1. Big Omaha. A stellar event brought big names in innovation, entrepreneurship and social media to the Midwest. (And for once, it wasn't Chicago or Minneapolis.) Innova sent a group of our coworkers to the Big Omaha event to rub elbows with Internet superstars like Tony Hsieh (Zappos CEO), Dennis Crowley (founder of foursquare) and Gary Vaynerchuck (Wine Library). Our gang returned inspired, motivated and slightly more proficient in the running man! More on that in a post coming later this week...

2. Square. Speaking of entrepreneurs…thanks to Square, now ANYONE can have a business that accepts credit card payments. All you need is a phone! (Android or iPhone, that is.) It even has a built-in loyalty program that can send the merchant customized notifications based on repeat business. This is something many small businesses could use, as a recent report shows that of the 30 million businesses in the U.S. with under $100k in revenue, only 6 million accept credit cards. Read more on Square…

3. Small to Big Business Forum. The Greater Des Moines Partnership hosted the Small to Big Business Forum on May 11. The forum is a roundtable, round-robin event held every year to help facilitate business-to-business networking. Participants have the opportunity to meet with representatives from Aviva USA, Bankers Trust, Bridgestone, Des Moines University, Des Moines Water Works, Marsh, Pioneer, Prairie Meadows, The Principal Financial Group, Wells Fargo and Polk County. Each participant gets a chance to share information about their company and the products and services they provide.

Our very own Tyler Koontz, Account Executive, attended the event. This is what he had to say: “Some walked away with a better idea of where they stand as a business and what steps they need to take in order to fully take advantage of these types of networking events. I think if someone is truly wanting to network, having an event where people use minglesticks would be a great advantage!”

4. Des Moines Egotist. Last week marked the launch of the Des Moines Egotist, a site that “serves up news on design, advertising and other creative resources to the Iowa advertising community.” The Des Moines Egotist is part of a larger network that started in Denver and now includes San Francisco, Salt Lake City, St. Louis and Des Moines. You may be wondering what Des Moines did to deserve such an awesome new resource. According to the site, it's “[b]ecause we believe Des Moines could be the next Mecca of creativity. It just doesn’t know it yet.” We look forward to the challenge!

5. ARTCRANK. Dubbed as a "poster show for bike people," ARTCRANK rolled into Des Moines 2 weeks ago. Opening night was packed, with bike and art enthusiasts forming a line out the door and around the corner, all waiting to see bike-inspired artwork from a number of local artists (including designers from Innova and Sigler Companies as well as other area agencies). The show ends on May 29, so there's still time to check out all the posters - and even make a purchase which will benefit the Des Moines Bike Collective - at the Instinct Gallery in downtown Des Moines.