Education | CoCo

The power of purple corn

January 5, 2012 | By

dball

Wednesday, Jan. 25
11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
CoCo Minneapolis

CoCo Member Bill Petrich, CEO of Suntava, (recently featured in the Star Tribune) will talk about his company’s breakthrough product: a natural substitute for Red Dye No. 40, made from Peruvian purple corn.

Bill will talk about the challenges he faces in trying to grow the business and ask for ideas from attendees.

We’ll even serve up some purple corn in the form of homemade “chicha” (a traditional Peruvian soft drink) and purple corn chips. Come learn about an innovative business model and offer your ideas!

This is a members-only event.

Register at Eventbite

CoCo welcomes The Foundation

October 17, 2011 | By

dball

Besides coffee, it’s technology that keeps our members humming. If the Wi-Fi is on the blink, or if a laptop is down, it’s an emergency.

That’s why we’re pleased to announce a partnership The Foundation, a company that is known for providing comprehensive IT support to creative businesses. Now they’ll be bringing concierge IT services to CoCo members.

The Foundation works with both Macs and PCs and all manner of networks and data storage. But what’s noteworthy is that as an Apple Value Added Seller, The Foundation is able to provide warranty repair services on all Apple products. What’s more, their repair depot is only minutes away. So, if your machine bites the dust, you don’t have to chase out to the Apple store. The Foundation comes to you.

In fact, The Foundation has gone so far as to create an outpost at CoCo Minneapolis. You’ll find them at the campsite nearest the front desk. Just look for the distinctive orange banners. On many days, you’ll see Matt Woestehoff and other Foundation crew members hanging out in the space. Matt is available for any tech questions free of charge, so feel free to approach him.

In addition to tech support, The Foundation is planning a series of educational classes, focused on personal and business technology, to CoCo. Look for class and workshop announcements soon!

Meet Meg, our new coworking librarian

June 23, 2011 | By

dball

Earlier this year marketing guru Seth Godin created a bit of a stir with his post about the future of libraries. This line in particular caught a lot of peoples’ attention:

The next library is a place, still. A place where people come together to do co-working and coordinate and invent projects worth working on together. Aided by a librarian who understands the Mesh, a librarian who can bring domain knowledge and people knowledge and access to information to bear.

Across town, Meg Knodl, a Senior Librarian in Communications and Community Engagement at Hennepin County Library, also noticed Godin’s post.

A quick aside: you may know Meg from UnSummit or Social Media Breakfast. What you may not know (and what Meg is too modest to tell you) is that she’s kind of a rockstar in the world of library science. In fact, as I write this, she’s heading to New Orleans to be recognized by the Library Journal as a 2011 Mover and Shaker.

Last month, Meg approached us with a brilliant idea: could she try to create a coworking librarian position at CoCo?

There was only one possible answer: “How soon can you start?”

So, please join us in welcoming Meg Knodl as the world’s first Coworking Librarian (as far as we know!). She will be helping us to develop a philosophy and approach toward programming, which is the professional word for all the social, cultural and educational events and activities that support our coworking community.

Meg will be coworking at both the St. Paul and Minneapolis locations on Wednesdays. (The other days of the week, she’ll still be at Hennepin County Library). If you have ideas about programs you’d like to participate in, attend or offer, please contact Meg at megknodl@gmail.com. Of course, Meg will also available for research and resource questions.

Street smarts for small bizzes

January 26, 2010 | By

dball

Kyle and I just realized that we must be getting old, because we find ourselves regularly fielding questions from younger freelancers and consultants on some essential business questions.