Cork OpenCoffee in 2009
We’ve just had a fantastic 2008 in OCC and I think we can make it even better in 2009. A few quick thoughts as we race towards the end of the year.
- OCC only works because of the attendees. Thanks to everyone who even attended one session this year.
- Ciara and Gordon are doing a fantastic job re-invigorating OCC. I should have asked for their help earlier!
- I’ll post at least three months of dates for 2009 shortly. The Rubicon ones will obviously be fixed location. The other ones will continue to rotate between locations like Luigi’s and NSC etc.
- We’ll run one brainstorming OCC soon where everyone’s ideas for improving OCC can be discussed
- Phoebe Bright has come up with the great idea of collecting a list of common challenges (e.g. SEO) and running group self-help sessions on them.
- We’ll have more one-off special OCCs like the Tom Keane one during the year. Details TBA. Thanks again to John Fitzgerald for arranging the Tom one.
- Thanks to everyone who sponsored coffee and hosted events during the year.
- An extra special thanks to the Rubicon Centre for being our base. That’s Paul, Margaret, Maeve and Felix.
- Don’t forget the Demo Slots. They can be used to propose product/business ideas too, you don’t have to have anything to show.
- Have a great New Year.
OCC on 19th?
Gordon is proposing an OCC on the 19th. Vote in the poll if your are interested.
This weeks OCC in the Rubicon
Hello Cork OpenCoffee!
As was announced previously by Conor, myself and Gordon are now sharing the load of coordinating the OCC events. As someone who has benefitted greatly from OpenCoffee in the few months I have been attending, I was delighted to be asked to get more involved and help out a bit more.
The beauty of OpenCoffee is just that, its openness; however I will endeavour to follow the format that Conor has adopted and do a quick round-the-table (we’re talking 30 seconds here guys!) and then open it up to a demo and Q&A and then general networking and sharing of ideas.
The next OCC is on this Friday in the Rubicon Centre in CIT at our usual time of 10am-12. If anyone would like to take the demo slot, please leave a comment. If not, I will take the opportunity to showcase my site weddingdates.ie which launched a month ago and would be delighted to hear all your feedback.
Looking forward to seeing you all there. Also – if you know of any other businesses or individuals who might be interested in coming along, please invite them to come along – the more the merrier!
Many thanks,
Ciara Crossan
Farewell dinner for Cork OCC Regular
I’ve arranged a dinner for this coming Tuesday night in Cork City (final venue decision imminent). It is to wish fond farewell to OpenCoffee stalwart Tom Raftery who is moving to Spain with his family.
If you would like to attend, please let me know by e-mail to conor AT loudervoice DOT com by Saturday night at the latest. It should be a great night.
Next Two Cork OpenCoffees
The next Cork OpenCoffee is on Friday 9th May in the NSC in Mahon. Map here.
Many thanks to Catherine Wall in it@cork for arranging the boardroom in the NSC and to it@cork themselves for kindly sponsoring the coffee.
We’ll be back to the Rubicon again on 23rd May.
If you are interested in demoing your product/idea at either session or giving a short talk on your area of expertise, please shout.
I’m also considering inviting someone in the VC/Corp Finance field to give us a talk. Vote here on your level of interest:
Nice piece on OpenCoffee in Silicon Republic
Marie Boran from Silicon Republic has always taken a strong interest in Irish start-up activity. I remember she was the first to get in contact when Paddy’s Valley was announced.
She has written a very nice piece in today’s Silicon Republic (not sure if it’ll be syndicated to Irish Independent or not) about OpenCoffee in Ireland.
You can follow Marie on Twitter here. They’ve also enabled a feed of their stories to Twitter here.
Cork OpenCoffee in The Irish Times
I’m chuffed to see that Haydn Shaughnessy mentions Cork OpenCoffee in his piece in the Innovation Magazine of today’s Irish Times. The point of the article is:
If companies want to be innovative in their field, not only do they need to rethink how they do business, but they also have to be willing to step out of their comfort zone
He includes two quotes from me on OpenCoffee which I think are true for many of those who attend.
I was attracted to the OCC idea by what I saw as a lack of any real opportunities for all of us in the local start-up ecosystem to network regularly: entrepreneurs, techies, finance people. The ‘regular’ aspect was critical as was the free-form relaxed approach.
and
If nothing else, my own professional and personal networks have been hugely improved through OCC and I think the same is true for all the regulars
Friday’s fantastic turnout is testament to this. We had 19 people in Luigi Malone’s and the buzz was just infectious. I got some very positive feedback from the new faces and I hope we can keep this level of energy going.
And only another two days before we can talk about the very very cool demo that we saw!
Cork OpenCoffee tomorrow in Luigi Malone’s
Just a quick reminder that OpenCoffee is tomorrow at 10am in Luigi Malone’s on Emmet Place.
We’ve just heard from Pat Phelan of Cubic Telecom that he’ll be doing a demo. Given how busy they have been this week, I’ve a feeling this is one not to miss!
Also, since this batch of the Genesis programme is coming to a close, it’d be great to hear from those who took part in it and hear what they gained from it.
If you are new to OCC, just look for the people with laptops, Nokia N95s, iPhones and Asus EeePCs 
OpenBBQ?
What started as a discussion about having an OpenCoffee in the Midlands the other day quickly turned into a proposal for an OpenBBQ in Terryglass on Lough Derg this summer.
Think business networking, free Wifi, top class BBQ and fun.
Evert has all the details so far. Please drop him a line if you think you might go. He’s thinking June/July mid-week. If there is enough interest from Cork OpenCoffee we could consider hiring a mini-bus?
UPDATE 1: Please vote for your preferred date over on the blog too.
We never got past the introductions!
This is my second time to write this post as the first one got deleted accidentally. We had a particularly good OCC meet-up last Friday in the Rubicon with four new faces. The round table introductions caused so many spin-off conversations that we ended up not doing anything else!
A welcome then to:
- Bob Gee of Connect Promotions who seemed delighted by the response of us all to his business (promotional items or schwag as we geeks call it). Bob also had many thoughts to offer on the conversations around advertising and marketing.
- Paul Harrington who is setting up a webapps business and is looking to build his professional network in Cork. Paul has long experience in both web technologies and the mobile industry
- Jason Coghlan from Cubit Software who specialises in EPOS systems and retail management software
- John Mallon from Argent Productions who is heavily involved in professional-level video production for narrowcasting and digital brochures.
We spent quite a bit of time talking about bluetooth marketing, outdoor advertising and mobile information push with Diarmuid Wrenne. I was delighted then to hear that Lukulu has been short-listed for the Eircom Innovation Fund. Well done Diarmuid, we can’t wait to see what you build and launch with them.
The Eircom fund is the first real attempt to do something here like Y Combinator in the US or SeedCamp in the UK. The recent success of the Collison brothers proves just how powerful that model is.
There appears to be widespread use of VOIP technologies by OpenCoffee attendees. I was genuinely surprised how many people are using it. A technology whose time has come?
The next OCC is in Luigi Malone’s in Cork City on April 11th.
