The Northern Ohio IT Association's Tech Thursday event held July 23, 2009, sponsored by The Wayne County Economic Development Council and hosted by the Ohio Agricultural Research Development Center (OARDC) in Wooster, OH was a successful evening of networking attracting 57 people. The attendees represented over 30 different businesses, 4 law firms, and various individuals seeking to establish contacts within technology based economic development in the region. The guest speaker, Andrew Vaeth from ExpenseWire, shared his story of developing his own business, highlighting struggles, triumphs and future goals of the Wooster based software development company. His story served as an inspiration to those in attendance seeking to begin, or expand their personal businesses. The diverse group of business represented the region by hailing from Wooster, Cleveland, Columbus, Akron, Carrollton, Mount Vernon, Dublin, Fairlawn and Medina. A trade show was part of the evening allowing different businesses to set up displays and market their products and services while others were able to hand out business cards and introduce themselves and their products/services in the old fashioned manner, face to face.  The evening started with a meet and greet session in which everyone was able to introduce themselves and explain their reason for attending or the company they represented. Businesses benefiting from the evening included startup companies seeking additional funding opportunities, established businesses promoting their goods and services, attorneys specializing in patent law and small businesses, and the unemployed or soon or to be unemployed seeking opportunities. One of the attendees an IT support company, found the evening reinforced his business "Many of the people here have seen my web site, I hadn't realized so many people had actually looked at it."

The Northern Ohio IT Association will hold its next event on August 13, 2009 at the Cyber Café on the OSU Mansfield Campus, come, share, and network, experiencing the possibilities of what technology can do for you.