Iowa Resources

Interested in digital technology?  There are a ton of great events, conferences, and organizations right here in Iowa for you to get inspired by great speakers and network with industry professionals.  Check it out:

News

Silicon Prairie News
Fantastic source of news on all things related to digital technology in Iowa, Nebraska, and Missouri.  You can follow them on Twitter @SiliconPrairie.

Des Moines Egotist
News on design, advertising and other creative resources to the Iowa's advertising community.

Professional Organizations

AAF Cedar Valley
The Cedar Valley chapter of the American Advertising Federation represents the local Marketing, Advertising, and Communications industry.  They hold an annual ADDY awards event that students can participate in.

AIGA Iowa
The Iowa chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts - an association for design professionals.  They release an excellent salary survey every year

D&AD
British Creative Advertising organization

Technology Association of Iowa

A professional organization promoting the technology industry in Iowa.

Events

TechBrew
An informal gathering sponsored by the Technology Association of Iowa that brings entrepreneurs, technologists, business people and funders together to talk over a beer.

Experience Iowa Technology
An annual event that brings students from Iowa colleges together with premier tech companies in different parts of the state.

Startup Weekend
Have a startup idea?  Go pitch it at a Startup Weekend.  If your idea is chosen, a team of professionals will go on a 54 hour weekend frenzy to create your business model, design your product and code a working prototype.

Startup Weekend Des Moines
Startup Weekend Iowa City

BarCampCV
An ad-hoc, attendee-generated un-conference where participants set the agenda.  Great opportunity to hear talks by local digital professionals on issues in business, creative, and technology.  I found out about many of the events listed on this page from a BarCampCV talk.

Connect the Valley
An email list to connect individuals in the Cedar Valley and promote networking opportunities.  Follow @ConnectValley on Twitter

Cedar Valley TweetUp
A group of local tweeps that meets to network, as well as discuss and support community issues, events and businesses in the Cedar Valley.

Iowa Code Camp
A free event for developers who want to tell other developers about cool things they are doing and other topics that they really care about.

Pitch and Grow
Tech entrepreneurs pitch their business to a supportive group of peer CEOs, CIOs, business development experts, and industry professionals.  In return, they get constructive feedback.

TEDx DesMoines
You've probably heard of Ted Talks.  TedX events are independently organized TED events in local communities nationwide. 

ThincIowa
An excellent annual conference in Des Moines presenting nationally-known speakers such as Ben Silberman (Pinterest), Ben Milne (Dwolla), and Steve Case (AOL).

Big Omaha
Fantastic annual conference in Omaha on innovation and entrepreneurship featuring speakers like Gary Vaynerchuk and Dennis Crowley (foursquare).

That Conference
An annual 3 day tech conference in Wisconsin Dells featuring 150 sessions on mobile/web development and 1,000 participants.