As far as I am concerned, I am very happy with the success of our first meeting. I came in a bit early to set myself up, as I wanted to broadcast/have the meeting in an online conference. Unfortunately there was no WiFi in the Pub, so we had to move to the study, which turned out to be a good idea. The online conferencing system didn’t really work out either, so for the next time I will have to find another solution.
Dispite all that it was great to meet so many nice people and I am looking forward to our next MOCC. But see for yourself and leave a comment.
25.Feb.09 
General 
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We are very happy to announce that Michael Thornhill from Maithú will be our guest speaker on the 2nd Mayo Open Coffee Club in the Innovation in Business Centre, GMIT in Castlebar on the 11th of March @11.30am
Michael will tell us how networking helped him land his biggest deal with the multinational company, Samsung to whom he sold his software package for phones; ‘Get the Focal’, a mobile phone application which provides over 12,000 English-Irish translations for off-line use. This application is ideal for Irish language students, parents, teachers, or anyone interested in the Irish language and as Des Bishop said “Get Focal’d!”
We are equally happy to be host to the Club Caife on the 11th, which is a networking event that will give local businesses an opportunity to network with each other in an informal setting and also to learn about opportunities that are available to market their business in a unique way using the Irish language. The Club Caife will tour the County from March 9th to 12th:
- Dalton Inn Hotel, Claremorris – 9th March
- Ballina Library, Ballina – 10th March
- Innovation in Business Centre, GMIT, Castlebar –11th March, 11.30am
- Áras Inis Gluaire, Belmullet – 12th March
24.Feb.09 Events Read more Comments (4)
The
1st Meeting of the
Mayo Open Coffee Club
will be taking place on the
25th of February 2009
at 11.30am.
in the Royal Theatre Pub
in Castlebar
The location is not decided yet, but it will be either Days Hotel Restaurant “The Harlequin” or the Royal Theatre Pub. We will have an informal get-together and discuss how we can promote the MOCC further. I also wish to find one or two more co-organisers, just in case …
11/02/09 – UPDATE: Please leave a comment if you plan to attend, thx.
10.Feb.09 Events Read more Comments (16)
Over the last days I have been thinking about how to find a good venue for Meetings of the Open Coffee Club. Here a short description of the process:
- Define criteria for the venue
- Find one or more venues that match the criteria
- See the venues and get a feel for them
- Talk to somebody in charge
- Final Decision
Define criteria for Open Coffee Club venues:
Primary
- open and accessible location
- free wifi-access
- easy to find
- (free) parking
- no charge for the location
Secondary
- nice/friendly atmosphere
- big tables
- enough space to cater for increasing number of attendees
- owners of venue willing to contribute (tea, coffee)
Find one or more venues that match the criteria
Having the Open Coffee Club in Castlebar, the first place I was thinking of was the Royal Theatre Pub. It is well know and easy to find, there are enough parking spaces and it being a pub with plenty of space and big tables, there is no fee for using this venue. It also has free Wifi.
As another location we are thinking of Days Hotel. It matches nearly all criteria, except that parking would not be free in the multi-storey or not as near by, but I think walking a few steps won’t harm. The Restaurant has less space than the RT, but the venue would be free of charge as well, while I don’t know about Wifi.
See the venues and get a feel for them
Last Saturday I went to see both places around lunchtime. Days Hotel Restaurant is a very bright place. It was pretty busy, but I didn’t find it very welcoming. I believe it’s just not my style. The RT was much darker and I found it much nicer. The pub-atmosphere was welcoming and as there is more space, it felt less busy.
Talk to somebody in charge
In Days Hotel I asked for the Marketing Manager, which was not on duty on Saturdays. I mentioned the reason for my visit and was told to have a look around, nobody asked me if I needed any assistance or had any questions. In the RT I went to the reception and told the reason for my visit, after a few minutes the manager on duty came and showed me around. We sat down, she took a few notes and said she would ring me back later, but generally we were welcome.
Final decision
As it is not just myself deciding on the venue you will have to wait … I briefed my co-organisers and am now waiting for a reply. As far as I am concerned I would like to meet in the RT.
What do you think? Which place would you prefer? Do you know any other place in C’bar that would be suitable? Do you have your own experiences with Days Hotel Restaurant or the Royal Theatre Pub? Please let us know!
Other venues in Co. Mayo
As we will move around the County, we would like to ask you for recommendations for other venues in Mayo. As we will be holding every second meeting (every 4 weeks) in Castlebar and every other around the County, we will need 13 venues to cover the year, so here is a selection of towns, we would like to visit: Castlebar, Westport, Achill Sound, Bangor, Belmullet, Ballycastle, Ballina, Foxford, Charlestown, Claremorris, Ballyhaunis, Cong
09.Feb.09 General Read more Comments (4)
On Friday the 30th I met with Joan Fahey from the Mayo Ideas Lab / Belmullet and Maria Staunton from the Innovation in Business Centre at GMIT Castlebar, they have been organising the last and I think first Open Coffee on the 8th of December 2008 and had planned to organise another one in early March. Joan and Maria have done a great job in getting this thing started in Castlebar, but their approach was maybe a bit too formal.
The idea of the Open Coffee Club is to have a quite informal meet-up on a regular basis in a regular loaction to give entrepreneurs and investors the chance to get together, exchange ideas and maybe spark one or the other project. After talking for a while, we decided to continue the Open Coffee Club for County Mayo. We agreed to to make a few changes compared to the first meeting and bring it back closer to the original idea of the Open Coffee Club.
The Mayo Open Coffee Club, will be held every two weeks of which every second meeting will be in the Innovation in Business Centre in Castlebar. This meeting will be a bit more formal, as we want to get people to come forward and present their business, ideas or fields of expertise and give them a chance to get feedback for whatever they present. On request we will try to get specialists from outside to speak on specific subjects, which the regular members of the MOCC can ask for.
As County Mayo is quite widespread, every other meeting will be held in different venues, all over the County. These meetings will be totally informal socialising events. We are now looking for sponsors like hotels or coffeeshops in Mayo to host these meetings.
The meetings will be on Wednesday or Thursday between 11.30 am and 12.30pm. This will give us the chance to extend our meeting into lunchtime. The exact dates and venues will be announced soon!
01.Feb.09 General Read more Comments (2)
