Category Archives: opencoffee

IT Sligo Enterprise & Innovation Week

Posted on 23 Feb 11 by | Leave a comment

As part of Enterprise & Innovation Week – IT Sligo have kindly offered to host the March meetup of Open Coffee Sligo.

This will be on Wednesday, 2nd March @11am – in the Hub (canteen – 1st floor) of the Innovation Centre. If you have not already been to one of our events, it should be a great chance to meet and network with other businesses in the locality.

As we will also at this point have 3 newly elected TD’s in the constituency – we are planning to invite them along to this Open Coffee meetup.

No promises as of now as to whether they will be able to attend – but it could be a great opportunity to highlight to them the innovation and creativity of SME companies and Entrepeneurs in the Sligo area.

Let’s hope we see your there  – and again, please note the change Wednesday, 2nd March.

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Survey for Collaborative Workspace in Sligo town

Posted on 21 Feb 11 by | Leave a comment

Following on from our last meeting – we have put together a survey which will help to gauge interest and appetite for a shared workspace/collaborative space in Sligo town.

If you are interested  then please fill out our survey
http://polldaddy.com/s/480D645D2974B547

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Posted in Office Space, opencoffee, sligo

Collaborative working and office space Sligo

Posted on 27 Jan 11 by | 7 Comments

At our last Open Coffee Sligo meeting in December – discussion turned to office space and how people do a “nine to five”.

We talked about the advantages of home office space and shared office space – and the options that are out there for people in the Sligo area.

It seems to be that a shared office space – that supplements a home office and provides opportunity to chat and interact with like minded creatives on a day to day basis – might be something that would be of interest to a lot of people in the area.

Some of the examples mentioned of similiar spaces included FumballyExchnage.com and AmWorks (both in Dublin -  Irish Times article article on Fumbally )

We are aware of effort by a group of artists to use the Old Mill on Union Street – while there was some interest, it wasn’t followed through in the end.

So what would you look for in such a shared space if it existed (or if there was enough interest) in Sligo?

  • dedicated/shared workspace (desk area)
  • high speed broadband
  • access to meeting room
  • presentation/brainstorming media – projector, flipchart, whiteboard
  • PO Box
  • access 24/7
  • foosball :)

What do we mean by creatives? Not being smart here – this is really anybody who needs office space to run their business. In other shared spaces, typically the types of businesses include

  • Web and software people included programmers and designers
  • artists, photographers, film makers, media
  • people working in finance/architecture/legal profession

So don’t crack me down on this post guys – it’s just a quick note to gain an understanding of who out there might be interested. We have no idea of suitable locations, costs, legal issues with leases, etc – at this point.

If we had a group of say 15 people – then this would give the wherewithall to actually do some research and keep interested parties in the loop.

If you are interested in this – chances are we can be able to discuss it at the next Open Coffee Sligo meetup next thursday – 3rd February @11am in the Clarion Hotel Sligo. You can also drop me an email kevin [at] electricmill.com or drop a comment on this blog post.

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Posted in Office Space, opencoffee

November Open Coffee – We’re going to the Cinema

Posted on 21 Oct 10 by | 2 Comments

Instead of our normal, first thursday of the month, 11am meetup in Sligo – we’ve decided that you all need to go and see a movie.

You probably know that The Social Network – the story of how Mark Zuckerberg founded Faceboook – has received a lot of critical acclaim and is being tipped for lots of Oscar nominations.

So on Thursday 11th November – We’d like to invite you to the 7pm showing of The Social Network – in the Gaiety Cinema, Wine Street, Sligo.

If you quote “Open Coffee” when buying your ticket – you should get it for €5. Afterwards – we will adjourn to a local hostelry for beers and chat  – it will be strictly a non-presentation venue :)

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Posted in networking, opencoffee, sligo

Taking a break for summer! What’re you up to?

Posted on 1 Aug 10 by | 3 Comments

Enjoy the August bank holiday week. We’ll be taking a break for August. We’ll be back in action soon. Keep track of us here and on twitter: @opencoffeesligo

Please leave a comment below and tell us what you’re up to? Any buzz for your business and new ventures you’d like to share? Looking for some help? Any community events or other opportunities you’d like to tell us about?

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July Open Coffee: building a web presence

Posted on 28 Jun 10 by | Leave a comment

Drupal GardensFor July Open Coffee Sligo – we will be meeting upstairs in Costa Coffee which is located in the Johnston Court Shopping Centre.

Heather James will be giving an overview of Drupal Gardens – an easy to use  website content management system; There will also be chat and discussion around other CMS’s that are available – including WordPress.com (on which this site is hosted).

This is our first hands-on session. Please bring along your laptop. There is free wifi available, and we get a 10% discount on coffee if we get over 10 attendees.

The meeting will be from 11am-1pm, with lots of time for networking and informal chat. Let’s hope we see you there!

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Sligo Action Group to co-ordinate retail/hospitality for Summer Concerts

Posted on 24 Jun 10 by | Leave a comment

At the June meetup of Open Coffee Sligo – there was a lot of discussion around the benefits there would be for some co-ordination of online marketing activities in the region – particularly with the Leonard Cohen/Westlife concerts looming.

In this weeks Sligo Champion (print version) – there was further indication that retail and hospitality pulling out the stops for the concert weekend.  A committee has been formed to capitialise on the retail and hospitality opportunies – and part of this is an Ambassador Programe.

With that in mind, Sligo Leader Programme have been in touch to make Open Coffee attendees aware of the following :

Volunteers Wanted! Ambassadors for Sligo to act as walking, talking information points during Sligo’s big weekend of July 29th to August 2nd needed! 30,000+ visitors can have a really positive experience of Sligo if met by your helpful, smiley face. They might choose to come back as a result and hopefully spend plenty on the weekend as a result of your input. Interested? Love Sligo? Free that weekend for a couple of hours? feeling Civic? then drop a line to ambassadorforsligo@gmail.com

Let’s hope that this committe is also carefully considering the online options that are avaialbe to them in terms of using relevant local and regional websites, facebook and twitter.

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Posted in opencoffee, sligo

Slides from June Social Media Discussion now available

Posted on 10 Jun 10 by | Leave a comment

Thanks to everybody who turned up (over 50) and contributed to the discussion on Social Media – and particularly to Denise and Aoife who put a lot of time and effort into the event.

One of the main things to come out of the day was how some of the potential for what people are doing for their own businesses, could in some way be tapped positively for use by all businesses in the Sligo and the local region.

As an example – most people were keenly aware of the number of visitors that will come to Sligo this summer for Leonard Cohen and WestLife concerts. While indivudual retailers may have a plan and an online strategy to take account of this – collectively, there seems to a vacuum.

If you have any thoughts on this – please tag your thoughts online with #ocsligo – or leave some comments here.

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June Open Coffee Sligo Meetup

Posted on 25 May 10 by | 3 Comments

June Open Coffee Meetup – The Model – Thursday 3rd June – 11am to 1pm

The June meetup of Open Coffee Sligo will be concentrating on the practical usage of Social Media – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, FourSquare, etc – for your business or organisation.

The aim of the session is to have an open and engaging discussion on how businesses in the North West are using free online Social Media tools to market their business and engage with their customers.

Denise Rushe of The Model and Aoife Porter of Bua Markering will be leading the discussion and providing practical examples Social Media campaigns that they have been involved with.

As with all Open Coffee gatherings – we encourage all attendees to participate in the discussion, debate and networking.

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May Open Coffee Sligo Meetup being held in The Model

Posted on 25 Apr 10 by | Leave a comment

We’re delighted to be able to hold the May Open Coffee Sligo event in The Model, home of The Niland Collection.

Given that they only officially re-open on Saturday next, 1st May – this is a great opportunity for people to see the huge redevelopment that has taken place of the last two years.

When Denise suggested last week that Open Coffee members might be interested in a guided tour of the new building – my email response to her was “Snap!” – I’m guessing there are a lot of others who feel the same, and will really appreciate the invitation.

Already one of the country’s leading centres for contemporary culture, this recent redevelopment has seen the building increase in size by a third and will allow The Model to fully realise its potential as a flagship cultural centre in Ireland.

Developed with the visitor in mind, the new building boasts a separate restaurant and coffee dock, a bookshop, a wonderful gallery circuit on the first floor, a purpose built performance space, and a suite of artist studios on the top floor with enviable views of Sligo town and County.

The new model also boasts a free wi-fi in the atrium space and will shortly have comfy seating and a coffee dock installed, providing the perfect ‘third space’, ideal for meetings in Sligo town.

As well as the guided tour – we will also have an opportunity to have a look at the creative enterprise spaces – and finish up with an informal discussion on using creativity and innovation through your working environment.

We hope to see a great turnout on the day – so put it in your diaries now – Thursday, 6th May @11am in The Model.

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