Fast Company Recommended Events April 2009

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Courtesy of the Brooklyn Brewery

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April

Wed, April 01
Prank
April Fools' Day

One of the only things that makes April Fools' Day tolerable is the corporate prank. Our favorite hijinks over the years include Taco Bell purchasing the "Taco Liberty Bell"; YouTube linking every video on its home page to Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up"; Burger King promoting the Left-Handed Whopper, whose condiments dripped only out the right side; and Google Australia's "gDay," which promised to search Web pages 24 hours before their creation. Some people call these hoaxes. To us, they're "innovative thinking" that produced, if nothing else, a PR bounce. Look, we're still writing about them! -- Dan Macsai

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Thu, April 02
Convene
G20 Summit
London

Last November, the leaders of 19 of the world's most powerful nations -- plus a rep from the E.U. -- met in D.C. to devise a plan to stabilize financial markets and halt the global economic slide. Didn't happen. Now, with a new U.S. president in office, they're trying again. This time, they plan to talk more specifics and even start wrangling over how to reform international institutions such as the IMF. Can the G20 cure our economic ills? Yes, they can! At least we really, really hope so. -- Kate Rockwood

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Sat, April 04
Computerize
HIMSS '09 Annual Conference & Exhibition
Chicago

Health-related technology may be advanced enough for us to outsource radio-logical readings and medical transcription to India, but only a third of clinical practices in the U.S. use electronic medical records. At the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society's annual trade show, this is going to have people talking, especially since the federal government's economic-stimulus plan includes $20 billion for computerizing medical records. But we're diagnosing an epidemic of ludditis among doctors: Even with the government's help, 25% of practices say they would rather stay in the Paper Age. -- Anne C. Lee

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Fri, April 10
Bop
Hannah Montana: THE MOVIE

Once upon a time -- in other words, last year -- Hannah seemed untouchable. Miley Cyrus's Disney Channel sitcom had spawned two hit soundtracks, a huge concert tour, a 3-D concert movie, and at least 10 different bedazzled T-shirts (not that we counted or anything). Then Cyrus, 16, went all grown-up on us. There was that near-nude photo in Vanity Fair and her 20-year-old underwear-model boyfriend. Parents cried foul, and ratings slipped. So, can a big-screen makeover redeem Disney's billion-dollar franchise? "Absolutely!" says Brandon Gray, president of BoxOfficeMojo.com. "It won't be High School Musical, but it should beat The Lizzie McGuire Movie," which grossed a respectable $43 million. Somewhere the Tiger Beat set is shrieking in delight. -- DM