The topic of the morning was Cork Open Coffee itself, to see if any members would like to make any changes to how OCC has been working over the past 2 years or so.

There was some great feedback and I took plenty of notes while we all talked. Thank you everyone for all the feedback.

In general, it looks like people want things to stay much the same with just a little more notice about events, some time keeping when talks are going on and keep it tech-based.

Below are my notes in no particular order. I will be working on lining up speakers to demo products and services for the next several open coffees so please get in touch if you would like to give a talk, even if you have given a talk in the past.

If anyone would like to sponsor 1 or more Open Coffees, which pays for Coffee and nibbles for 20ish people, please get in touch by emailing corkopencoffee@gmail.com. The cost of sponsoring a meeting is only 60 Euro. €30 for a coffee urn and €30 for some little cakes.

Here are the notes, if anyone would like to add, please comment below or email us at corkopencoffee@gmail.com

• Fortnightly is good, don’t change to once a month for meetings.
• Needs a little more structure for talks, a moderator for talks being given to prevent topics going on and on
• Every now and then, when doing the initial round-table introduction, give an individual in the audience a few minutes to explain a little more about their business, similar to BNI but not formal.
• A person/business doing a presentation to show their product or service could pay for the coffee?
• 10 – 15 minute presentations, 10- 15 minutes for discussion
• Have Topics for meetings such as SEO, Sales. It doesn’t need a presentation to be made, just a topic for discussion with a person to start it off.
• Send out the email notifications 1 week in advance, Mondays and possibly a reminder again on Wednesday
• Have some more conventional talks such as Sales / Marketing with a tech slant
• Leave behind the Open Coffee’s that take place in coffee shops in the city.
• Try out other venues such as the National Software Centre / Web Works with a board room type environment like the Rubicon.
• Possibly take in donations to pay for coffee & nibbles
• Possibly a Linked-In group for discussions
• If people are looking for someone at a meeting, perhaps have a minute when introducing oneself to say what they are looking for eg: A developer for a project, A designer for a logo
• A page on the website to list profiles of regular members.
• Perhaps recurring talks about relevant topics such as Sales/ Investment/Funding
• Looking into funding to pay for Coffee & Nibbles?
• Try to make resources available to OCC such as access to libraries.
• Have events trough out the year, such as Summer BBQ/Christmas Party events to break up the year.
• Invite in Kieran Moynihan (The new Entrepreneur in Residence at the Rubicon) to talk about his new role in CIT/The Rubicon.

The owners, Simon and his wife Jackie have generously invited Cork Open Coffee members to meet in their café, where we will all receive a complimentary coffee on arrival. And there’s Wifi too!

For anyone staying around for lunch, Simon has also generously offered 10% off their lunch menu.

There is parking available in the area with 2 hours free (maybe more) with a cost of 5 Euro per hour after that.

If you are unfamiliar with the area, here is a map to the Maradyke Arena, Cork.

Open Coffee – After Dark

For those who would like to attend but can’t make Cork Open Coffee during the working hours, there is ‘After Dark’. A monthly Open Coffee which takes place on the last Friday of the month.

This months After Dark takes place in The Bodega from 8pm. We usually try to take over the little cubbyhole section just inside the door to the left of the bar so look for us there.

Want to talk at Open Coffee?

If you would like to make a presentation, to demo a new app or get some feedback at an upcoming Cork Open Coffee, please get in touch by responding to this email or contacting myself, Ciara Crossan or Conor O’Neill directly.

Talk to you all on Friday,

Don’t forget to follow @corkopencoffee on Twitter!

7 Habits of Effective Websites

Frank Prendergast is a well known and respected Web Designer based in Cork and will give a brief talk on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and then open up the topic for further discussion with the group.

Frank has been working in the web industry for over ten years and likes to work with small to medium sized businesses developing or revamping their web presence. He is a believer in clarity, simplicity and effectiveness in design.

Want to talk at Open Coffee?

If you would like to give a talk or show off a new product for some feedback at an upcoming Cork Open Coffee, please get in touch by replying to this email or emailing corkopencoffee@gmail.com

Talk to you all on Friday

Don’t forget to follow @corkopencoffee on Twitter!

One of our new members, Karl took some excellent photos in and around the castle.

A huge thank you to the hard working people of the Observatory, especially Clair McSweeney who took some time out to give us a 3 hour tour in around 30 minutes.

The castle is an excellent place, full of information and I imagine everyone attending that morning would highly recommend taking a tour.

View from Blackrock Castle Observatory

For anyone not familiar with the area, here is a link to the Blackrock castle on Google Maps http://short.ie/
bcomap. There is parking around the corner from the castle gates.

Clair McSweeney, Facilities Manager of the Blackrock Castle Observatory has kindly invited us to gather in the The Castle Bar and Trattoria, which is on the right as you enter the castle gates.

Clair will also give a tour of the castle at noon for anyone interested and would also like to highlight some of the great upcoming events in the castle including:

• Tweet in to Blade Runner (Movies by Moonlight Film Club) Saturday the 29th
• Space Camp 2010 (Summer Camp July and August)
• The Castle Bar and Trattoria Summer Bar-B-Qs

Any blogging / Tweeting / Foursquare’ing about BCO or any of its event is greatly appreciated! Further events in the BCO can be seen on their events page or sign up their newsletter.

Cork Open Coffee Sponsorship

David Reilly, from Reilly & Co. Solicitors in Cork has generously offered to sponsor several of the upcoming Open Coffees which means we can bring in some excellent Coffee from Mr. Cotton coffee for a few of the upcoming Open Coffees in the Rubicon. If youd like to Thank David (or maybe get some legal advice!) you can follow him on Twitter.

Cork Open Coffee E28093 After Dark

Also taking place this coming Friday is Cork Open Coffee E28093 After Dark. This is an evening version of the Open Coffee for those who cant make it in the mornings.

It is very informal and takes place in The Bodega from 8pm onwards. Follow Ronald on Twitter for more details or questions.

Bizcamp

Bizcamp Dublin takes place this Saturday in the Guinness Storehouse. Check out their line up of speakers (PDF) C2A0and others attending the event. A fantastic event for businesses.

Successful Email Marketing in the Digital Age

Thursday May 27^th 2010

11:00am – 12:00noon

The Atrium, NSC Campus, Mahon, Cork

Email remains one of the most powerful, cost-effective and measurable tools available to businesses. At this workshop Newsweaver’s Denise Cox and Liam O’Callaghan will provides tips and insight into how companies can benefit from using email to communicate with customers and prospects.

They will address in detail:

• How you can save money on your marketing budget
• Setting yourself apart from the competition
• Why it is so important to build a good database and how that improves results
• How small businesses can get scale – first impressions are key
• What makes a good newsletter and why someone reads it
• How to manage your email to develop valuable business relationshipsAnd remember this is not just for those in marketing!

Newsweaver is Europe’s leading email newsletter solutions provider and Denise Cox is Newsweaver’s email communications specialist.

Registration is necessary for this event, please register by emailing fwall@corkbic.com

This weeks Cork Open Coffee is taking place this Friday the 14th at 10am in The Rubicon Centre in Bishopstown in Cork (Map).

There are no demos or talks lined up this week. If you have a new site or app that you’d like to show off and get some feedback on, get in touch.

Bizcamp Dublin takes place on May 29th in the Guinness Storehouse. BizCamp is an opportunity for entrepreneurs and innovators to come together, share experiences, and possibly create something new. Definitely worth a trip.

Cork Open Coffee is also looking for any businesses that might like to Sponsor some future Open Coffee events, this means for a small amount we’d be able to get in some Coffee and nibbles from local businesses, especially Mr. Cotton Coffee.

Talk to you all on Friday,

Don’t forget to follow @corkopencoffee on Twitter!

The next Cork Open Coffee is this Friday the 16th at 10am in The Rubicon Center.

Its a bit soon to have an open coffee again after last weeks Your Country Your Call talk but we’re doing it to keep on track with the calendar bookings for the board room in the Rubicon for the year.

The closing date for YCYC is the end of the month, so get your ideas in now.

Thank you all for commenting about attendance on the blog post and for attending the Your Country Your Call talk given last week in The National Software centre.

Thank you to all at the staff at NSC for hosting the event.

Some photos from the day can be seen on the YCYC Flickr page and we are told we will be on Nationwide this evening, the 14th at 7pm on RTE1 so tune in if you can.

This week, a Cork business called Tender3D will be giving a demo of their application called Tender3D and hoping for your feedback.

Tender3D is a dedicated online marketspace that enables purchasers to connect with the most appropriate suppliers of 3D animation content. The Tender3D software enables purchasers to place their 3D modelling and animation projects online to tender, and for suppliers to bid on them.

Thank you all and talk to you on Friday morning.

Conor, Ciara & Gordon

Cork Open Coffee Organisers.

http://www.corkopencoffee.org

Don’t forget to follow @corkopencoffee on Twitter!

The workshops, which are open to the public are free of charge and one will take place in Cork as follows:

Cork: 9th April 11.00 am, National Software Centre Campus, Mahon.

The workshop will last for about two hours and promises to be a lot of fun as well as being informative and helpful.

If you would like to attend, please leave a comment below this post so we can get an idea of numbers of people to seat and give tea and coffee to!

The workshops are being run in conjunction with Jump!, Cork Open Coffee and The Irish Times.

Who should attend?

• People interested in innovation or ideation
• People considering entering an idea into Your Country, Your Call
• Business owners
• People thinking of starting a business

An event is also taking place in Dublin, if that suits you better:

Dublin: 15th April, 6.00pm, Irish Times Headquarters, Tara Street, Dublin 2.

A huge Thank you to the National Software centre (directions) who will be hosting the talk on the 9th, see you all there. It promises to be a great event with plenty of people and fun too!

This weeks Cork Open Coffee is taking place this Friday the 19th at 10am in The Bodega, Cornmarket street in Cork. No demos this week, just coffee and networking. The Bodega opens at 10am, they have free wifi and a map on their website for how to get there.

In keeping with the ‘Open’ in Cork Open Coffee, we will be publishing the email campaign stats on the Cork Open Coffee Blog. You can see the stats from the last email on the blog now. No ones email address will be displayed on the blog, just some overview information and hopefully some useful data that might be of interest to members sending their own email marketing campaigns.

If you think you’ll be attending, please let us know in the blog comments.

Talk to you all on Friday,

Don’t forget to follow @corkopencoffee on Twitter!