Coworking in Cincinnati

I had a good time at Cincinnati Social Media's Open Mic night.  Unfortunately, I only caught snippets here and there of the talks.  The audio in the venue was poor in general, and the people in the back of the room were interesting to talk to, so I spent a good deal of time doing that instead.  Apologies to the organizers.  But it was the first event of its kind around here and I think the next one will be better.  I think it should be in an auditorium-like setting as opposed to a bar, so that the audience is more captive. I know, why don't I organize it, right?

One speech in particular caught my eye: Beyond Free Agent Nation by Brian Lecount.  In it, he discusses the slow transformation of the American workforce. Some 18-month old data that he quoted stated:

• 8.3 million independent contractors comprise 16% of American workforce.
• 74 million 1099's were sent out (2008?)

It was a great talk and pointed out the many challenges of this newfound trend.  For example, many who make the leap to independence underestimate how much time is spent on administrative work. 

And then there is coworking, a trend that is sweeping the nation. According to Wikipedia:

Coworking is an emerging trend for a new pattern for working. Typically work-at-home professionals or independent contractors or people who travel frequently end up working in relative isolation. Coworking is the social gathering of a group of people, who are still working independently, but who share values and who are interested in the synergy that can happen from working with talented people in the same space.

Brian had some strong opinions about coworking, in particular, how it was missing real business development.  Community is great and all, but how much value is that network really building?

In any case, if you haven't heard, I am involved in a coworking movement that has started in Cincinnati.  Go to the site and take the survey.  Coworking spaces are popping up all over the country.  In some cities, it's simply about renting desks, and that's okay.  But in other cities, it is having a real transformative effect on these cities in how people with ideas get together and make their cities better.  Hopefully, in Cincinnati, it will become the latter.

InOneWeekend Registration Open

Registration is open for InOneWeekend 2009.

FRI BRAINSTORM SAT BUILD SUN LAUNCH

InOneWeekend is an innovation and entrepreneurship organization that hosts participant-driven weekend events that create and launch viable start-ups in a single weekend. Our low-commitment, low-cost, high-return, highly awesome events allow like-minded, diversely experienced individuals to create an elevating experience and quite possibly the next big thing.

I participated in InOneWeekend last year and can say that no matter what the outcome of the work, the experience itself was extraordinary. Not only was the weekend-long coding quite fun, I learned a great deal from all the non-programmers - marketers, designers, business planners, attorneys - that were crammed into the same space.  There is only space for 100 participants, so sign up today!

InOneWeekend 2009 - 100 people create a start-up in a weekend 

• When: Friday, August 28 - Sunday, August 30
• Where: Tangeman University Center at the University of Cincinnati
• What: A special keynote speaker (!) will kick-off the second annual InOneWeekend with a lecture open to the public on Friday afternoon.  Then the selected 100 participants will brainstorm over 300 ideas with Jeff Stamp of Bold Thinking and vote on the concept.  Saturday, they will build the product and write the business plan and investor presentation.  Sunday: Launch!
• WAITLIST OPEN: InOneWeekend is assembling the dream team of design, technology, and business participants.  To find out more and apply, visit www.inoneweekend.org and click on 'Register for upcoming events'

 

The Cincinnati Enquirer Show Its True Priorities

I was disgusted by the Enquirer's response to the laying off of 101 employees, including the entire staff of CiNWeekly.  If you haven't read it yet, go read it now, and then come back while I highlight the salient points.

Done? Here is the salient point: Advertisers, we are still worth spending money on. Buy ads from us!

I understand everyone has to make a living.  But this is a bit of salt in the wound. I expected the post to be apologetic.  But there was no apology.  I expected sympathy. No sympathy towards its former employees or their families was mentioned.  Not even a little regret.  Here is what I read:

Naysayers have predicted our demise many times over those years, but today The Enquirer reaches 64 percent of local adults every week, or 803,800.

Look at our reach, buy ads from us!

Enquirer Media does not have an audience problem. Nearly two-thirds of the market will read our newspaper this week. It’s the economy.

Look at our reach, buy ads from us!

And, we’re more than a newspaper. Enquirer Media reaches 83 percent of the adults in its core market every week with one of our products. Moreover, it reaches those people nearly five times.

Look at our reach, buy ads from us!

We work for our advertisers. The newspaper and digital initiatives continue to provide the same strong results for our advertisers. We help them understand and employ today’s technology to grow their business and reach their goals.

Look at our reach, buy ads from us!

We have talented, flexible employees. And we still have, by far, the largest local footprint in terms of content gathering, print and online audience, promotional capability and sales capability.

Look at our reach, buy ads from us!

There was some other statements made, but that was all I read.

URBANEXUS Cincinnati: Creating the Innovative City

Join Next American City and our local partners — SoapboxMedia.com, CincinnatiInnovates.com, Northern Kentucky Forum and Haile/U.S. Bank Foundation — as we present a salon at the Northern Kentucky University Student Union, featuring a conversation about how Cincinnati is making strides toward innovation.

The Cincinnati region’s institutions and companies lead the world with their innovative products, processes and people. How can the community tap that internal culture to inspire a broader civic culture that makes Cincinnati synonymous with creativity, ideas and energy?

For more information and to RSVP, visit Next American City.
URBANEXUS Cincinnati

Photos Of Other Cities

Hello. I know I have been absent from this blog. Unfortunately, I have to say, do not expect this to change any time soon.

In the meantime, here are some photos of trips to New York and Chicago.

:::

Grand Central Station

We were lucky enough to run right into a Free Tibet march, fake prisoners and everything.

Lunch in Bryant Park.

 

Central Park.

Looking uptown.

Looking downtown.

 

By sheer coincidence, we found ourselves in Times Square during Earth Hour, when they shut off all the big screens.

A secret burger joint!

:::

At night, this American Gothic couple comes to life and cleans garbage off the streets.

At the Museum of Science & Industry, in one giant room, they have a giant train set model of the entire country!

High atop the Sears Tower.

   

The Museum of Natural History is pretty freakin' cool.

 

From Navy Pier.

Cincinnati Impresses: ShareThis.com

At a recent OINK-PUG meeting, the accessible folks from ShareThis.com talked about their ubiquitous Javascript button and their server infrastructure.

If you aren't familiar with ShareThis, they provide the sharing button that appears at the bottom of this very blog post. Every page I go to these days seems to have the little green button. Occasionally I find myself wanting to share a page that uses not ShareThis but one of the alternatives, and I find myself cursing because I do not have immediate access to my contacts. (Thank goodness I have the ShareThis Firefox add-on to fall back on.) I bet that there are a lot of people in Cincinnati using the button on their web properties, and don't even know that the company is based right here in the Queen City.

ShareThis started in Columbus, moved to Cincinnati, and now has an office in Mountain View, California. They boast a number of accomplishments to be envied by any company in any city, the least of which being $21 million in venture funding. A $21 million dollar funded consumer internet company, in Cincinnati?

But equally impressive to those in the industry is the raw technology that powers their infrastructure. ShareThis was one of earliest case studies on Amazon Web Services, and the Rightscale demo given that night was memorable (maybe that says more about Rightscale).

They've got that hockey stick growth according to relevant traffic measures, so I'm excited to see what happens from here onward. Let's downplay that Mountain View office, and keep the PR coming from Ohio.

Cincinnati Impresses

This is the intro to a series of blogs coming up that all submit the same theme. Perhaps it will become a longer series.

I have observed or have been sent a few things lately that keep sticking in my mind. Each of these sticks in my mind because they are or imply, well, super awesome things about Cincinnati. When I think about them, I think, "Wow. That's incredible. Is this happening in other cities?" And I am left to wonder. (The answer is probably yes, but still it feels good to wonder.)

And these aren't impressive in an obvious way, the way that maybe we have sports teams that dominate, or the way that our modern art museum is architecturally significant. These impress in a more subtle way (at least they're subtle to me). Or perhaps they impress only to the niche that I find myself playing in these days.