TeachStreet™

I posted a link to the 10-minute King5 interview in the previous blog post, but I wanted to also post the individual segments (below), for your viewing pleasure (and, because my mom will be oh so proud ).

We wanted to give a special thanks to Tim Robinson of King5/Kong6/16 — he was fantastic to work with on the segment, and he and his team did a fantastic job — we couldn’t be happier!

Segment #1






Segment #2






Segment #3






Of course, it also reminds me that I’d love to learn how to make digital videos and improve my interviewing skills!

Update — check out TeachStreet on TV — so excited!

Sorry for the late notice, but we wanted to let our loyal blog readers know that we’re being featured on KING5 tomorrow morning — we don’t have definite times (a range is presented below) but the feature will be by Tim Robinson and will likely refer to TeachStreet several times between 7:30am and 9:00am (with a live Seattle breakdancing performance by TeachStreeter Daniel Etcheto at 8:15am).

So, set your Tivo!  And, if you haven’t been to TeachStreet in awhile, stop on by and find something new to learn!

Know that we’ll post some video of our performance (and that of Zach the Dog!) afterward — just wanted to give you all a chance to catch up live!

Tentative TV Times are:

KING 5 Morning News on Thursday 7/17

• 4:30-7 a.m. on KING 5
• 7-9 a.m. on KONG 6/16
• Live Segment time: 8:30 a.m. (approx.) — 3:30-minute long segment
• Will be several segments and “teases” during the morning newscast; may include @ 8:10 a.m. and/or the 8:27 a.m. 15-second tease.

We mentioned this in last week’s marketing mail, but some teachers got a different mail, so may not have heard the news — we’re excited to announce the winner of our Seattle Launch promotion: Dr. Tri! He won a month’s worth of free classes (up to $500 in value) with the TeachStreet member of his choice — we’re excited for him! Wonder what he’ll learn? Maybe hone up on his espanol and learn Spanish? or maybe Piano lessons? Whatever it is, we’re excited for him!

Among other things, Dr. Tri (a.k.a. Dr. Michael Ross) is a Seattle triathlon coach. He’s one of the thousands of teachers here on TeachStreet who’s sharing his personal passion with students and life-long learners. If you’re here in Seattle, check out his awesome fitness classes!

Last week, we decided that it was time to bust out of the office and find ourselves — we’d had enough of feature prioritization, scrum/sprint planning and meetings! So, we packed up and headed to Seattle’s Center for Wooden Boats — if you haven’t been there before, you should definitely check it out. Not only are they a TeachStreet teacher/school with tons of great boatbuilding classes, but they have a fantastic facility for offsites (we rented the upstairs library for a discussion of TeachStreet Values, Philosophy, and more).

Afterward, they also arranged a 2 hour sail on Lake Union — while it was a little overcast, we had a great day and also got to experience some of the rowing skills (video below) of team members Fred, Sam and Scott — not sure why rowing should have been necessary, but sometimes that’s what it takes to get back to solid ground!

Video:

Photos:

While part of the team has been out talking to folks looking to find classes, be they students seeking to find yoga instructors, or belly dancing instructors trying to find belly dancing students, the dev team has been hard at work making TeachStreet a better place to do all those things. What’s new? Funny you should ask. A veritable laundry list, really, but here are a few worth noting.

For Students…

• Recommendations on home page that queue off of Tags and Favorites.

• Classes in nearby cities atop search results: The jewelry making class you were looking for might not be in Bellevue, but perhaps it’s in Seattle. So we expanded a search results here to help folks find these nearby classes.

• Tabs on Profile Pages: Stylish tabs that show the number of items (classes, reviews ,etc) behind them, too.

• Other Classes from this Teacher Widget: To help students find similar, relevant classes taught by a specific teacher.

• Take This Class Button: Makes it easier to sign up for classes.

For Teachers…

• Class cloning tools: It’s now easier for teachers to create more classes, more easily.

• Ads for Teachers: HTML friendly ads to help teachers with their Craigslist posts.

For Everyone…

• Add/Edit Photo buttons: Added at top of pages for easier uploading.

• Add/Edit Photo Tool: Image Uploads now show % completion and have better messaging.

• Newsletter: We now have a bi-weekly newsletter for teachers & students alike.

And of course, last but not least, there are some faces to go along with the site. Pics of the team have been added. And yes, Jim Cooley, of TechCrunch fame, is featured prominently. (I’m confused though, Jim, no switch in the team pic?)

Thanks to Lora Shinn (she’s the parenting columnist at NWsource (she also runs the blog Little Kids Big City — if you’re a Seattle parent, definitely check that out)) for showing some love for our humble little website — she interviewed our own Marketing and Operations Goddess, Ms. Katie Gruver about what we’re working to build, and we couldn’t be happier with her article about TeachStreet!

Personally, I loved her last sentence

“I liked the fact that I could find independent teachers, and unusual subspecialties — whether beekeeping or talking to kids about the birds and bees.”

Though TeachStreet is here to help you find those sewing classes and pottery classes here in Seattle, there are numerous folks around the country, in verticals other than local learning, seeking to help people filter local listings. Here are some folks down in the Bay Area whom you may or may nor already know about.

Laborfair:
Laborfair, a San Francisco based company, is geared at helping folks find local service providers, be they landscapers, carpenters, or plumbers. Craigslist is out there, yes, as are numerous other directories, but the idea behind Laborfair is to improve the experience, both for consumers as well as for service providers.

How? Well, on the consumer side, they do this by furnishing personal references and reviews to help people make better informed decisions before they hire someone and bring them into their home.

On the service provider side, Laborfair provides web presences to workers whom may not otherwise have websites and essentially acts as a lead gen service to help them grow their businesses.They are currently only in California, but will be rolling out nationwide in the coming months.

Yelp
And of course, not to be overlooked is Yelp. Just as many of you are, at TeachStreet, we’re huge fans of Yelp. Though they’re a bit further along in the ol’ process :-), Yelp has done for restaurants seekers what, in many ways, we’re seeking to do for class takers: provide a filtered, map integrated, local search experience complete with reviews.

By creating a very active community (not to mention implementing some pretty good SEO!), Yelp has emerged as the preeminent place for restaurant reviews and has assumed the web presence that Zagat and CitySearch were probably better positioned to achieve several years ago.

Friend Connect
Though from a feature standpoint, Google’s latest addition to the Open Social platform doesn’t do nearly what the above sites do, the Friend Connect app is very much in line with the idea of using reviews to educate consumer decisions.

Basically, as mentioned in Google’s press release, the app allows developers with an easy way to bring in social networking components to their sites, even if the primary function of their site is not necessarily social networking. (hmm… think Google knows about Beacon?)

Though our security advisor here at TeachStreet, Zach the Dog, is no longer a puppy, he once was. And as anybody who has ever had a puppy can attest to, with puppyhood comes a host of other joys for a dog owner, including shedding, teething, and staining, just to name a few.

You might always be stuck with the shedding piece, but there’s always doggy school to take care of the rest. Last week, when a friend, Jessica, who lives in Eastlake, called to ask if I knew any good dog trainers here in Seattle, I was ashamed to admit I responded by saying “No.”

Picture: Jeffk - Creative Commons

In an attempt to give a better answer as to what dog trainers deserve the title “Best of breed,” I conducted a TeachStreet survey. Now, armed with feedback, here is a list of the dog training schools that came most highly recommended.

10 Top-Rated Seattle Dog Trainers

• Diane Rich Dog Training
• Ahimsa Dog Training
• Cascade Kennels
• Sidekick Dog Training
• Seattle Dogworks
• Positive Dog Training
• Miss Lola’s Academy for Wayward Dogs
• Paws-Abilities Dog Training
• Pawsitive Steps
• Mighty Mutt

Also, best of breed bloggers in the dog-o-sphere

• City Dog Blog: Is hosted by City Dog Magazine, whose stand alone site also has a number of good resources.

• Also here in Seattle, Allen and Linda Anderson have a great P-I hosted blog: Angel Animals

• Diane Rich, whose Dog Training school made our top ten list, also has a blog a great P-I hosted blog: Canine Chat.

Hopefully this helps answer your question, Jess. Best of luck training Mitzi!

p.s. Here’s a quick photo of Declan, the owner of our first commenter, Wendy

If you’re a Seatle-ite for whom the words local and seasonal are more than just buzzwords, you’ve probably at least heard of the restaurant that everybody from Wallingford residents to New York Times critics is talking about: Tilth. Owned and operated by chef Maria Hines, Tilth lives up to its’ name, which refers to tilling the earth, by preparing some of the freshest organic food in town.

Though the food is delicious, the best organic produce is not plating, but rather the opportunities you can find in the neighborhood at SeattleTilth.org. In addition to the restaurant, Seattle-ites interested in organic food don’t have to look far to find a myriad of gardening classes and workshops (for beginners and experts alike) at nearby Seattle Tilth.

From urban gardening with chickens’ coops to Summer camps for kids, there are opportunities for green thumbs of all ages.

Seattle Tilth also has a number of resources specifically for teachers, including a teachers’ biodiversity series and tours for school groups.

Whether your interests are nutritional, botanical, or whatever else, Seattle Tilth is an organization with passionate volunteers with a commitment to giving back to the local community that we very much identify with here at TeachStreet.