Programming Archive

Become a better soloist at SoloCamp

April 3, 2013 | By
dball
Become a better soloist at SoloCamp

Sat., April 27
9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
CoCo Minneapolis

Eventbrite - SoloCamp

How’s business? Got all the clients you want? Making as much money as you need? How’s your work life/balance?

If you’re not satisfied with your solo practice (guess what: you’re not alone!), then have we got an event for you!

SoloCamp is a one-day conference focused on improving business skills and learning new tools. Think of it as a shot of adrenalin for your solo practice, whether you’re a designer, programmer, writer or consultant.

Like a regular conference, there are some pre-planned sessions on a variety of important topics, taught by seasoned freelancers and business owners. But it’s also an unconference, which means we’ve got room for sessions that can be suggested and even run by you! (We’ll tell you more about that after you register.)

Pre-planned sessions include:

  • The basics (and not-so basics) of marketing yourself  How and where to tell your story
  • Using social media to promote your business
  • Online marketing 101  An overview of what’s possible with SEO, PPC, Re-marketing, Authorship Pages, Video and Conversion Optimization (applicable to yours or your clients’ business)
  • Stop leaving money on the table!  Ideas on how to earn more from your projects and client relationships.
  • Business 101 for freelancers  Tons of practical advice on incorporation, taxes, banking, insurance, partnerships, positioning, etc.
  • Portfolio sites  Comparing portfolio platforms, with input from other freelancers
  • Designer tech  A review of essential tools
  • Working alone sucks!  An intro to more collaborative ways of working

Schedule:

  • 9 – 10 a.m. – Coffee/rolls, socializing, orientation to unconference format
  • 10 – 11 a.m. – Sessions
  • 11 a.m. – Noon – Sessions
  • Noon – 1 p.m. – Lunch (included)
  • 1 – 2 p.m. – Sessions
  • 2 – 3 p.m. – Sessions
  • 3 p.m. – Optional tours of CoCo & Design Works

Eventbrite - SoloCamp

Brought to you by:

  • AIGA Minnesota
  • Navitor
  • CoCo

The Experience Economy coming to CoCo

November 2, 2012 | By
dball
The Experience Economy coming to CoCo

As authors and speakers, Joe Pine & Jim Gilmore have built a well-deserved reputation for thought leadership. The ideas launched through such ground-breaking books as The Experience Economy, Authenticity, Mass Customization, and Infinite Possibility have given readers countless ways to see the world differently and have forever changed the landscape of business competition.

Now, author Joe Pine will be personally hosting a How-To series of three workshops intended to skill you and your business around the powerful concepts of experience staging – outlining practical steps for accelerating the adoption of these ideas into your company. The How-To Workshop Series features day-long sessions that will highlight content, facilitate exercises, and outline applications for you to go beyond the concepts and into real planning and tactics. If you have been looking for a way to get started on the road to staging more compelling customer experiences (or if you just need a little help with your initiatives) then these workshops are ideal for you.

And best of all – these sessions will all be taking place at CoCo Minneapolis! This is a rare opportunity to see a world-class thought leader close to home.

Session 1: How to Stage Engaging Digital Experiences
Hosted by Joe Pine
December 6, 2012

Session 2: How to Create a Sense of Place
Hosted by Joe Pine
April 4, 2013

Session 3: How to Mass Customize Your Offerings
Hosted by Joe Pine
May 30, 2013

Sessions take place 8:30am to 4:30pm each day. Workshop sizes will be limited 25 participants to ensure personal interaction.

Cost
Sessions can be purchased individually or as bundles. Single sessions are $595 per person. Any two workshops is $990. Any three or more sessions is $1,385. The fee includes admission, lunch, and materials.

Register
For more information or to register for Pine & Gilmore’s How-To Workshop Series, visit www.StrategicHorizons.com. You can also call (330) 405-2886 or send an email to Explore@StrategicHorizons.com.

The power of purple corn

January 5, 2012 | By
dball
The power of purple corn

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

Serving up smarts

September 16, 2011 | By
dball
Serving up smarts

“Knowledgeable experts standing behind a bar, answering your questions for free. What a novel idea! We’ll call it Genius Bar. What’s that? The name is taken? Alright, Mr. Lawyer-pants, we’ll find a different name.”

And thus the Smart Bar was born.

Smart Bar is a little thing we’ll do once a week in Minneapolis, in which CoCo members will have access to free advice from experts within and outside the CoCo community. We’ll set up some stools at the welcome desk and you’ll be free to sidle up and drink all the knowledge you can.

The Smart Bar will be open on Wednesdays from 3 to 5 p.m. If it does well, we’ll certainly consider doing it more often. You can’t have too much smarts, right?

Our coworking librarian Meg Knodl will be serving up smarts on Wed., Aug.17. Bring her any business or market research questions you might have!

Other smarties on the docket include:

Looking for a few good instigators!

September 15, 2011 | By
dball
Looking for a few good instigators!

Like to start fires? Enjoy provoking constructive chaos? Then you just might be an instigator.

As you probably know, CoCo draws all kinds of creative and resourceful folks from across different professions. But, save for a few outliers, we’re fairly well entrenched in the software, startup and marketing/advertising realms.

As our coworking librarian Meg Knodl has been helping us consider what it means to curate our culture, one of our realizations has been that we need to work actively to introduce “outside elements” – catalysts, flies in the ointments, irritants in the oyster, or to use one of my favorite words, instigators. The goal is to make sure that we are actively introducing new strains of thought that keep us all aware of new and different ways of looking at things.

So, we’re going to try a little experiment here. For the foreseeable future, we’re going to be inviting someone into the CoCo community as our “Instigator in Residence.” It’ll be someone who has a point of view, a line of work or a skill set that is not typical and whose presence promises to prompt some interesting conversations and insights.

Here are the rules of the game:

  • As an Instigator in Residence, you’ll have free access to both CoCo locations for three months.
  • We’ll ask you to observe the Woody Allen rule, which is to say that you’ll agree to being a regular presence at CoCo. But while you’re here, you’re certainly free to work on your own stuff.
  • We will actively introduce you to our members and generally talk you up.
  • We will ask you to staff the Smart Bar at least once during your stay.
  • You’ll agree to tell members about your line of work, your POV or whatever it is that makes you an instigator.
  • Finally, you’ll agree to post periodic updates to the CoCo blog about your experience.

So, what do you say?

If you think you’d make a good instigator, please drop us a line and tell us about yourself! We’re open minded and even open to trying some crazy stuff, so don’t be afraid to throw us a curve ball.

Photo by JohnGoode
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