Some snapshots from UPA Minnesota‘s recent event at CoCo: “Products over Process: Advancing Agility with Design Thinking” with David Hussman of DevJam.
UPA Minnesota visits CoCo
March 13, 2010
Events Archive
2nd Freelancer Friday held on 2/5
February 20, 2010
Ok, we know we are late on sharing this post. However, we believe the information in this post is relevant to so many freelancers, and may spark thoughts and ideas that can help advance the conversation.
On Friday (2.5.10) an amazing group of freelancers met at CoCo to discuss what problems keep them awake at night. This is the second in a series of meetings that we will host here at CoCo in the effort to build broader collaboration amongst freelancers across disciplines. These sessions will be followed by an educational series for freelancers to help them solve and work together on making their individual businesses more effective, and at the same time expand their role in the broader community.
The first session had the following all-star cast:
- Deborah Vajda, writer
- Jenn Barnett, photographer
- Betsy Kershaw, marketing diva
- Janis Olson, writer
- Ketan Kakkad, founder of TheSmallWorld & co-owner of CurryUp
- Arun Batchu, programmer & owner of CurryUp
- Valerie Rigsbee, web designer & Broadway expert
In addition to great conversation and ideation, we enjoyed phenomenal curry food from CurryUp and Eric TremperTremble at Comfy Chair Consulting. You definitely do not want to miss any future curry potlucks – after all you only live once!
Upcoming events (or looking for a few good conversationalists)
January 19, 2010
Here are some of the meetups and events we’re working on.
Weekly lunchtime chats*
The idea here is to offer a free, low-key discussion on a favorite topic. Patrick Rhone piloted our first chat last week with a discussion on all things Mac. We had about eight people show up and it was perfect. We’re aiming to have one of these a week, usually on a Friday. Next one: A discussion on GTD (Getting Things Done), with Meghan Wilker of Clockwork and the Geekgirls Guide. Beyond that? We’re looking for people who want to host discussions on:
- Copywriting
- Web design
- Mobile app marketing
- Usability
- Information architecture
- Typography
- Python
- Joomla
- Ruby
Got any topics you’d like to suggest (and possibly host)? Please let us know in the comments. Read the rest of this entry »
What 2 weeks teaches you
January 19, 2010
Well, it’s been two weeks since we launched this crazy coworking experiment. Everyone who has walked in the door has been great. Honestly, I wish you could all move in permanently —we’d have a big cool technological hippy commune.
But I think we’re starting to see some patterns that give us a sense of where to steer the ship.
One observation worth noting is that people are easily flustered by St. Paul’s parking situation. If that’s you, please note that parking in Lowertown is cheap and abundant — if you know where to go. We’re working on trying to get a sweetheart parking deal for members. In the meantime here are your best parking bets.
Another observation is that it’s hard to get folks to show up on a regular basis for coworking. Not that we need every last one of you to spend every last minute here. Everything in moderation, right? But when it comes to coworking it takes regular visits to create the familiarity and sense of community that breeds collaboration, which is why we’re keen on encouraging more frequent visits. Read the rest of this entry »
