Now That's What I Call Midwestern Hospitality

I'm only doing three unpaid speaking gigs this year as the baby needs a new pair of....everything. They're all special cases.

One is in Berlin next week, and I committed before I knew I was pregnant and my travel schedule would be this mental. But I've been dying to go to Berlin, so I kept the date. Paul Carr is meeting me after the UK launch of his book and there are several interesting startups I'm going to meet with. 

Another one is in my hometown of Memphis, and the day before my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. It's the family's only chance to marvel at my massive pregnant belly-- something my parents were starting to doubt would ever happen. And I can influence the kid's taste buds with some Memphis BBQ. That one is a quadruple no brainer.

The third is Big Omaha, where I'm speaking today. Omaha was one of my favorite spots during my User Generated Book Tour in 2008. I met Jeff Slobotski while I was here, and told him he needed to capitalize on the connections and energy between the 150 or so people who came out to my event.

He organized Big Omaha later that year, and it has become huge in a short period of time. There's an amazing roster of speakers this year, and tickets sold out in a flash-- with a 300 person waiting list to get in. I told him yesterday he needs to bite the bullet and make it a bigger event next year. The Midwest is clearly hungry for what he's doing. 

They agreed to fly me here and buy some books, so I was thrilled to come back to speak-- even though I only had a few days between Nigeria and Berlin. The baby: Not thrilled. His catch phrase this month is rapidly becoming, "Oh, FFS." (I don't know where he picked up that kind of language.)

Anyway, last night I get and not only have they booked me into a gorgeous room at the historic Magnolia hotel, they left me a goodie bag-- complete with cow-themed baby toys. When I begged off the opening night party to catch up on work, they recommended an amazing restaurant-- Flatiron Cafe-- half a block from the hotel and offered to make a reservation.

It was a perfect evening. I finally got the headspace to draft the rest of my Nigeria posts (two big ones running this weekend) and had a phenomenal meal of crispy jumbo prawns and a Berkshire pork chop with sweet corn brulee. The restaurant is completely surrounded by windows and a surging thunderstorm outside only added to the mood. (In addition to BBQ, thunderstorms was someting I had to give up moving to California eleven years ago. I always miss them.)

Of course, when I went to pay, Slobotski had already picked up the tab. What??? As anyone from the South or Midwest knows, hospitality isn't just about spending money on a guest-- it's thinking of little details like that. 

This morning I'm headed off to a breakfast organized by the Kauffman Foundation, my knights in shining armor who funded part of Brilliant Crazy Cocky and also support Big Omaha, then to the conference. My keynote is this afternoon and I'll be talking about the innovation I found around the world during my book. The message is: If Rwanda can innovate, Omaha certainly can. 

Then I gotta fly home to catch up on work and leave Sunday for Berlin. After Berlin, I'll see you all in New York for TechCrunch Disrupt!

If you're here and you have a book and want me to sign it, don't be shy. I'd be honored.