It's been a while since our last meetup and social during SXSW. I hope everyone is doing well. After much consideration of Austin's busy social/meetup calendar, we have decided to standardize on the 1st Tuesday of each month. We will alternate between Texas Tribune and the Statesman, as we have in the past, with the May 3 meeting to be held at the Texas Tribune (starting at 6:30pm).

Refreshments for this meeting will be sponsored by Paintbrush Ranch Bed and Breakfast, thanks to Lewis Knight!

We have two great presentations for this meetup, which will deal with managing content and analytics and engaging users. First, Marcus Mateus of SimpliTex Web Solutions will discuss “Turning a Nugget of Info about Your Visitors into a Bar of Gold,” sharing some examples and data and introducing his platform.

Then, Rodney Gibbs and Michael Baird of Ricochet Labs, the makers of the News Game App QRANK, will talk about “Mobile News Games: Engaging Readers with Emerging Tech.” Rodney is the CEO and Michael is the CTO, so we will get a good understanding of what it takes to develop and maintain a mobile news application. If you are not familiar yet with QRANK, it’s an addictive news/trivia game you can play on your phone, both fun and educational!

Let me know if you have any questions or ideas. I look forward to seeing everyone on May 3.

Cindy Royal

[masked]