Planning the next event.

Date: 06/09/08 0 comments

I have today officially started to plan the next Open Coffee Club extravaganza!

There are some ideas playing around inside my head but as it is an event driven by the people attending I am looking for suggestions.

What would you like to see at the next event?

Where should it be held, and when?

How can I improve on the OCC BBQ (or can I)?

Anyone with ideas is welcome to email me!

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All roasted out…

Date: 19/07/08 11 comments

 

That’s it, it’s over and done with, The 1st irish Open Coffee Club BBQ is finished!

I have sufficiently recovered and it is time for a post-mortem.

While I was busy setting up the wifi coverage on Tuesday evening I noticed a bunch of people skulking outside the Derg Inn clutching iphones. This heralded the arrival of the Belfast contignent. A quick tweet from me convinced them to come inside where I was asked if I was “Mr. Bopp”. Strange people dem Nordies…. Anyway, they sat down and we quickly matched faces to avatars. After a quick chat I finised of the wifi network and left. They apparently had a nosy around Terryglass and took care of some logistical matters.

The next day started early for me but I did not make it to terryglass until 10:30 after picking up James Galagher in Borrisokane (he had travelled that far on public transport from Galway). To my surprise the place started to fill up quickly with around 30 people there by 11:30. The place was buzzing while people got to know each other. Tweets & Jaiku’s where flying and there were a number of impromptu broadcasts using Qik.

The first demo/talks started around 12:30 (a bit behind schedule). I had expected that there would be an even spread of people between the Derg In and the Community Hall where the talks where taking place but I was surprised to notice that the majority of people where attending the talks with a good bit of networking going on outside the hall. The talks and demos were of a very high caliber with some real last minute surprises! One talk that I got a lot of positive feedback after the event on the talk by Sal McDonagh on using mobile phones as nodes in a GSM network rather than just clients. During the day Conn from intruders.tv was busy filming the event and interviewing people so we can look forward to some quality video footoga appearing on their website soon.

 

Unfortunatly I missed most of the talks as I (being the sole organiser) kept myself busy making sure that everything kept going relatively on schedule. The great thing about these type of events though is that they are so much user driven that a lot of things will just happen on their own accord. It’s very much “event 2.0″. I met a lot of people that I already knew (in real life or virtually) and a lot of new faces. Halfway through the afternoon food was served in the shape of Conor O’Neill’s atomic chicken wings. Free drinks were available in the Hall courtesy of Britvic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Around 5:30 we finally got around to the “Dragons Den” competition. We had 5 excellent pitches on ventures that ranged from luxury Irish goods, online wedding organisers, bringing NGO’s into web 2.0 and innovative sportsbags to reconfigurable radio platforms. The jury eventually chose a last minute entry as the winner. Daudi Kutta from PitchSideProducts impressed everybody with his presentation, product and business skills. It was great to find out afterwards that Duadi is a participant of the LEAP programme. A win like this validates these type of programmes. We also had a raffle straight after the Dragons Den competition so that there was an opportunity for everybody to win a prize. All the prizes were provided by our sponsors and the proceeds from the raffle has been donated to Childline.

After all this networking, presenting and prize winning it was time for some serious chillin’ and everyone headed down to Terryglass Quay for the BBQ. Ronan Howe (the master-baster) had fired two BBQ’s up and was ready to go. There were the ribs & brownies provided by @debz of Spicendipity fame, Mrs Bopp’s chicken satay and peanut sauce and fantastic wine courtesy of Bubble Brothers. It was great to see that there were at least 40-50 people at the BBQ especially seeing the distances that some people travelled from. I also loved the way people that travelled from all over Ireland mingled and exchanged ideas with local business people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Due to the chill setting in (and also the food running out) the BBQ ended around 11:00 pm with people either going home or retreating to the local pubs..

Looking back at the event I am delighted that it was sucha  success. Some of it was due to hard work but a lot f it is due to the people that went to the trouble to travel to Terryglass to the day. Events like this are made by the people that are there on the day. I am also extremely gratefull to the sponsors that have made this event possible. Seeing that this event was a first of it’s kind they could only hope on getting some exposure in return for their support. I am sure that they have received plenty of possitive exposure. Persnally I am delighted to have achieved what I set out to do; to prove that an event like this would be possible, succesfull and beneficial without being held in a major city.

Will I do it again? You bet ya!

Images courtesy of: Will Knott.

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Looking back 1..

Date: 18/07/08 3 comments

It’s two days since we had the Open coffee club BBQ and I am only juststarting to recover.

It was a fantastic day thanks to everyone that showed up! The talks were of a very high caliber (although I missed most of them), the competition was great, there was some great networking and the food and drink afterwards was fantastic.

I am also delighted to mention that the “Dragons Den” competition was won by Daudi Kutta from Pitch Side Products. Daudi demonstrated a very innovatice sports bag design. It’s refreshing to see a “non-technical” product win at a very techie event.

There were some great prizes won at the raffle and I was delighted to see that the only piece of Mac software (Microsoft Office for Mac) was actually won by one of the mac-heads that travelled down from Belfast.

Over the next few days I will digest all that has happened and post it up here together with pictures and video footage.  But I can already say that this is an event worth repeating and that I am planning to do so within 6 months…

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Centra Childline Big BBQ.

Date: 13/07/08 0 comments

I recently became aware of the Childline/Centra big BBQ fundraising apeal. The idea behind this appeal is to organise a BBQ and collect donations for Childline during the BBQ.

For those of you not familiar with it, Childline runs a support helpline for children in disstress. As any of these organisations they are underfunded and constantly in need of support.

Seeing that we already have a BBQ I considered this as a great opportinity to give something backon our way to entrepreneurial success. I’ve contacted Childline and they, together with Centra, are supplying banners and leaflets as well as collection boxes for your donations. In return the local Centra supermarket in Borrisokane has offered sponsorship in the form of supplies for the BBQ.

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More prizes….

Date: 11/07/08 0 comments

The fun never stops!

We have another two prizes to add to the bounty of prizes on offer for the competition.

- Pixelapes has donated a voucher for 500 euros worth of web design. You can have a look at this site and their own website to get an idea of their excellent work.

- Johnny Beirne has offered a days worth of mentoring and guidance for the winner. Johnny is wel know as a great business mentor and advisor.

 

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