We’ve welcomed some new blood to the KILTR team over the past couple of months. Scott Downey joins us on a full time basis as our new graduate developer – backing up our hard-working tech team and ensuring our technology remains slick and bug-free.

Jonathan Capecchi

Jonathan Capecchi joins us on a part-time basis as graphic designer – ensuring all our innovative ideas for KILTR are brought to life through his designs.

Andrew McColgan joins us as Head of Culture bringing with him a wealth of experience in both social media and the creative industries. Andrew said:

“I’m really excited and enthused to join the team at KILTR. The site has real value and potential both in Scotland and globally; I’m looking forward to ensuring the organisation realise that potential.”

Andrew McColgan

Scott said: It’s modern, up-to-date and most of all, it’s Scottish. KILTR is a great opportunity to get to know Scots from all walks of life, there’s also plenty of opportunity to connect with companies and institutions who have a connection with Scotland.

Connect with our new members of the team and say hello!

Scott Downey

As if you didn’t know already, we were in New York last week launching KILTR V1 onto the US market. It was quite a buzz, sitting in a hotel in Manhattan watching the unprecedented activity we had on KILTR while gearing up to launch on that very same evening.

We packed in a lot and met many people, too much to talk all about here so I will summarise the highlights: the Tech Tuesday networking event at our hotel, the Tribeca grand where we were staying, The Tartan Clef Reception – where we met a host of individuals involved with Scotland Week including Creative Scotland, SDI and many more. We also managed to fit in a gig by Tartan Clef winners Song of Return at the famous Joe’s Pub in New York’s East Village  – they were absolutely amazing! We dropped into the Whisky Live event at Chelsea Pier, where the who’s who of New York’s whisky connoisseurs invited us to sample a wide variety of whiskies the world over from Sweden to South Africa.

Thursday was stressful and incredible all at once. Having organised the event, it was up to me to ensure a smooth and slick event reflected the amazing work the whole KILTR team had put in over the past 18 months: catering, live streaming, venue, tweeting, KILTR and a million other things.  We had a wide selection of individuals at the event from the New York tech scene to Scotland Week representatives, Ex Pats and NYC Press.

The whole thing went by so quickly, but dare I say it, we pulled it off….

Friday I took some time out, checked out Central Park and some record shops, the former was probably a personal highlight, a bit like a bigger version of Glasgow’s Botanic gardens. I also took a trip up to the former home of Ex Beatle John Lennon which was amazing.

Saturday we were invited by The American Scots Foundation to join the Tartan Day parade, an amazing experience, walking down the middle of 6^th Avenue as part of a parade of 5000 people. Following that, we were invited to attend the reception where actor Brian Cox addressed guests and we networked with other members of the American Scots Foundation.

If I had to take one thing from all the amazing experiences and people we met during our week in NYC, I would say it is the vast potential KILTR possesses as a network for Scots in America. Our commitment to reach out to Scots across the world is well known, but it is not until you speak to those people in person, before you truly realize the potential KILTR has to achieve it’s goal.

KILTR CEO Brian Hughes @WeWork

Björn Sandberg, KILTR Community Manager

WHAT A PLACE! If you didn’t already know, I’m in New York with KILTR, as I’organised the launch event we are hosting as part of the Scotland Week celebrations. Events coordinator is not in my job specification, but such is the demands of working in a small start up company, you must be prepared to do anything that is asked of you – from making tea and coffee for meetings through to planning an international marketing event. But I love every minute of it.

We had a team meeting over breakfast at our hotel in the morning, before Brian and Stewart went downtown for meetings. I caught up with the guys at WeWork, where I was doing a recce of the space ahead of Thursday’s event. WeWork is fantastic, a co-operative where you can rent a desk or a space and use all the facilities. Every kind of start up from fashion to tech you will find at WeWork.

After dinner, we had received invitations to ‘Tech Tuesday’ at the Tribeca grand hotel where we were staying. Hosted by Internet Week NY is was the perfect end to a long day where we could relax and spread the word about KILTR and our event on Thursday. Some pretty cool DJs as well!

More from me tomorrow….

Björn Sandberg, KILTR Community Manager

KILTR, the social network for everyone with an interest in Scotland, is to be launched internationally during this year’s Scotland Week celebrations in New York City.

Members of the KILTR team will host a launch event in Manhattan on Thursday 12^th April, which will include a panel discussion on the next wave of social networking, chaired by Scottish singer and writer Pat Kane (and streamed live on the internet via KILTR). Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop, will welcome guests to the KILTR event via a pre-recorded video message.

KILTR has been built to appeal to the millions of people with Scottish heritage all in the world, according to KILTR’s co-founders, Brian Hughes and Stewart Fraser.

KILTR’s CEO, Brian Hughes, said: “We know that Scotland holds a special place in the hearts of millions of people all across the globe. Through KILTR we’re providing a place for those people to connect; to find and share news, views and great Scottish content; to build friendships and business relationships that will be vital to Scotland’s future, commercially and culturally.

“Scots always receive a warm welcome in the U.S. so I’m sure KILTR will get a great reception. Anyone interested in attending our launch event is more than welcome to come along.”

Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs Fiona Hyslop said: “Around 50 million people worldwide claim Scottish descent, many in the USA and Canada. Social media is changing the way we connect with the world and KILTR is a great way for people with an interest in Scotland to keep in touch.”

KILTR’s creators hope that the Scottish network will be the first of many interconnected affinity networks to be built on their technology platform, ‘diaspora networks’.

www.KILTR.com

FOR FURTHER DETAILS, PLEASE CONTACT:

Michael Feeley / Bjorn Sandberg, KILTR, T: 0141 342 4240

E: feeley@kiltr.com / bjorn@kiltr.com

Notes to Editors

1. KILTR’s international launch event will take place at 6:30pm on Thursday 12th April, at We Work, Soho NYC, 154 Grand Street. If you or a colleague will be in New York for Scotland Week and would like to attend the event, please contact bjorn@kiltr.com

2. The Twitter hashtag for KILTR’s launch event is #KILTRNYC. Get immediate updates by following @KILTR (www.twitter.com/KILTR).

3. The Event will be Livestreamed via www.KILTR.com/KILTR, EDT 6:30pm / GMT 11:30pm, April 12th, 2012.

4. KILTR is based in Glasgow, Scotland, UK.

5. Built around the annual Tartan Day celebrations in the USA and Canada on April 6, Scotland Week is an annual week long programme of business, political and tourism engagements aimed at the promotion of Scotland as a great place to live, visit, do business, study and invest with key North American markets in the USA and Canada.

Members of the KILTR team are off to New York City next week to take part in the annual Scotland Week celebrations and to host a special international launch event in Soho, Manhattan.

If you are planning to be in New York on the evening of Thursday 12th April, why not come along and join the fun – here’s the invitation for you and a guest…