Open Coffee Austin, Rebooted
Back in August, I started an Open Coffee for entrepreneurs and the like just to encourage stronger connections amongst those in the Austin entrepreneurial community. The attendance was mixed…very strong the first day (we had 30 attendees) and weaker on subsequent months. The last time attendance was so low, most likely due to cold weather and the holiday period being extra busy. I personally have missed 2 of the 5 events due to work commitments so the timing of it has actually been really poor for me. This is too bad because I really look forward to the event and building into something great.
I think there are a few reasons why the event has struggled to build a more consistent following and I have a few proposals to fix these issues. Everything we do is a bit of an experiment anyway, now isn’t it. Let’s see if we can learn and adapt here to make things mo’ better.
The 2010 meetup:
- began at the ungodly hour of 7:30am
- was on a Wednesday, directly after many Tuesday night events
- was always held in the downtown area
The event started at 7:30am to try to give folks a chance to stop by before work in case they needed to go in to an office by 8 or 8:30. Given the fact that many of the crowd are software developers and entrepreneurs on their own schedule, asking this was quite a stretch.
Many of us attend tech events on Tuesdays such as Refresh Austin, WordPress Austin Meetup, Austin on Rails, or Cafe Bedouins. To ask people who stayed out late the night before hitting some tech event to show up way early the next day only allowed for the insanely dedicated to make the morning event.
Finally, the reason why it was set in the downtown area is that I personally do not spend much time downtown and I wanted to meet more of the crowd who lives/works/hangs out in the downtown area. It’s also a logical “city center” for everyone to gather. The reality is, though, especially very early in the morning, that it takes considerable effort to get downtown if you live way South or way North (as I do). Some even drove in from as far away as Cedar Park, Round Rock, and Buda. I think downtown is a perfect place to have open coffee discussions, but I’m also open to the idea that we should spread the love around. As I’ve learned running Cafe Bedouins, different geographic areas draw out different crowds. Changing the location of an informal coffee meetup can radically alter who attends the event, and sometimes dramatically increase it!
Given all this, I’d like to make a proposal for Open Coffee Austin going forward:
- We alter the time to 8:30-10:30am
- We shift the day from Wednesday to Thursday
- We alternate Open Coffee locations
weeklybi-weekly
I believe that these changes will allow more people to connect and reduce some of the stressors that plagued the prior event setup.
The first three Open Coffees of the new and improved 2011 schedule are now set up on Facebook:
- Open Coffee (Downtown) – Jo’s Coffee Downtown – January 6th
- Open Coffee (Central) – Houndstooth Coffee – January 13th
- Open Coffee (North) – Sodade Coffeehouse – January 20th
Are you interested in this kind of thing? Do these changes make you more or less likely to attend?
Let me know what’s what.
UPDATE: The turnout was extremely light for the North one (and sadly, Sodade coffee shop closed), so I’m going to cancel it for now. We’ll meet up bi-weekly, alternating between Downtown and Central Austin.
Thanks for the blog post and the time change. For me if I’m not consistently reminded of it, I tend to forget so it’s my fault for not putting it in the calendar. I think it’s a great idea and I’ll shoot for this thursday to rep my area of downtown. =)
I hear you. I need to send out reminders. Which email address?
Great concept. Do you have a Meetup or Google group where we can get email reminders? I want to attend but my calendar is full and it might be a while. I just want to be reminded in February when I will have more free time. Thanks! @joeymcgirr
there is no such thing right now. although I seeded the first meeting with an email blast. If I were to formalize those reminders, which email is best?
Add me to the list as joey@joeymcgirr.com
I like Meetup for regular events. You can make each one specific and it’s easily integrated with other networks. It also takes away a lot of the manual labor of managing a regular opt-in email list. I’ll try to make it on the 13th. Glad I saw the post.
I like the idea of different locations to pull in a different mix of people. Do plan on doing three every month or eventually doing less often, but still moving between locations?
Hey Don,
I was thinking of doing 3 per month. But it’s an experiment for sure.
Great changes, though I may be unable to make many events myself during biz hours for a while due to my new gig.
sure. well, I hope that Houndstooth or Sodade are more amenable to joining. What time do you need to be “in the office”?
9-5 for now, though I may be able to just shift my hours on Open Coffee days. Don’t worry about planning around me though. If I can make it, I can make it.
This is a great plan. I’m new in town and haven’t attended but as outlined it’s exactly the kind of thing I’d attend.
It is really hard to promote these kind of things without a home page for calendar posting and such. If not Meetup group, how about a Facebook page?
Sign me up if you’re gathering names for an invite list.
Hey Allison,
Yeah, you’re right about needing a calendar. I went ahead and created a Facebook page and added the three events to it. Please subscribe there when you have a chance.
Open Coffee Facebook Page
With enough LIKEs, we can set a shorter name.
See you soon.
Many people don’t realize that these sort of meetings never work without the organizer. Organizer need to be committed and always there, nothing rolls without a lead. Simple as that. Good luck in the future.