Denuo - denuology.com

Last year was my first trip to CES and frankly, I was disappointed. Everything had to do with 3D. 3D TV’s, 3D video games, 3D without glasses, 3D energy conservation appliances. I found this development disappointing and surprising for three reasons.

1. Our brains and eyes aren’t built for 3D.
2. It’s not a new technology.
3. Three is a good amount of reasons to have.

This year was a different story. I was amazed at the amount of practical technology that was being presented. Sure, there were still massive 3D displays (LG) but it felt more like a showroom floor where the theme is “we’ll make life better” as opposed to “isn’t this neat?”

"Cut the Rope" as arcade game. File under "Neat!"

Of course there was some opportunity to fall into each category. For example, TCL developed Dual Screen Television Technology. From one TV screen people can watch two different shows by wearing different glasses. Anyone who is married or shares a studio apartment (ew, seriously, find your own place) knows how useful this is. Now my wife can watch “Bridget Jones’s Diary” while I watch “Bridget Jones’s Diary 2: The Edge of Reason” from the same TV! (high five)

“Every year since 2005, Lollapalooza (a three day music festival) has taken place in Grant Park here in Chicago (Denuo’s base of operations). Every year since 2005, I’ve gone to Grant Park to listen to bands, eat rib sandwiches, and spend more time outside than anyone with Irish ancestry should. Every year since 2005, I’ve written a recap of the bands I saw and the overall experience. The first couple years I would just e-mail the reviews and anecdotes of 20 hours worth of music to some friends, none of which are music fans. Last year, on an old blog, I took my reviews public.”

That’s the intro I wrote for my Lollapalooza 2009 recap.  It’s as true today as it was back then.  What happened to my 2010 recap?  I missed Lolla to go get married. Priorities.

Does that mean I spent my 1 year anniversary at a music festival?  You know it! (puts up hand for high five)

Join me now as I take a timeout from writing about sports to write about another one of my loves; music (and rib sandwiches).

Twitter and pro sports have had a tumultuous love affair.  On one hand, leagues have benefitted from players and fans connecting directly.  On the other hand, Larry Johnson.

At one point in 2009, it looked like Twitter and professional sports would never get along.  Teams and media properties were heavily regulating content of tweets or banning it altogether.

Thankfully, we’re to a point now where enough people in decision-making positions understand how Twitter works.  Teams are able to give players social media training.  They have gone from blanket banning to friendly warning if a player gets a little liberal with their tweets.  The change has been great for fans as we can get news and insider views like no other generation of sports fan before us.

Tonight will hopefully be the next step in the evolution of how we view sports.

As the coolest guy at Denuo, I have some shocking news that will likely upset you.  I have a super huge nerdy side.  I know.  You thought I was different.  You thought I would never get locked in a debate between who is better, Thor or Longshot. Don’t worry, that’s still true.  But the nerd side does exist.  And he exists for sports analytics. While I won’t debate blonde dudes in comic books, I will get into a debate about whether Adam Dunn was more valuable to the Nationals than Derek Jeter was to the Yankees in 2010 (Hint: Dunn’s WAR was 1.4 points higher than Jeter’s).

And with that, I shall be releasing Nerd Durbin (Nerbin for short) at the Sloan Sports Analytics conference this weekend in Boston.  It’s a great event put on the by the MIT Sloan School of Management. It’s not just for people who love sports analytics, but also want an inside view into the world of sports business.

I will be on the Twitters, tweetering during the conference (@jdurbin and #ssac).  If you want to follow along, they will be streaming the panels here. For the agenda click here.

Don’t know what panels to check out?  Well lucky you.  Here are my recommendations (note that I did not list everything):

It started with a phone call to our offices in Chicago.

The next step involved several meetings in New York and Montvale, New Jersey.

From there, it sent me to Tampa for a team training session and send off party.

And finally Tampa to Dallas, culminating in 4 cars, 4 starting points, and 3 days of cross country travel.

The denouement happened last week at the Chicago Auto Show where I stood, still exhausted from the journey, and answered questions during their inaugural Social Media Day.

One of the questions that continually came up is “How did you get people so engaged in this?”

My travels were half the answer.  Ultimately it was a digital experience that was rooted in humanity and the physical world.