North West Connects: Showcasing entrepreneurs, creativity and innovation in the North West Region

I just recieved this eMail from Heather James, one of the organisers of the Sligo Open Coffee Club. As it covers our area as well, I will just post the eMail as is here:

At the most recent Open Coffee Sligo meeting, the conversation turned to the inevitable: many events happening in Dublin… why not in the North west? Soon we had the makings of a two day event which can showcase the best, brightest, most inspiring and positive things happening in the northwest region. As Fergus (Cosy Stoves) said, “People don’t realise what is going on their own backyard.”

Aidan McKenna (Healthcare Rates) came up with the name North West Connects, suggesting we can make connections from business to business to community to arts. There are lots of people doing great things: starting companies, offering services, doing good things in the community and we need a chance to showcase these. We liked the user-generated BizCamp structure and approach, but through discussion we wanted to expand out, beyond just business to include community, education/training, arts, and so on.

The catchment area could include: Donegal, Sligo, Fermanagh, Mayo, Leitrim, Galway and Roscommon.

The event will be co-organised locally by members of the Open Coffee Sligo group. If you wish to help organise you can sign up on the spreadsheet described below. Write in what you can offer, and put your own name down. You can also write in a suggestion and we can find a volunteer to follow up on it.

The two days would be structured to include a good start and good finish, keynote speakers and blocks of concurrent tracks; as well an exhibition area, and poster area to allow for people/companies to share information about their services. The event will be hosted at IT Sligo, with the date to be determined. Likely, the end of October. If you know of any potential timing conflicts, please suggest alternatives.

The event will be entirely free, and speakers will be invited to speak for free. Though hopefully we can offer accommodation to anyone coming from outside of town. The incentive for speaking is a chance to showcase your company/service/community initiative.

There are alot of questions which remain, and which we need to determined soon:

1. Who is the audience?
2. What is the goal/outcome?
3. What sponsors and speakers can we attract?
4. A specific structure for the event.

Denise Rushe (@sligoevents) set up the Google Group where we can start the conversation about this event.

Click to subscribe to this email list: north-west-connect+subscribe@googlegroups.com

North West Connect To-do list: Sponsors, Speakers, People to Contact

I created a spreadsheet to track suggested contacts and ideas. To view and edit this spreadsheet please contact me, so I can send you the accesslink.

1. Who to contact where
2. Who will contact them
3. What we’re asking for
4. Whether the action is completed

I propose we ask for small sums of money from many sources. This will lessen the burden on any one institution. It will also emphasise the inclusive and collaborative nature of the event.

We already have two sponsors!

Eddie Johnston (Lickable Wallpaper) is preparing a website/contact point. Aidan McKenna (http://twitter.com/amckenna78 )  is sponsoring the domain name. Give ‘em a pt on the back next time you see them

If you have any questions/ideas/devil’s advocacy services, please join the Google Group and we can start the conversation there. Of course you can also email me personally or contact me via my mobile: 086 831 8386

Glad to talk anytime!