RefreshBCS

Refreshers!

After a few months of taking some time off to plan other events, it’s about time we get together and explore new ideas. I’ve managed to wrangle in two speakers that will be speaking to the group about venture capital, entrepreneurship, and how to get our ideas out of our heads and into the marketplace.

Kevin Koym (@kkoym) and Jonas Lamis (@jonaslamis) run a multi-site incubator in Austin, TX named TechRanch. They have taken numerous companies under their wing, including Piryx, IPX, OneSpot, begreeted, Zehicle, Notice Technologies, OpenSesa.me, and many others.

More info: http://techranchaustin.com/

Pre-seed and seed stage companies that can change the world.

Tech Ranch Austin is a community of vibrant tech start-ups surrounded by the people, processes and materials needed to drive business success.

General Partners

Kevin Koym is Founder and CEO of Enterprise Teaming LLC, an Austin business incubator. Kevin is also co-founder of Bootstrap Austin, a 600+ member entrepreneur community.

Jonas Lamis is Founder and CEO of SciVestor Corporation, an Austin based technology research and advisory firm. He has previously held leadership roles at several VC backed technology companies.

Date/Time/Location:
Wednesday, March 25th @ 6:30PM
Location: Astin Mansion

In a lot of ways, we will be showcasing our local talent to these guys as well as finding out what they have to offer. It’s important that we, as a community, show up and represent well.

It’s been almost two years since that pivotal night when Aaron, Roby, Bill, Ryan and I were huddled around a table in Houston digging through a mound of chicken wings when we decided that we would stop bashing our local area for it’s lack of community. We threw caution to the wind, payed attention to the chip on our shoulders and dug our heels in.

Two months later we had native Houstonian Erica O’Grady come and speak to a surprising group of 35 or so folks at the very first RefreshBCS. Honestly, we figured we may be able to get a dozen folks to show up with half attending just to show support. But that was not the case. They showed up because they were genuinely interested in a creative/web community.

It became vital to promote our fledgling community and stick to it. Every month to be bigger than the previous with new faces. Each member of the community saw that if we all worked together and each did our part we could do something extraordinary.

As time went by, we had more and more folks show up and contribute. Some presented to the group, and other times put their feet to the ground and rallied those not aware.

By January 2008, nearly a year after the first RefreshBCS, we decided to call in all of our support from around the state and host BarCampTexas. Flyers, posters, emails, facebook notifications were sent out by the dozens hyping the event. We had well over two-hundred people attend from around the state and local area. We didn’t just represent BCS, we blew people away with the talent and conduct we showcased at our event. BarCampTexas was Bryan/College Stations big splash onto the Texas stage.

Over the past year, we have grown and sought after more community support. We’ve collectively grown as a community. This past weekend, the Bryan/College Station community hosted DesignCamp - the first Design-centric “BarCamp” in the world.

What was really surprising was that a majority of the attendees were not from out of town, but here locally. Seventy percent of the participants were from here in our local community - a vast difference from a year ago when it was inverted.

Stepping back and looking at what we have done over the past two years makes me, as a member of the greater whole, proud. To see everyone “get it” and take pride in what we do.

I wanted to say thank you to all of my friends for being there and contributing to making our lives better in lil ol’ Bryan/College Station. We have built a very strong and robust community of folks who continually show their support.

-Cody

Are you a designer or someone looking to get introduced to some creative individuals? You should attend Design Camp!

It’s happening next Saturday, January 17th at the Astin Mansion in Downtown Bryan. We’re expecting to have creative types from all over the state in attendance, so we hope we can get some of the locals out to the event as well. To top it off, the event is run in the Barcamp style. What does that mean for you? Its free and you’re guaranteed to find something interesting to take away from the event!

If you want some more information on the event make sure to check out the following:

Facebook Event - Make sure you say you are attending here and send myself or Roby a message with your t-shirt size if you want one. If you don’t let us know you’re coming we can’t guarantee you’ll have a shirt.

Design Camp Website - Here you can find information, maps, sponsor information, and you can also use the contact form on this page to send us info, or t-shirt sizes as mentioned above.

Blogs - Roby and myself both have posted to our sites about the event as well, so help us spread the word by linking people to this post, our website, or our blogs so that we can spread the love.

Hope to see you next weekend,

Michael Cummings

Dirk Fowler has an exhibition running from November 8-22 that is open 8-5pm. His gallery is located in the Wright Gallery on Texas A&M’s campus. You can learn more about Dirk and his work here, or at GigPosters.com. You can also simply do a quick Google search. It is an honor to have such a talented individual in our area so please take time to view his exhibition.  If you have any questions, let us know!

- Roby Fitzhenry

Title: Maker Faire
Location: Travis County Expo Center, Austin, TX
Link out: Click here
Description: Maker Faire is a two-day, family-friendly event that celebrates the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset. It\’s for creative, resourceful people of all ages and backgrounds who like to tinker and love to make things. So much to see, you will need 2 days to see it all!
Start Time: 10:00
Date: 2008-10-18
End Time: 07:00

If you would like to participate in a ride share please post in the comments of this post and self-organize. Yaye!

My name is Dan Cary. I co-manage the .net users group here in B/CS. I also have limited participation in some of the other local IT groups.  In managing this group, I have constantly run into location scheduling problems. In addition, I have had friends(limited computer users) ask me to teach a course on various topics. When I first heard about The Creative Space, I thought yes, this is the place. But, that ended up being a little different than I had expected it to be. Not to diminish the efforts of Cody, Roby, et al, they did bring co-working to B/CS, but I feel like we need to expand this concept.

So, I was talking with Robert Stackhouse about my plans to build a warehouse type facility where people could schedule usage for free or nominal fee. Robert  mentioned to me that there are other people in the community who are interested in low cost communal IT socializing facility. So, I am going to try to help organize efforts to see if we can bring these people and their ideas together with this goal in mind.

My Ideal location Requirements:

• Central to B/CS
• Free / Cheap
• wi-fi
• Food Preparation Area (small kitchen/fridge/coffee maker)
• Alcohol is OK (for socials)
• Has couches and tables

Usage:

• Co-working during normal business hours.
• Local IT professionals could hold classes.  I have seen interest on even ones most basic computer usage.
• Professionals teaching professionals. If cost were low enough, people could just put together a sessions(e.g. ROR, Unit Testing, CSS, Class Design, Reporting services)
• User group usage(this is where food prep area comes in, Even just the use of a stove for cooking pizza or something to bring food cost down. I know this is not realistic but I thought I would include it.)

Ideas for securing a space:

• Tax Dollar Funded Community Center (perfect)
• Donated Commercial location (We could convince a landlord that is having trouble renting space to donate the usage of that location. It could possibly be a tax right off if any non-profits use the facility.) I have some friends who own property. I could ask them if there would be any incentive other than cash that would be acceptable.
• Interested participants put some money together and by a location for this use. I know of a 4-plex for sale @ 60k. (sorry, just brain storming.)
• Create a non-profit IT org that might be able to raise tax deductable donations and grants for such a location.
• Get a list of restaurants that are have facilities for use and convince them that this is good for business and ask them to wire the room for wireless.

This is just a start. I would encourage others to add to the list so that its comprehensive even if you don’t thing you desires will match with others.  Maybe someone could post some of this information on a refresh related blog so that other could contribute in the form of comments.  I am honestly not very good with blogs and social sites.

Thanks for your time, Dan Cary

Where: Murphy’s Law (upstairs) map
When: October 1st 7PM (Happy Hour starting at 5)
Speaker: Michelle Greer

We’ve been quiet for a while but it’s time to get this show back on the road. We’ve got several months worth of great speakers lined up and we’re starting this thing off with a bang. Michelle Greer has been kicking ass and taking names in the Austin area for quite some time and she has no plans to stop anytime soon. Come listen to her speak about how she uses social media to institute real-life change in the world around us.

Making Social Media Matter:
How Social Media Turns Everyday Citizens into Superheroes

In an age where anyone can publish anything for the cost of hosting a WordPress blog, the means for spreading ideas has never been easier or cheaper.  Learn how people have used social media to mobilize people at rates never seen before in history, and how these tools make it easy for you to bring about positive change for your community.

Speaker Info:

Michelle Greer
Web Marketing Strategist
http://www.michellesblog.net
512.294.3909

Have you put your iPhone in a blender lately?
(Social Media Marketing - What it is, how it impacts us, and why it’s important.)
Time: 7:00PM
Date: Wednesday, April 23
Location: Rola’s Revolution in Bryan, TX
All of us are well aware of the impact that social media networks such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter (among many others) have had on our online behavior and the way we communicate with each other. As people spend more time on these networks, marketers are trying to create new and innovative ways to reach and influence people online.

This presentation will provide an overview of the fast moving world of social media marketing and will include examples of successful (and unsuccessful) attempts made by various brands in the social media space. It will also cover best practices for launching a social media marketing campaign.

Nikhil Nilakantan is Founder & CEO of Social Span Media LLC (www.socialspan.com), a social media marketing, strategy and product company. His company helps clients leverage social media as part of the product and brand marketing campaigns. Aside from strategic consulting, Social Span Media also develops social applications for platforms such as Facebook, MySpace and many others.

Nikhil Nilakantan
President & CEO
Social Span Media LLC
+1.214.929.9159
nikhil@socialspan.com
follow my social media blog:
www.strategicast.com

Things have been crazy lately folks. With BarCampTX, SXSWi and an expansion of The Creative Space, we haven’t had time to give the deserved attention to RefreshBCS. But that’s about to change! We have two speakers lined up which will be formally announced when we find the space to host. If ANYONE has a presentation or presenter in mind, please let us know. RefreshBCS is about the community and their interests. Thanks for your time and stay tuned for future updates!

- Roby Fitzhenry

Date: Wednesday, February 20th, 2008
Time: 7:00PM
Location: Caffe Capri (website)

Kelsey Ruger, of PopLabs, will be presenting “Rewinding the Clock: reawakening your childhood creativity”. Here’s a brief run-down:

Has your clock stopped? That’s a question we all ought to be asking ourselves - because sometimes the clock has stopped and we don’t know it. Most of us don’t remember the moment when as a child we discovered passion. This passion is about discovery - and discovery with all it’s freshness and excitement is the foundation of creativity.

Children have a natural tendency for discovery. They don’t have to be taught to ask questions, be creative, or think unconventionally. It just happens that way. It takes a lifetime of experience and education to take away what was given to us at birth. We race through our careers often never recognizing that creativity is as important to business as DNA is to evolution.

Explore how professional in all fields can apply creative and visual thinking skills to their work as well as why people ignore the talents that made them naturally creative as children. He will discuss the myths that people hold about creativity, why they exist and how you can overcome them.

Kelsey was recently involved with the “Got Social Media?” conference in Houston and will be presenting at South by Southwest in just a couple of weeks. You may have met him at BarCampTexas, which was hosted just across the street from Caffe Capri in Downtown Bryan.

Games and resources

Game – Befudium
Game – Pictionary
Game – Taboo
Game – Buzzwords
Game – Cranium
Game – Pop 5
Game – ThinkCube
Game – Visual Eyes
Game – Stare
Get Unstuck and Get Going
The Inner Vision Deck
KnowBrainer Toolkit
Ideo Card Deck
Think Pak
Free The Genie
Creative Whack Pack

Books

Thinking Visually: Business Applications of 14 Core Diagrams
ThinkerToy
Innovative Whackpack
Cracking Creativity
Creative Ball of Whacks
A Whack on the Side of the head
Beyond Words
Visual Thinking: Tools for mapping ideas
A Picture’s Worth 1,000 Words: A Workbook for Visual Communications
Mapping Inner Space: Learning and Teaching Visual Mapping
The Story Factor
The Art of Storytelling: Easy Steps to Presenting an Unforgettable Story
Cambridge Idioms Dictionary
Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms
Webster’s New World American Idioms Handbook
Personal Brilliance

Web Sites

Visual Thinking Tools
The Doodle Association Game
Visual Thinking Art
Periodic Table of Visualization Methods
The Power of Visual Thinking
Visual Thinking on Answers.com
Visual Language on Answers.com
Visual Thesaurus
Global Ideas Bank
Innovation Tools
Creative Thinking