have been waiting for has finally arrived. Tickets for the new and (highly) improved Twiistup 6 are officially on sale. Also announced is the impressive line-up of featured speakers confirmed for the Los Angeles-area tech and new media conference, and they’ve got something for everyone – from rappers to CEOs and everything in between.

The confirmed list for the July 30 + 31 event is growing everyday and includes:

* Jason Calacanis – Serial entrepreneur, founder of Mahalo and co-founder of TechCrunch 50 and Weblogs.
* Chamillionaire – Grammy Award-winning and chart topping musician and entrepreneur.
* Cyan Banister – early stage investor in Facebook, Paypal, Slide, Tagged and founder of TopFans.com
* Todd Goldman – Artist, entrepreneur, co-creator of BLAHGirls (with Ashton Kutcher) and founder of David and Goliath apparel.
* Quincy Jones III (QD3) – Music and film producer/entrepreneur.
* Dave McClure – Seed stage investor for the Founders Fund.
* Ian Rogers – Former business partner of the Beastie Boys and former GM of Yahoo Music, now CEO of Topspin Media.
* Ben Huh – CEO of viral phenomenon www.IcanHasCheezburger.com
* Chris Brogan – President of New Marketing Labs
* Mark Suster – GRP Partners, venture capital. Former VP Product Mgmt Salesforce.com & 2-time CEO and entrepreneur.
* Brian Solis – Author of Now is Gone and Putting the Public Back in Public Relations, Publisher of PR 2.0 and bub.blicio.us, Founder of Future Works PR, and strategic advisor to Fortune 500 businesses and startups.

The stage will also welcome ten yet-to-be-chosen “Showoff” startups, who will be given the opportunity to pitch their company and lead a Q&A session.

“This is just the start of our line-up,” said Twiistup producer Francisco Dao. “It’s really exciting to be able to put together an eclectic stage program that really captures the convergence of technology, media and innovation.” Dao continued to explain that the currently confirmed speakers represent only a portion of the expected agenda.

So just how much will this social media bonanza cost you? Several ticket packages are available, including a $79 single-evening ticket that grants you access to the many open-bars. Passes to the full two-day event are available for $227 until June 20, when the price will be bumped up to $297. Tickets are limited, to be sure to get yours quickly here.

Press passes for bloggers and media are available, but limited. To request a complimentary ticket, please e-mail twiistup@lewispr.com.

…If the recently leaked images of the Twiistup 6 floorplan are any indication, this is going to be one HOT event!

___

Sarah Townsend
E-mail: theoneinpink[at]gmail[dot]com
Twitter: theoneinpink
Blogs: The Vibe, TechDarling.com

Alexandra Monkh, Nicole Jordan, Vanessa Camones

TechZulu celebrated its first birthday this week in Los Angeles at the famed Beverly Wilshire Hotel.It was a well-attended event, and aside from having to explain to security every 10 minutes that I wasn’t your typical Hollywood paparazzi photographer, it was representative of the thriving tech community that TechZulu spotlights and helped shape.

Happy Birthday TechZulu!

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story…

Efren Toscano

Anaiis Flox

Mike Macadaan

Marjorie Kase

Joe Said, Anaiis Flox, Vanessa Camones

Sloane Berrent

Nicole Jordan, Stephanie Agresta, Frank Gruber

Geoffrey Emery

Christopher Darbro

Alexandra Mokh and Nicole Jordan

Mark Politi

Brian Solis by Alexandra Mokh

Francisco Dao

Tyler Crowley of Mahalo

For more pictures from the TechZulu birthday party, please visit my album on Flickr.

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My fellow judges and I huddled over 100 applications submitted by hopeful, innovative tech companies, to select the top 10 “showoffs” for Twiistup 5 in Los Angeles this February 2009 – an event so huge, that it has to be hosted in an airplane hanger.

Judges include: Sarah Lacy, Jackie Peters, Peter Pham, Andrew Warner, Richard Wolpert, Will Jessup, Frank Gruber, Devlyn Steele and yours truly.

Introducing the top 10 companies for Twiistup 5:

Causecast

Causecast, dubbed “a one stop philanthropy shop” by TechCrunch, is a platform where media, philanthropy, social networking, entertainment and education converge to serve a greater purpose.

Cogi

Cogi set out with a simple goal – give professionals a way to effortlessly recall and track everything in their important conversations through the use of an intuitive, browser-based service that seamlessly transcribes the important parts of conversation – the ‘COGent Ideas’ or Cogi.

eHow

More than 27 million people visit eHow.com each month to search more than 300,000 articles that are professionally written with clear and concise directions on how to do things. It also has a rapidly-growing library of articles created by eHow’s members and a large library of professional instructional videos.

FixYa

FixYa empowers individuals to repair and improve upon their already-purchased possessions. The company also offers business services to manufacturers and retail businesses through its custom partnership opportunities.

GoGreenSolar

GoGreenSolar is global group of professionals dedicated to improve the distribution of renewable energy products, services and financing for people everywhere.

Meebo

Meebo is a new communications and media company that’s re-writing the way people have conversations and communicate on the Web.

RoboDynamics

RoboDynamics is built by passionate people who want to use technology to shift the status quo and leverage state-of-the-art technology in robotics to change the way people live and work.

TheScene

The Scene connects individuals to the hottest places, people and events in their area. The Scene’s trendsetting community is on the pulse of nightlife and entertainment in various cities throughout the world.

Viewdle

Viewdle is a facial-recognition powered digital media platform for indexing, searching and monetizing video assets.

Yammer

Yammer is a tool for making companies and organizations more productive through the exchange of short frequent answers to one simple question: ‘What are you working on?’

Congratulations to the final companies. In February, they will demo their products live and will also compete for the Fan Favorite and Judge’s Choice awards.

Secure your spot for Twiistup 5 before it sells out.

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Tiffany Weller

The day after our successful TechSet event at the Luxe in Bel-Air, I was one of the lucky ones who attended the highly regarded Southern California tech event, Twiistup.

Hats off to Mike and Stephanie Macadaan. Twiistup4 was not only a resounding success, it raised the bar for tech events in general. Twiistup played host to an immersive experience that effectively materialized online social networks and virtual worlds into the real world.

Held at the posh VIceroy Hotel in Santa Monica, Twiistup created its own shangri la, where for just a few hours, we were able to completely lose ourselves in the conversations and ensuing friendships that will extend the well beyond the evening. Even though we were poolside, we were catapulted into a glamorous and elegant isolated island that seemed worlds away form the daily routine.

Cabanas were redesigned as themed destinations complete with Hookah Pipes, beds, lounges, and more accoutrements than I could possibly remember. And, the pool became a social stage covered in a see-through acrylic platform, which hosted some of the cooler conversations and shenanigans throughout the course of the evening.

I also wanted to take a moment to say congratulations to Twiistup’s Showoffs.Out of over a hundred applications to demo, the following companies introduced their products and services to the Twiistup crowd:

Bigstage
BookRenter
Compulsion
LOUD3R
Minggl
Musicshake
Phonevite
Seethroo
Strutta
Tools to Life
Twiddla

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story, and some of them tell more than that!

Heather Meeker

Jennifer Stavros

Sean Percival

Brooks Bayne in bed with HeavyBagMedia

Brian Solis with Twiistup host, Mike Macadaan

Robert Scoble

Karen Hartline

Krystle McEachron and Em. Marc Salsberry

Shira Lazar and Brian Solis

Stephanie Agresta and Stephanie Macadaan

Before: Heather Lipner meets Pickle Man

After: Pickle Man and Heather Lipner “kick” and make-up

Desdemona Bandinin and Tameka Kee

Karen Hartline and Erica O’Grady

Before

After

Jackie Peters and Valerie Cunningham

Dave Mathews

Natalie Lent and Wm. Marc Salsberry

Melodi Cowan

Stephanie Agresta and Tim Street of FrenchMaidTv

Steve Wiebe plays Donkey Kong

Adriana Gascoigne (center) Angela Costa Roque Baptista (right)

Michael Liskin

Brian Solis and Pete Cashmore

Shira Lazar and Pickle Man

Sloane Berrent and Dhalia of Rubicon

Kevin Winston and Amanda Coolong

Michael J. Lambie

Siobhan O’Neill, ?, Sloane Berrent, Nicol Jordan (with Fun Dip)

Francisco Dao

Angela Costa Roque Baptista and friend

Alexandra Mokh

For more pictures from Twiistup4, please visit my album on Flickr.

UPDATE: Francisco Dao discusses Twiistup and the Southern California tech economy at Fast Company Buzz.

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