Colleagues from my days at Atlantic Media Company (The Atlantic, National Journal, Government Executive, etc.) have a group called Media Future now which hosts a site at http://www.mediafuturenow.com/ where items of interest to the media and publishing community are posted.

However, the best thing they do is hosting monthly brown bag lunches at various locations around the city with moderated speaker panels, q-and-a's, and meet-and-greets. It's a great way to connect with the IP&C attorney camp, the publisher, editor and writer tribes, and the looking-for-work/recruiting talent gangs.

Voice of America, a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. Government with a worldwide audience of 134 million people, spent a few days at the Lab shooting this video and writing this article on entrepreneurs creating opportunities by banding together at the Affinity Lab.

Who:
The Capital Cabal and Dozens of New Media Professionals

What:
Cocktails, Networking, Schmoozing and Entreprenurial Connecting

When:
Wednesday, April 1st - Next Event

Washington Post featured a story on Linked Senior, celebrating Charles and Herve's innovativeness and resolve in helping the elderly. Linked Senior invented what the article calls an "iPod for older people", a digital kiosk designed for the elderly, allowing seniors easy access to news and media. The kiosk is already in use at the Vinson Hall Retirement Community in McLean and based on rave reviews from Vinson Hall Residents, will soon be used at retirement communities across the nation.

In an article promoting entrepreneurship, Washington Times featured Affinity Lab as an example of a successful local incubator helping DC entrepreneurs bloom and grow. The authors praised innovative business and pitched for a greater investment in entrepreneurial ventures, stating that entrepreneurs are the key to economic growth and incubators are the key to entrepreneurial growth.

Read the article.

Affinity Lab hosted a special brown bag lunch featuring a presentation from Metro Teen AIDS. Metro Teen AIDS is a community health organization providing prevention, care, and support to DC youth infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. 1 in 20 DC residents is infected with HIV/AIDS and Metro Teen AIDS helped Lab members take the first step in stopping the HIV/AIDS epidemic: awareness.

Affinity Lab and its members were featured on NBC4's Jobs 4 You segment this morning due to the continued success of Lab businesses and non-profits. Joey Coleman of Design Symphony and Sarah Massey of Massey Media rounded out the interview with their perspectives on why the Lab works and why starting your own business offers people an opportunity to take more control of their destiny through these challenging economic times.

Check out the video.

"Despite Economy, Some Businesses Succeed" is the title of the segment on Affinity Lab, which aired on February 13th.

Fox says "operating in shared workspace actually has helped (members) success by sparking ideas and referrals." Charles Plank, Affinity Lab's CEO is quoted saying "over the nine years Affinity Lab has been in existence, 82 percent of his clients have remained in business -- a far higher percentage than most start-up businesses."

Watch the segment.

More than twenty Lab members piled into the conference room for a special Affinity Lab Economic Stimulus Brown-Bag lunch this Thursday. Sponsored by Design Symphony and Joint Concepts, members got a chance to share experiences and perspectives on how the economy has effected their business, prospecting and ideas for what they’ve seen work to drive new business during the these challenging times.

Date: Thursday 2/12
Time: 6-8 pm
Location: Affinity Lab

Keeping up with tradition and popular demand, we invite you to the Affinity Lab Happy Hour. Come meet DC creatives, fellow entrepreneurs, future business partners and collaborators in the best way possible- over drinks.