It is an attempt to establish recognized, open and regular meeting places where entrepreneurs can meet with investors (and anyone else who fancies coming along) in a totally informal setting. The key is a regular place and a regular time - it's not important who comes along, some days it might be no one - just that people know if they want to meet, this is the time and this is the place.
In the “Upcoming Events” to the right, you will find the dates of the next meetings. We have moved to a monthly meeting, so all future meetings will take place in the GMIT, Castlebar. on the first Wednesday of the month and begin at 11:00 am. We are planning some more improvements, so stay tuned…
01.Feb.10 
Events 
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The Mayo Open Coffee Club (MOCC), a business network run by businesspeople for businesspeople, is launching its winter series of monthly meetings on Wednesday, October 7th, in Castlebar.
The Open Coffee Club concept, first established in London, allows for informal meetings between businesses of all types. It is completely free of charge, thanks to sponsorship from O’Brien’s Sandwich Bar in Castlebar, and the aim is to let businesspeople make contacts, pitch their business, and get assistance on business issues and challenges.
“This club exists because businesspeople like to get together and talk. A lot of good tie-ups have taken place as a result of our meetings over the past year. The meetings are facilitated by a member of the group, but they are generally informal in nature, and people can just come along and talk to other businesspeople,” said a spokesperson for MOCC.
“Our guest speaker at the next meeting on October 7th will be Justin Knecht, Manager of the Centre for Design Innovation at Sligo IT. He is recognized and respected as a creative leader and divergent thinker.
“Justin is experienced in design, brand management, e-commerce, information and technology solutions, project management and marketing. Prior to joining the centre, he was the Senior Manager of Creative Services at Crayola Inc. The speakers help to stimulate discussion by sharing their own business experiences with the group.”
Meetings are held in the Innovation in Business Centre, which is located on the GMIT campus in Castlebar, on the first Wednesday of every month. The following is the schedule for meetings over the next three months (all meetings start at 11am and last between one hour and 90 minutes).
All you have to do is turn up on the day. More details on the Mayo Open Coffee Club are available on http://mayo-open-coffee-club.org/, or you can email any of the organisers:
Chris B Kerndter (chris {at} achill-online(.)net),
Robert Grealis (Robert {at} thediscoverypartnership(.)com),
Maria Staunton (Maria.Staunton {at} gmit(.)ie), or
Liam Horan (liam {at} slinuacommunications(.)com)Start-up businesses, people with the germ of an idea, and established businesses all find the Open Coffee Club a useful vehicle to get in touch with what’s happening in the business world around Mayo.
18.Sep.09 General Read more Comments (0)
Unfortunately I was unable to attend myself, as I had to go to Germany for two Weeks. Thanks to Ciarán Duignan from Abaca Photography we have a few photographs. If you attended the 2nd Mayo Open Coffee Club meeting, please tell us about it…
13.Mar.09 General Read more Comments (0)
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:
24.Feb.09 Events Read more Comments (4)
The
will be taking place on the
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:
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.
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.
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.
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!
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)
In the next days and weeks we will inform you about the new Mayo Open Coffe Club, that will begin end of February (exact date to be announced). It will take place every two weeks in alternating venues all over the County, so that everybody will have the fortune of a short drive once in a while.
31.Jan.09 General Read more Comments (0)
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