Aristotle, AYPN Put Free Wi-fi in River Market
Oct, 18, 2007
By Nate Hinkel, Arkansas Business - 10/18/2007 11:22:01 AM

Two groups flipped the switch on free wireless Internet service in the River Market district in downtown Little Rock on Thursday.

The Arkansas Young Professionals Network, a nonprofit networking and development group, contracted with Aristotle Inc. of Little Rock to deploy wireless access points throughout the River Market district, including most of President Clinton Avenue and Riverfront Park. The service was officially launched following a news conference Thursday morning downtown.

"As of today, residents and visitors should be able to access the Internet by way of the AYPN network from the Broadway Bridge all the way to the River Market pavilions," said Elizabeth Bowles, president of Aristotle, in a news release. "In fact, when we turned the system on to test it a few weeks ago, we immediately had over 200 visitors try to access the service."

The project was paid for through corporate donors and dues paid to AYPN.

According to William Porterfield, executive director of AYPN, the Wi-fi service factors heavily into its mission.

"This project is about having an immediate and visible impact in Little Rock," he said. "AYPN's mission is to keep young professionals in Arkansas. By providing free wireless Internet in the River Market, we are adding yet another dimension to what is quickly becoming a prime market for young professionals."

The project was not an official city of Little Rock affair, though City Manager Bruce Moore has been an AYPN supporter and the city gave the go-ahead for the service to occupy mainly city-owned territories, including the River Market pavilions and Riverfront Park.

Bowles added that Aristotle was also a part of providing Wi-fi service across the Arkansas River at Dickey-Stephens Park.

ArkansasBusiness.com first reported news of the service in July.

Users will access the service via a special landing page their computer's browser will find once the computer detects the wireless service. That landing page includes links to local services and sponsors, as well as business news headlines for ArkansasBusiness.com. And example of the page is available here.

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By Spencer Watson (Contact)

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

A breath of fresh air — Alexandra Nichols (left) and Courtney Butcher use a Wi-Fi “hotspot” to do homework in the River Market. If you haven’t been in the River Market in the past couple weeks, know that it’s a very different place. There are more folks on their laptops.

Thanks to the Arkansas Young Professionals Network, on Thursday the River Market District became one of the growing number of free, public access Wi-Fi “hotspots” in the country.

Anyone in the area with a compatible laptop or mobile device with Wi-Fi protocol, which means most anything made in the last two or three years, now has free access to a wireless network that includes Riverfront Park, the River Market Pavilion and President Clinton Avenue down to the Chamber of Commerce.

“This is our first signature project, and we can’t think of a better project,” said Randell Shelton of AYPN.

Shelton said the group plans other signature projects, but explained that when the idea of bringing Wi-Fi to the River Market came up in April, the nonprofit found immediate support from multiple parties. Constituent members of AYPN helped in consulting and providing access for setting up the network. The city government pitched in with financing.

Shelton, along with Stephen Compton and William Porterfield of AYPN, said the network will be used as an economic development tool to help accomplish the group’s larger goal of attracting and retaining young professionals in Arkansas.

In the meantime, the network also can be enjoyed by visitors, tourists, and everyone else downtown.

“The goal is to get people out, out of the condos, out of the hotels, and out enjoying the quality of life we’ve got in downtown Little Rock,” said Compton.

Across the river, private information technology firm Kharma Consulting is close to flipping the switch on a similar network that will offer free Wi-Fi in the 300, 400, and 500 blocks of Main Street in North Little Rock.

Kharma’s Brian Converse said the project was the natural extension of hotspots the company had already set up in some local businesses. By moving hardware from deep inside the buildings to the front, they could get coverage outside.

“In this day and age, you just need wireless downtown,” he said.

These launches come at a time when such projects nationally are running into setbacks. In Chicago and San Francisco, large-scale municipal wireless network plans have been scrapped or scaled back because of cost.

Converse and members of AYPN said the difference here is in philosophy and purpose.

“Providing free wireless just to provide free wireless is a horrid financial deal,” said Converse.

“I think the issue at hand is that the business model [used in other cities] is wrong. It’s a bad approach,” Compton said.

In the case of Little Rock, the arrangement by which corporate underwriters sponsor the endeavor through a third party nonprofit is, apparently, unique. Because the plan was to launch the network as a development tool rather than a promise of a free alternative to Internet access for residents, it kept the project smaller, cheaper and more manageable.

It’s an approach that’s been tried before with success.

Bob Tunis, director of economic development in Sanford, Fla., said a joint venture between his city and a corporate investor has created a 15-block network. By limiting the scope and implementing the project as an economic development tool, the cost was kept to approximately $54,000, he said.

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Job satisfaction key to retaining young professionals
By Sara Greene

LITTLE ROCK — William Porterfield, executive director of the Arkansas Young Professionals Network, told Maumelle Chamber of Commerce members that age isn’t the only thing separating generations in the workplace. There’s a distinct difference in job philosophy.

“For today’s young professionals, career is part of a balanced portfolio of life that includes family, friends, fun and fitness,” Porterfield said.

Porterfield said flexibility, technology and community ties are the top three reasons young professionals are leaving Arkansas for cities like Nashville, Tenn., and Austin, Texas.

“When you lose an employee, it takes one and half times their salary to get their replacement hired, trained and up to speed,” Porterfield said.

“Most college graduates have a cell phone, a laptop computer and get their news from the Internet. They’ve been immersed in the best technology during college, and if you give them old technology at work - old software and a fuzzy orange and black computer monitor - chances are that employee isn’t going to be able to do the job well or be very happy,” Porterfield said.

Nathan House, 30, is the regional transportation manager of Target in Maumelle. House is in the age group AYPN wants to help.

“I could relate to what he (Porterfield) said about the technology people are missingwhen they go from college to the workplace, and I think it’s good AYPN is providing the community outreach opportunities they’re missing,” House said.

Maumelle Mayor Mike Watson said he knows the importance of technology in the daily lives of young professionals.

“My daughter and son-in-law just moved into a new house and their biggest concerns were their cell phones’ signal strength and getting the Internet to pay all their bills online,” Watson said.

Porterfield said AYPN is doing its part to retain young workers by providing an organization to network with their peers, attend leadership development training and participate in dozens of volunteer events with groups like the THEA art foundation, Big Brothers Big Sisters and Habitat for Humanity.

Monthly AYPN meetings this year have tackled topics ranging from business etiquette, acceptable office wear, mortgages for first-time homeowners, downtown developments, natural gas exploration and self defense.

For more information on AYPN, visit www.aypn.org.

This article was published Thursday, September 6, 2007.
River Valley Ozark, Pages 62 on 09/06/2007

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Build Relationships, Build a Future
Arkansas Next
by Ed Linck

Little Rock is a great city to live in for a young professional. Really. Just hear me out.
Imagine someone moving to a new city just out of college. The newbie finds a job making just enough money to get by and begins his or her first career.

Unfortunately, this transplant doesn’t know anyone in town, so how is he or she going to succeed in the business world (much less get a life)?

Networking. The opportunities are all around. The Little Rock area is home to some excellent nonprofits. These nonprofits have committees of dedicated volunteers who typically work with complete strangers on the common goal of raising money for their organizations. And during the fund-raising process, relationships are born, friendships begin and business contacts are forged.

Fine resources exist outside of the world of philanthropy, your local chamber of commerce among them. Central Arkansas has two of the best chambers in the area: the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce and the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce. Those new to the area can instantly plug into the business community and meet the region's major players through these two organizations.

Consider your local chamber a "business playground." The contacts are endless.

Chamber members and staff love to see young professionals tackling the business world one event, one business card at a time. When a CEO sees a motivated young professional, her eyes light up, and she visualizes this hard worker working for her company.

That’s not all. The Arkansas Young Professionals Network (www.AYPN.org) is the perfect way to meet peers as ambitious as you. The organization also provides opportunities not just to become involved in the community but to assume a leadership role. At AYPN, you can create great friendships, friendships that will last a lifetime. And with these relationships comes trust, the trust you'll need to conduct business in Arkansas.

All these venues — philanthropic work, the local chamber of commerce, the AYPN — offer newcomers a chance to meet like-minded people. They also provide opportunities to hone leadership, management and speaking skills — skills that can be listed on a resume.

In many ways, this is my story. I’m a 28-year-old professional who, after moving to Little Rock, used to spend weekends playing cards with my parents because I didn’t know many people in town. Don’t get me wrong. I like playing cards with my parents. But I wanted more.

So I got busy, discovering the outstanding opportunities Little Rock has to offer. I’ve gained many friendships, I have a great job, and I have an exciting future. Little Rock should be at the top of the list for young professionals across the nation.

Don’t wait any longer. Get yourself out there. Find your future.

(Ed Linck was the 2006 Executive Director of AYPN)

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This story was published Sunday, January 22, 2006

ARKANSAS YOUNG PROFESSIONALS NETWORK : Party generates lots of green for a black-and-white cause
— Scott A. Johnson
The guest of honor at the Arkansas Young Professionals Network’s third annual Black & White Ball arrived at the Woman’s City Club with a police escort.
It wasn’t a notable politician or a local who had made it big in Hollywood. It was an African penguin named Jackie from the Fort Worth Zoo.
About 350 people attended the Jan. 14 event, which grossed nearly $24,000. Proceeds will support network programming and the Penguin Project, a fundraising effort by the Arkansas Zoological Foundation that hopes to bring 15 to 18 African penguins to the Little Rock Zoo by the beginning of 2007.
The evening’s black-and-white theme was played to the hilt. Attendees were encouraged to dress in black tie, and the party’s entertainment was the band Tragikly White.
Robin Henson was chairman of the event. Other leaders on the organizing committee were Sarah Danley, Charla Donham, Shelby Brewer, Margaret Pruss, Lee Overall, Julie Spikes, Ed Linck and Randall Dixon.
Network officers on hand were David Fort, Jennifer Crawley, Gray Turner, Keith Pike, Leslie Rutledge and Zach Thicksten. They were joined by Mike Blakely, Little Rock Zoo director; George Mallory, chairman of the zoo’s board of trustees; and gubernatorial candidate Asa Hutchinson, a member of the Arkansas Young Professionals Network’s board of advisers.

________________________________________
Copyright © 2006, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved.
This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.

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Black & White Ball Is For The Birds

Michelle Chism, Producer KTHV
Created: 1/14/2006

The best place to be in Little Rock Saturday night was for the birds; the black and white ones.

The Arkansas Young Professionals Network held its third annual Black and White Ball to raise money for the Little Rock Zoo-- hosted by Today's THV Meteorologist Tom Brannon.

And the guest of honor was Jackie the South African penguin. The money raised will help bring nearly 20 of his friends to the zoo.

Robin Henson, Chair of the Ball, says, "We feel like this new exhibit will increase revenue and tourism, not only for the zoo, but for the city, but we also want young people to get involved with the community and give back to the community."

The also featured an auction of paintings done by animals at the zoo. And rumor has it, Today's THV morning show host Robyn Richardson dropped by to give Tom a hand with the hosting.

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Networking group opens office in downtown LR
— Scott A. Johnson

The Arkansas Young Professionals Network’s new office may be the clearest sign that the fledgling operation is growing up.
Founded in March 2003, the organization was created "to give young professionals a reason to stay in central Arkansas instead of moving away once they earn their degrees," says David Fort, 29, its volunteer executive director. The group recently moved into its first office on Capitol Avenue in downtown Little Rock.
In just two years, the organization has built a membership of roughly 460. Although there is no upper age limit for membership, participants must be at least 21 to join. The group holds two monthly events — a networking luncheon at the Little Rock Club and an event that alternates monthly between social functions and educational programs.
Besides offering members opportunities to network and socialize with others of their age group, the organization encompasses an important community involvement component. The group holds two annual fund-raisers, a golf tournament in the fall and a formal winter event called the Black and White Ball.
Smaller volunteer projects have been organized as well. Once a month, members cook dinner at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Family Home and Arkansas Cancer Research Center Auxiliary Cancer Support Center.
"We’re really looking for other opportunities like that that require maybe a couple of hours from somebody at a time instead of bigger projects," Fort says. "That allows more members to get involved and participate if they have tight schedules."



Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/KAREN E. SEGRAVE Arkansas Young Professional Network officers David Fort (from left), Jennifer Crawley and Lindsay Farr show off the network’s new office space in downtown Little Rock. The 2-year-old organization was readying the space in early April for furnishing.

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Friday Night Delights — JENNIFER CHRISTMAN

Tonight, the Peabody Little Rock kicks off its RiverTop parties for dancing and other pre-weekend fun all summer long.

For some time, the Peabody Little Rock hotel management had been toying with the idea of bringing the Peabody Memphis hotel’s legendary, long-standing RoofTop Party to Little Rock.

"The RoofTop party has a 40-year tradition as the place to be Thursday night for great music, mingling, to see and be seen — that kind of thing," says Gregg Herning, general manager of the Peabody Little Rock, who served as director of sales and marketing at the Memphis hotel.

"I saw what that party meant to that hotel and that community. Our goal was to introduce [the Peabody] to the community as a sense of place. This event was going to be very ripe for the picking. The community is looking for and needing a signature event to get involved with."

There was one problem.

There isn’t a rooftop here. The hotel has a roof, of course, but not one suitable for partying.

Hence, the genesis of the Peabody RiverTop Party, which will be held on the Peabody’s upper terrace, which overlooks the Arkansas River. Today marks the first installment of the regular event that will take place from 7 p.m. (early enough for happy hour, pre-dinner drinks or pre-show drinks) to midnight (late enough for a nightcap or an early after-party ) each Friday through the summer.

Friday? But isn’t the Memphis hotel’s event every Thursday?

It is. But the focus group surveys the Peabody conducted with its target market — area young professionals — helped the Peabody Little Rock decide on Friday. The Arkansas Young Professional Network, an event partner, has its own blog on www.rivertopparty.com for those who care to "eavesdrop on the beautiful people," the site says. Said beautiful will be featured in photos in the site’s Soiree photo gallery section.

"There is a void here in the city on Friday night," Herning says, adding that the hotel didn’t want to interfere with existing events, such as Little Rock’s Big Downtown Thursday concerts.

There is a void if the successful turnout of an April 22 private RiverTop kickoff party for organizers, friends and media proved anything. Several hundred people showed up, sipping drinks, modeling halter tops, chatting with friends and dancing to covers like Earth Wind and Fire’s "September" and the Gap Band’s "You Dropped a Bomb on Me," performed by the wigged members of Dr. Zarr’s Amazing Funk Monster.

And Herning says he’s hoping for hundreds more: "We’d love to get 400 to 600 people."

So would the good causes that stand to benefit from the RiverTop parties’ success, as a portion of each week’s proceeds will be donated. This week’s recipient is the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Foundation.

But where do 400 to 600 people park on a busy Friday when hotel guests are checking in, etc., asks the reporter who waited no less than 20 minutes for her car to be retrieved by the valet the evening of the kickoff?

"People find a place to park," Herning says.

In addition to music acts, many of whom will be performing at the Peabody Memphis RoofTop Party the night before, the RiverTop Parties will feature fully stocked bars and drink specials. At some point this summer, expect the official launch of a signature hard lemonade drink, Ryan’s Flying Duck, complete with souvenir glasses. Speaking of ducks, the outdoor/indoor party shares the same space as the hotel’s Royal Duck Palace patio, so attendees can catch up with their feathered friends. As for food, some dry bar snacks will be available. (Still hungry? May the management recommend the upscale Capriccio Grill right downstairs?)

RiverTop regulars might consider spending $100 to join The Mallard Crue, which entitles members to special discounts all summer long, as well as a special members-only season pass, which allows the member and a guest free party admission.

Herning says the RiverTop parties are just the beginning. When the party season ends, the hotel will introduce a big Halloween event, Boo Bash, and that will lead into a "grandiose" New Year’s Eve Party and plenty more opportunities for folks to come out and shake their tail feathers.

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Arkansas Business Publishing Group, the Arkansas Young Professionals Network and the Peabody RiverTop Party will host a Hurricane Katrina Relief Concert at The Peabody Little Rock's terrace at 7 p.m. on Friday.

Little Rock’s Big John Miller Band, Weakness for Blondes and First Impressions are scheduled to perform, as well as New Orleans’ own Lagniappe and special guest Myles Savage, lead singer of The Platters.

The bands are donating their time and talent to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, which struck the Gulf Coast last week and forced the evacuation of thousands from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. As of early this week, the state estimated that about 60,000 evacuees were seeking shelter in Arkansas.

Admission to the concert is $20, and larger donations are welcome. A cash bar is available. All proceeds benefit the Greater Arkansas Red Cross. The organization is working to aid evacuees, who are invited to attend for free.

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