The good news is that Open Coffee's are crawling out of the woodwork, so if you want to network you have no real excuse for saying that things aren't going on. The reason I started Open Coffee Coleraine and not Open Coffee Limavady was simple, everyone in Limavady practically knows each other and in Coleraine it seems to be the opposite.
So crack open your diaries and get this lot noted down.
Wednesday 19th August - Open Coffee Coleraine: 7pm-9pm @ Starbucks (www.opencoffeecoleraine.com)
Thursday 27th August - Open Coffee Derry: 6pm @ Waterfoot Hotel (www.opencoffeederry.com)
Wednesday 9th September - Open Coffee Mid Ulster: 6.30pm venue TBC (www.ocmidulster.com)
The Belfast Open Coffee meetings happen every fortnight on a Thursday, the dates are listed on the their website: www.opencoffeebelfast.com
The open coffee meetings are no pressure, no name badge affairs. You get what you put in basically, if you want to talk to someone then introduce yourself to them and there's a high chance they'll talk back and then get you talking to someone else. It's not all techie businesses that turn up to these events so don't think it's just for dull programmers with nothing else to do. It's far from that.
If you are a dull techie with nothing else to do you'll be interested in these bits as well:
Monday 17th August - Refresh Belfast: 6.30pm @ Black Box all about iPhone development this time. You will need to register to get in.
Saturday 19th September - Bizcamp Dublin: All Day - Too much going on to list here.... (www.bizcamp.ie)
Saturday 10th October - Barcamp Derry: All Day - Too much going on to list here.... (www.barcampderry.com)
Thursday 4th - Friday 6th November - Buildconf: you will have to pay for this one but the schedule looks great. (www.buildconference.com)
Showing posts with label open coffee derry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label open coffee derry. Show all posts
Sunday, 16 August 2009
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
Derry Journal: Less than 300 jobs in NW
As much as I poke fun at the DJ (main in regards to Project Kevin (yes I did that on purpose)) there, once in a while, a story that just matters. Today they hit gold.
I used to put the figures up for Limavady, Coleraine and Derry and I might go back to that. It would be interesting to see when the figures were calculated, doing a quick freetext job search on the Job Centre website I got:
Limavady: 19
Londonderry/Derry: 93
Strabane: 11
Coleraine: 44
Coming in at a mildly worrying 167 jobs for the North West based on the major towns and cities.
It's all back to the numbers again, 2500 job losses since 2008 and a 60% increase in workload at the Derry job centre alone. Main attack seems to be pointed at Invest NI who are being asked where the investment is for the area.
My opinion is that it's all back around this demand cycle, the same sort of thing I was talking about with regards to Stream's position last week. You need spending to increase demand, increased demand leads to more services/production requirement which leads to job creation.
Currently it's a stagnated cycle, no one wants to make the first move just yet. Housing hasn't bottomed out just yet, got another year or so I'd say. So no one wants to really spend anything (if they have something to spend, lots of job losses = reduced spending).
Job creation will come in small startups, what can Invest NI do? Plough small amounts of investment over a greater number of people who really need it. The Start A Business Programme is there lying dormant and could just do with a crash machine nearby to get its heartbeat going again.
This time though up the money from a useless £400 to £1000 and people might take INI and themselves a little more seriously. If you can bootstrap something from nothing then go for it, start getting to Open Coffee Derry/Coleraine/Belfast meetings and make contacts, network do anything to get your name out.
The ultimate responsibility for job creation isn't really with government it's down to an individual, a group, a community or a town/city to actually do something. People will take note and people will come. In my honest opinion Invest NI have chased the big companies as they give more credibility to the press releases that are put out, but right now it's a level playing field and I think the small mobile intelligent units might actually pull through on this one, it's all down to the ability to change.
Good luck everyone, see you on the other side.
I used to put the figures up for Limavady, Coleraine and Derry and I might go back to that. It would be interesting to see when the figures were calculated, doing a quick freetext job search on the Job Centre website I got:
Limavady: 19
Londonderry/Derry: 93
Strabane: 11
Coleraine: 44
Coming in at a mildly worrying 167 jobs for the North West based on the major towns and cities.
It's all back to the numbers again, 2500 job losses since 2008 and a 60% increase in workload at the Derry job centre alone. Main attack seems to be pointed at Invest NI who are being asked where the investment is for the area.
My opinion is that it's all back around this demand cycle, the same sort of thing I was talking about with regards to Stream's position last week. You need spending to increase demand, increased demand leads to more services/production requirement which leads to job creation.
Currently it's a stagnated cycle, no one wants to make the first move just yet. Housing hasn't bottomed out just yet, got another year or so I'd say. So no one wants to really spend anything (if they have something to spend, lots of job losses = reduced spending).
Job creation will come in small startups, what can Invest NI do? Plough small amounts of investment over a greater number of people who really need it. The Start A Business Programme is there lying dormant and could just do with a crash machine nearby to get its heartbeat going again.
This time though up the money from a useless £400 to £1000 and people might take INI and themselves a little more seriously. If you can bootstrap something from nothing then go for it, start getting to Open Coffee Derry/Coleraine/Belfast meetings and make contacts, network do anything to get your name out.
The ultimate responsibility for job creation isn't really with government it's down to an individual, a group, a community or a town/city to actually do something. People will take note and people will come. In my honest opinion Invest NI have chased the big companies as they give more credibility to the press releases that are put out, but right now it's a level playing field and I think the small mobile intelligent units might actually pull through on this one, it's all down to the ability to change.
Good luck everyone, see you on the other side.
Thursday, 30 July 2009
Open Coffee Derry meeting tonight
There's an Open Coffee Derry meeting tonight being held at Starbucks in Foyleside. It starts and 6pm going on until 8pm.
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
All quiet on the North Western front. And more Open Coffee meetings
Not a lot going on this week with it being the 12th and all that. There's no real point in putting Job Centre stats up today as they are the same since Monday. All things will change tomorrow.
A couple of things to watch out for though. Firstly two Open Coffee meetings in the area taking place soon. The "as organised by me", Open Coffee Coleraine has a meeting at Starbucks from 7pm to 9pm on Wednesday 22nd July. And the following week on the 30th there's a meeting with Open Coffee Derry (venue TBC).
Open Coffee Coleraine Blog
Open Coffee Derry Blog
A couple of things to watch out for though. Firstly two Open Coffee meetings in the area taking place soon. The "as organised by me", Open Coffee Coleraine has a meeting at Starbucks from 7pm to 9pm on Wednesday 22nd July. And the following week on the 30th there's a meeting with Open Coffee Derry (venue TBC).
Open Coffee Coleraine Blog
Open Coffee Derry Blog
Thursday, 2 July 2009
Open Coffee Derry meeting tonight
If you want to get together with some open minded, envelope pushing business folk then head down to Cafe Nervosa (in the Nerve Centre) at 6pm.
The nice folks at Nervosa have stayed open late especially for Open Coffee Derry, so please make the effort to get down, have a coffee and network.
The nice folks at Nervosa have stayed open late especially for Open Coffee Derry, so please make the effort to get down, have a coffee and network.
Thursday, 18 June 2009
Open Coffee Coleraine Website/Blog
Open coffee meeting are becoming a more and more popular way of connecting the business community together. They are informal, no pressure and there's usually a good supply of coffee.
The Belfast gatherings are always popular and the excellent Derry meetings are starting to take shape in the early stages. Your truely is now looking at the Coleraine area (Lisa Clarke organised a meeting in March at the University but now she is back in Belfast).
So if you are in Coleraine and have an unlimited supply of coffee and don't mind some business types nattering on your premises just drop me a message. The blog is here.
The Belfast gatherings are always popular and the excellent Derry meetings are starting to take shape in the early stages. Your truely is now looking at the Coleraine area (Lisa Clarke organised a meeting in March at the University but now she is back in Belfast).
So if you are in Coleraine and have an unlimited supply of coffee and don't mind some business types nattering on your premises just drop me a message. The blog is here.
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
Open Coffee Derry meeting tonight.
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
Telehouse fears allayed!
Whoohoo! Jump for joy and let's organise a street party. Points for those who care to read....
I'm highly dubious about a Telehouse bring a new wave of technology startups to Derry. The council should really be looking to the likes of new wave of meet ups like Open Coffee Derry and engaging with the people of the city. The whole project kelvin has turned into a spin story fuelled by the media and ignored by the people.
Photo by naturenet.net
- Hibernia say everything is all okay, nothing to see here, no need to panic.
- Mark Durcan is wondering where Arlene Foster has vanished to in the last few months.
- Derry City Council table a motion expressing concern about Hibernia's lack of progress to find a site for "telehouse".
I'm highly dubious about a Telehouse bring a new wave of technology startups to Derry. The council should really be looking to the likes of new wave of meet ups like Open Coffee Derry and engaging with the people of the city. The whole project kelvin has turned into a spin story fuelled by the media and ignored by the people.
Photo by naturenet.net
Friday, 15 May 2009
Open Coffee Derry - Next Meeting
After the successful meet up in Starbucks (we basically took over the place) the next Open Coffee Derry meeting will be on Wednesday 27th May @ DaVinci's on the Culmore Road, Derry.
You can stalk OCD on Twitter @opencoffeederry
Thursday, 30 April 2009
Open Coffee Derry this evening.
This first of many I hope. A place for startups, entrepreneurs, business folk and other creative types to get together.
The informal meeting starts at 6pm at Starbucks (the one at Crescent Link so you can get Mac afterwards in that way inclined). Mark says he's buying the first round :)
More info at: http://opencoffeederry.wordpress.com/
The informal meeting starts at 6pm at Starbucks (the one at Crescent Link so you can get Mac afterwards in that way inclined). Mark says he's buying the first round :)
More info at: http://opencoffeederry.wordpress.com/
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
Open Coffee Club in Derry
Open Coffee Clubs are meetups for programmers, designers, hackers and entreprenuers to meet up and discuss new ideas, emerging technologies.
Mark Nagurski has created one for Derry. The first meeting will run at Starbucks at Crescent Link (so you know the coffee will be great straight away) on 30th April at 6pm. Could be a very interesting way to see what's happening in the startup world.
You can follow updates on Twitter.
I for one will be there.
Mark Nagurski has created one for Derry. The first meeting will run at Starbucks at Crescent Link (so you know the coffee will be great straight away) on 30th April at 6pm. Could be a very interesting way to see what's happening in the startup world.
You can follow updates on Twitter.
I for one will be there.
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