Last Friday’s OCC (Shared Visions and Home Help Tech)
We had a reasonably quiet OCC last Friday in the Rubicon Boardroom but the attendees had plenty to say to Roland Steinmetz of Shared Visions and Simon Martin of Home Help Tech. Both gave great presentations on their businesses and we all tried to give useful feedback and questions.
With no negativity directed at Roland and Simon, I failed in my role as timekeeper and we ran way over on the demo session. We’ll try some sort of countdown timer at the next demo session to ensure that we keep the mix of demos and networking balanced.
I did a bunch of Qik videos of both presentations. Simon’s final one is cut short as I ran out of battery on my phone. Roland’s are here and Simon’s here.
Given that the topic of the day was the use of technology for remote communications and support, Roland also recorded the presentations using the products that Shared Visions provides to businesses. The ability to jump to individual slides and get the appropriate video clip is a very useful feature!
The next OCC is in CIX in HollyHill on March 7th. I’ll do a mailshot closer to the time.
Update on last week’s OCC
Just got a mail from Tom Raftery in response to some questions about CFL lighting that Diarmuid Wrenne had during Phoebe Bright’s session.
Tom came across this article which he wanted to share:
Myths and Facts about CFL Lighting
Next OpenCoffee in Rubicon on Feb 22nd
The next meet-up is back in the boardroom of the Rubicon Centre in CIT. Thanks to Paul and the team for facilitating this.
The demo will be by Shared Visions and will consist of an overview/discussion of current state/predictions of remote communication solutions. This includes Web Conferencing, Online Meetings, Call Conferencing, Webcasting, Webinars, IP Video Conferencing and Remote Support. Thanks to Denise Kennedy for suggesting this.
Based on your feedback we will keep this session limited to 30 mins.
If you would like to do a very short (~2 min) elevator pitch to see what people think, let me know ahead of time via email or as a comment and we’ll include that too.
More new faces at OCC last Friday in Webworks
Another thoroughly enjoyable Cork OpenCoffee happened on Friday in Webworks with 20+ in attendance. A big thank you again to Kay Wright for facilitating this, sponsoring the refreshments and making us so welcome. And tip o the hat to Pat Phelan for co-ordinating it with Webworks and providing the projector.
We have a bunch of Qik videos of the morning. These include the round table quick introductions and the bulk of Phoebe Bright’s session on future energy scenarios. Phoebe’s talk was very well received and focused on demand instead of supply. Since this is something we can all practically engage with, she had lots of questions and feedback.
Welcome to all the new faces including Roland Steinmetz from Shared Visions, Michael Kane from YouGetItBack, David McCarthy from HTC, Ciarán Rooney from Weeno and Alexander Skeaping who is involved in the piano and harpsichord business! Aileen Cussen from Enterprise Ireland also attended. There was a distinct “mobile tech” feel to the meetup between Cubic, HTC, Lukulu, YouGetItBack and the 3 Nokia N95-8GBs and two different HTC devices on view.
I’ll do separate posts on the upcoming meetups but in summary they are:
- Feb 22nd – Rubicon Center in CIT. Demo by Shared Visions
- March 7th – CIX in Hollyhill. Demo of CIX by Tom Raftery
Pat suggested in his blog post about last Friday that we should have some elevator pitches at each session. Basically a longer version of the intros that we currently do. I think it’s a great idea. How about 120 secs each for 2 or 3 people each week?
Waterford OpenCoffee Info
Damian Beresford posted a comment here earlier pointing to information about Waterford OpenCoffee. Given that they are just up the road and on this side of Waterford, I hope we can pay them a much overdue visit.
They meet the first Friday of every month at 8.30am in ArcLabs in Carrignore. It is very well sign-posted coming from Cork and is in a fabulous location.
Their main page is on Ning here
and Damian has further information on his blog here.
Cork Blogger Dinner
Alexia Golez is arranging a Blogger Dinner in Cork for Sunday the 2nd March on the weekend of the Blogtalk Conference and WebCamp. You can expect some really interesting visitors (and locals!) to be there. Please let Alexia know if you wish to attend over on her blog.
This Friday’s Meetup is in Webworks
The next Cork OpenCoffee is on this Friday 8th at 10am in the Webworks building on Eglinton Street opposite the entrance to the City Hall Car Park. Many thanks to Pat Phelan for arranging it and to Kay Wright in Webworks for facilitating.
The speaker session this week is not a demo but a short talk by Phoebe Bright on some future energy scenarios and how they might impact the IT business locally. In her words:
Whatever the future holds with increasing energy prices, increasingly scarce resources and the pressure to address climate change, it is not likely to look like Business As Usual. I worked as part of a team developing energy scenarios as part of an EPA project. Scenarios are not projects, but explorations of what possible futures under different conditions. The four scenarios we looked at were based on two conditions – the timing of peak oil and our reaction to it.
- Business As Usual – a scenario where peak oil does not happen until 2025 and we do little in the meantime to prepare for it. – more details here: http://info.energyscenariosireland.com/BAU_1Page
- Enlightened Transition – peak oil is a long way off be we prepare proactively. details here: http://info.energyscenariosireland.com/Enlightened_1Page
- Localisation – peak oil happening now and we react badly – world recession etc. details here http://info.energyscenariosireland.com/Localisation_1Page
- Fair Shares – peak oil now and we make the best of it. details here: http://info.energyscenariosireland.com/FairShares_1Page
I would like to look at two scenarios and ask two questions.
What are the threats and what are the opportunities for the IT in Cork in:
- Enlightened Transition – plenty of money and enthusiasm for moving towards a more sustainable economy – though energy prices are relatively high.
- Fair Shares – struggling economy, little money but plenty of ingenuity to use IT to make life better in difficult times.
With a successful session I hope we can make Webworks one of our regular destinations as it really is a superb venue.
