March 9, 2010
Noon to 1 p.m.
Large conference room

If you want to improve your own growth potential, while building your business, then you owe it to yourself to explore this community of individuals committed to learning. Join us for an 8-week study of the 1937 classic book Think and Grow Rich, conducted in a Master Mind setting.

This 8-week group will meet to read and implement the techniques of the book on Tuesdays from 12-1 pm, and will be facilitated by Jodee Bock, owner of Bock’s Office Transformational Consulting (Fargo, ND) and a certified LifeSuccess Consultant. Local contact for this Master Mind group is Troy Parkinson.

What is a Master Mind?
Troy and Jodee will explain more during the sessions, but the Master Mind’s goal is to create a community of like-minded individuals, who believe in continuous learning and self-development.

The group starts NEXT WEEK – Tuesday, February 23 and it’s going to be an extraordinary growth experience!

Groups are limited to 10 participants and spots fill fast.

Cost:
8-week study is $100, which includes the book and materials Buy Now

Come early and/or stay late, and get some work done:
Half-day coworking for $15 Buy Now
Full-day coworking for $30 Buy Now

March 10, 2010
9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Large conference room

Rick Mahn, founder of the Twin Cities chapter of Social Media Breakfast (SMBMSP) will conduct a workshop on the essentials of managing your online brand.

This session is designed for both beginners and pros and should be of special interest to job hunters and freelancers.

Rick will spend time during the workshop to audit the online presence of attendees. So, if you’d like to know where your brand shines and where it might need some polishing, bring a list of your URLs.

Finally, if part of your online branding plan is to improve your avatar/profile pictures, then be sure to sign up for photographer Jenn Barnett’s Avatar Studio, held the same day from 1 to 4 p.m.

Breakfast will be provided for Rick’s session.

Cost:

• Session only: $15 half-day pass Buy now
• Session+ coworking: $30 day pass Buy now
• Session + Avatar Studio: $90 Buy now

This event is free for CoCo members.

March 10, 2010
1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
CoCo 4th Floor

Looking to spiff up your online brand? Need a more professional picture for business proposals or for your job hunt?

Let photographer Jenn Barnett (@jennbarnett) help you improve your look. She will be conducting an avatar studio at CoCo designed to help you convey the proper image.

What do you get?
A variety of pictures (bring changes of clothes, if you like) that you can use for online and offline. Your profile pix will be delivered digitally in a range of digital formats (e.g., square for Twitter, vertical for other uses, etc.).

Cost:

• Studio only: $75 (regularly $200) Buy now
• Studio + Online Branding Workshop: $90 Buy now

About Jenn
Jenn Barnett is no ordinary photographer. She is the Twin Cities’ premier music photographer (just check out these pix) and can make you look like a rock star.

March 11, 2010
6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
CoCo 4th Floor

10 years into the agile movement, the mechanics of agile methods are known and have shown to advance delivery of software. In some cases, the process has overtaking its value(s), and the “working software” delivery has features but lacks a meaningful user experience.
This session will present the state of agile methods today and how they are interacting with and evolving from design thinking and design practices. We will discuss a series of conferences where agilists and designers have met and discussed better ways of producing meaningful products in a timely manner, or as someone once said, “building the right thing, the right way”.

Please RSVP at http://upamn.org/current.event.shtml

Cost:

• $10 for UPA members/students
• $30 non-UPA members

Creative Commons photo credit: dariuszka

April 8, 2010
6 to 8 p.m.
CoCo 4th Floor

The Atlassian User Group kicks off its quarterly events in the Twin Cities with guest speaker Arun Batchu, and food provided by CurryUp. Arun will talk about the Confluence product during his presentation.

What is Confluence?
Confluence combines powerful online authoring capabilities, deep Office integration and an extensive plugin catalog to help people work better together and share information effortlessly.

Break down information barriers that exist between teams, departments and individuals inside your organization and get everyone on the same page.

This event is organized by Leila Tite, leila.tite “at” gmail.com, and registrations need to be made at the user group site.

March 17, 2010
7 to 9 p.m.
CoCo 4th Floor

March’s MN Lean Startup Group Meeting will be hosted by CoCo

Get more information about where to park at CoCo.

For Questions/Comments, call Justin Bacon (o: 612.236.4768) or email him: jcpbacon [[at]] gmail [[dot]] com

Agenda:

• Introductions
• Guest Speaker: Marc Kermisch, founder of http://activ8itnow.com, will discuss components for Activ8: How he went about building Activ8 (as a non-technologist) and how he launched Activ8 using Google Adwords and Facebook Ads.
• Group Discussion: Guest speaker requests/suggestions, brief discussion of next month’s meeting

Optionally, we’ll go out for drinks afterwards.

RSVP here

Social Media Associate at SMCpros, co-community manager at CoCo, and tech analyist at MitchellHislop.com

What do you do?
I help companies best leverage their online presence -this means social media, thier website, SEO/SEM, webapps, anything and everything.

What’s your biggest challenge right now? In other words, what’s kicking your ass? (pardon our French)
I am a full time student, work nearly full time, and am trying to learn more programming languages in my free time. Right now, this whole “there are only 24 hours in a day thing” is kicking my ass.

What’s a typical work day for you?
Up at 7, checking on things from the breakfast table, Heading into office or class, then usually metting with someone, home to get work done, repeat. Most of my time is spent on the go, returning calls or emails while in the car, in line, or at any flat surface. I live off my laptop and my phone 100% of the time.

Why do you hang out at CoCo?
Its a great place to get thing done. There are always great people, and I wish I could live in the space. Its a good location (for me), and it just fits with my life.

What coworking surprises have you had so far?
Mostly, the surprises that come from the chats that I have, which make me think in new and unique ways. I have had more “Aha!” moments at CoCo than any coffee shop or library I have ever been at.

How can people find you on the Internets?
They can look at MitchellHislop.com, or by searching for my name.

Do you blog? If so, what kinds of topics do you write about?
I write about tech. Gadgets, cool things going on, thoughts that I have, the random links between things that my brain comes up with. For example, I wrote about the thoughts that came up about Human Computer Interaction while watching Iron Man.

Agency Couture Interactive, Web Design, Marketing, SEO, Social Media, Strategy

How did you get the name Agency Couture?
Haute couture (French for “high sewing” or “high dressmaking”) refers to the creation of exclusive custom-designs, which is exactly our philosophy. Agency Couture websites and marketing campaigns are made to order for a specific customer, and are usually from high-quality, imagery with extreme attention to detail and finish, often using time-consuming, hand-executed techniques.

What’s your biggest challenge right now?
Always trying to find out what the next big thing is, and relearning our own business so that we can continue to get better at the work we know and love. Daily blogging was an initial struggle (htp://bit.ly/desaraevblog). Now our biggest struggle is just in day to day business admin processes, nothing that’s deadly or anything, but is a bit sleep depriving.

What’s a typical work day for you?
Wake up, blog, exercise, clean up while listening to podcasts about tech, make client calls, check in with the staff, write up proposals/strategy, attend geek events, and meet with prospects.

Why do you hang out at CoCo?
It’s nice to get out of the house, have an office space to go to, drink some coffee and see Don, Kyle and the rest of the CoCo gang. CoCo is just a gorgeous space and any time you are around other like-minded smarties, your bound to grow as a person and a company.

How can people find you online?
Google DesaraeV

Do you blog? If so, what kinds of topics do you write about?
Social media, strategy, Web design, business etiquette, staying positive in the office and online, SEO, books and gadgets