Concert-oh Connects People Online in Variety of Ways

Ben Schmitt is helping people across the region learn a new way to meet, connect and make friends with Concert-oh, a website he describes as “Skype on steroids.”

Part social networking site and part business application, Concert-oh intertwines fun, work and more through online meetings that include town halls with politicians—or Steeler favorite Brett Keisel—to fantasy football drafts and other meetings focused on individual topics, hosted by anyone and everyone.

“It’s a web conferencing site that allows you to virtually meet people,” of said. “It’s web-based, so you don’t have to download anything, it’s face to face, free and you can connect with a phone line or you can use the voiceover IP.”

Users can see as many as 10 different people in 10 different locations. The web camera doesn’t have to be used, but is an added feature.

Schmitt, who grew up in Highland Park, attended Peabody High School and later studied journalism at Michigan State University, is a recent boomerang Pittsburgher who initially left the city in 1988. He is spearheading the marketing and social networking aspect of the Concert-oh website, which is under the umbrella of a larger company called Chorus Call.

He connected with the site after deciding to move back to his hometown in June 2010 after spending 11 years as a reporter at the Detroit Free Press.

“It’s fun to be on the cutting edge of something,” Schmitt said. “I have already met a lot of people in the Pittsburgh technology world and it’s amazing to see all the things being done in the region. I left Pittsburgh in ‘88 and it was still a dying mill town—it has totally reinvented itself—it’s amazing.”

Schmitt’s job is all about spreading the word about Concert-oh and getting more people signed up. It’s up to him to help the company build a critical mass of users.

“It was very grassroots at the beginning,” he said of his efforts. “We literally went into coffee shops across the region and went up to people with laptops and would say ‘Can I interrupt you?’—and some people said yes.”

Then, he started to go to job fairs, universities and colleges, in addition to the Pittsburgh Technology Council.

“I think it’s so amazing they have something like that here and technology is such a huge part of this city,” Schmitt said of the council.

In addition to holding face-to-face or audio meetings online, Concert-oh also allows users to share documents, photographs and links to videos. There also is a chat component.

“The one feature we really think sets us apart is the town hall feature,” Schmitt said. “What’s different about that is basically you and I and five other people that can all be talking in a meeting, but in the town hall—the host has more control.”

In the town hall setting, people join the meeting and are muted until they enter a question and answer session, where they can virtually raise their hands to interact with the host.

Keisel is holding another Concert-oh town hall Nov. 30.

“We were thrilled because it worked great,” Schmitt said of the first event.

Others who have used Concert-oh for town hall meetings include County Executive candidate D. Raja, the Pittsburgh Technology Council, Quinn and Rose talk show hosts and others.

Schmitt said he looks forward to what the future holds for the startup and finding those people who can truly benefit from its services.

“You need to find the people who are willing to take chances,” he said.

Schmitt lives with his wife, Donna, and two daughters in Edgewood. For more information and to sign up for Concert-oh, visit http://www.concert-oh.com/web/home