Pink Slip Pick Me Up—Get a Free Ticket to Tomorrow’s Battle of the Tech Bands

It’s a small gesture, we know. But if you have been laid off from a job in tech, life sciences, or tech investing we’d like to offer you some spirit-boosting—not to mention a chance to make connections that could lead to new job opportunities—at tomorrow night’s Xconomy Battle of the Tech Bands here in Cambridge. We’ve got 20 free tickets to the event set aside for the recently pink-slipped; they were donated by our friends at General Catalyst Partners, who bought a block to help out our two great causes—Science Club for Girls and Community Music Center of Boston—as well as those hit by the current downturn.

The gathering should be a great time, with lots of possibilities for networking. Last year’s inaugural battle drew more than 300 people from a host of companies and organizations from all areas of technology and life sciences, and this year’s event is on track to be even bigger. We’ve got five great bands battling it out (you can read about them and hear tracks here), door prizes that include Microsoft Zunes, Rock Band 2s from Harmonix, and iRobot Roombas, and plenty of food and drink. And, as a special treat, Honest Bob and the Factory to Dealer Incentives, whose bassist is our own Xconomy Seattle editor Greg Huang, will be closing out the show with a bonus set.

It all goes down tomorrow night at the Middle East Restaurant & Nightclub in Central Square. Doors open at 7, and the first band goes on at 7:30.

To claim a free ticket e-mail us at [email protected] and give us the one-sentence version of your tale of tech-employment woe. And the still-employed are, of course, also welcome at the battle: tickets are available here for $20, or at the door for $25.

Author: Robert Buderi

Bob is Xconomy's founder and chairman. He is one of the country's foremost journalists covering business and technology. As a noted author and magazine editor, he is a sought-after commentator on innovation and global competitiveness. Before taking his most recent position as a research fellow in MIT's Center for International Studies, Bob served as Editor in Chief of MIT's Technology Review, then a 10-times-a-year publication with a circulation of 315,000. Bob led the magazine to numerous editorial and design awards and oversaw its expansion into three foreign editions, electronic newsletters, and highly successful conferences. As BusinessWeek's technology editor, he shared in the 1992 National Magazine Award for The Quality Imperative. Bob is the author of four books about technology and innovation. Naval Innovation for the 21st Century (2013) is a post-Cold War account of the Office of Naval Research. Guanxi (2006) focuses on Microsoft's Beijing research lab as a metaphor for global competitiveness. Engines of Tomorrow (2000) describes the evolution of corporate research. The Invention That Changed the World (1996) covered a secret lab at MIT during WWII. Bob served on the Council on Competitiveness-sponsored National Innovation Initiative and is an advisor to the Draper Prize Nominating Committee. He has been a regular guest of CNBC's Strategy Session and has spoken about innovation at many venues, including the Business Council, Amazon, eBay, Google, IBM, and Microsoft.