What's working? / What's not?

[Andy Alsop]

Hi All,

Now that we have two Open Coffee sessions under our belts, I would like to invite you to share your thoughts about what is working and what is not in terms of the Open Coffee. Do you like the location? Do you like the coffee (an important part of an "Open Coffee"). Too little time? Too much time? Don't like the day? More often? Less frequently? Let your voice be heard before I schedule the next one.

Also, Trevor's request for the next session is that we all bring an issue we are having with our respective initiatives to the group (sounds like group therapy, but it's not ;-).

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Andy

[Frank O'Mahony]

Andy -
I found it a useful meeting. Though the coffee, as you ask, was terrible! Another venue you might consider is the Zodiac, across from the Pink Adobe. They need the business, they've got WiFi and their coffee/pastries are excellent!
I'd have liked a sign-in sheet, and somebody to volunteer to send around the contact information. The distribution of business cards was a little random ;-}
Regarding 'all bringing an issue', I wonder if that would be as productive as you and Trevor suggesting an issue to us all beforehand, so we can think about it. How we're finding great people...marketing ideas that worked....if you ran NM Economic Dev dept, what would you do...a sales strategy that worked.... That sort of stuff.

Thanks for asking!
Frank

[Gary Ebersole]

I missed yesterday's meeting but shorter and topic-based would be good. Venues are tough. I'm flexible and would even offer up our conference room (or the ping-pong room depending on attendance) and a box or two of Starbucks coffee if that were helpful.

[William Underwood]

We need Eggnog Lattes. I am really very, very reluctant to continue to come without an Eggnog Latte thrown in. What's says holiday season more than an Eggnog Latte?

And, why don't we go to a Locals Care merchant next time, maybe Ecco Gelato or Santa Fe Baking Company. I'll make sure they have eggnog for the lattes!

Laslty, death before starbucks! Even if they serve the EL...

[Cynthia DeMers]

While the project manager side of me agrees with Frank and his suggestions for sending issues ahead of time and circulating a signing sheet… I think that gets us away from the informal networking forum that we initially started. My vote is to have the opportunities to say what we are working on and then people can hook-up after the meeting to satisfy issues. Otherwise, we could spend the whole meeting trying to resolve one person’s issue.

With that said, can the members of this club put shouts out to the group if we need help with things, have jobs to offer, etc. via the club website? If so, do we want to put any boundaries on this?

I’m open to any venue. Even though the coffee wasn’t that good… I applaud the service that we got at Café Dominic!!!!

Thanks to everyone for participating at the meetings! I’m enjoying meeting everyone and hearing about what’s going on in the community!

Cynthia

[Michael Hare]

Thanks to Andy, Trevor, and whoever else got this rolling. I appreciate your efforts and enjoy this forum. Here's my two cents on the “structure vs. free-form” debate.

As much as I enjoyed the OpenCoffee, at times it felt like we were sitting around a conference table rather than mingling at a coffee shop. My concern is that having a structured, going-round-the-table, group conversation format of individual issues, initiatives, etc. will result in a less dynamic atmosphere.

For example, if a person pops in for a few minutes, meets someone, wants to have a few words with them, but someone else “has the floor” or some main topic is being discussed, the person might feel obligated to sit and listen rather than pursue a spontaneous side conversation they’d really like to have.

Part of the value I see in OpenCoffee is having a place to connect face-to-face with other busy people in an age when scheduling a one-on-one meeting/lunch/coffee is not always easy. I'd like to see us try a multi-table, multi-conversation format that provides a more free-flowing environment -- a few people talking non-profits here, a few discussing the VC climate there, others engaging with Andy about his upcoming clean tech conference, perhaps someone giving a cool demo on a laptop at another table.

I could also see a hybrid format in which there is a "main table" for people who would like to share experiences, get feedback on issues, etc. in a more structured environment and "break out tables" for the free-flow crowd.

I look forward to seeing you all again next month.

[Catherine Sherwood]

Andy:
I signed up for the December meeting but was unable to make it so my responses are more about what I would like than a reaction to what was. I like the concept of having issues to discuss, but I understand that others may want something more informal. Therefore the various approaches that Michael Hare proposed seem like a good compromise.

I agree that the coffee has to be good - though I am not a fan of tricked-out drinks like Eggnog Lattes (sorry, William Underwood) - a new venue seems in order. I like Frank O'Mahony's suggestion of the Zodiac. It is local (not a chain), the coffee is good and the pastries are great.

Catherine

[Gary Ebersole]

William,

Didn't mean to offend anyone with my offer for a couple of boxes of Starbucks coffee. It's another discussion altogether about the generally awful state of coffee in Santa Fe where Starbucks is considered "good" (except Ohori's). My general concern is feeling guilty about consuming a limited resource (tables) without consuming product. At 10 am, it's far too late for breakfast and way too early for lunch. Nursing my morning coffee for two hours in a busy restaurant seems unfair to the restaurant. If we really want to do something to help local merchants, I would suggest breakfast at a place that can accommodate 8-12 people. One that comes to mind is Counter Culture on Baca (don't know if they are Locals Care). Self-service, many big tables (or easy to re-configure). You often see big groups there in the mornings. I'm certain there is something I don't know about Counter Culture that makes them off-limits but this is just food for thought.

Gary

[Trevor Loy]

This thread itself is really interesting and useful. I don't have a lot of strong opinions on anything that's been said so far, but here are some thoughts on why I wanted to get this thing going:

1. There are a lot of great people in NM who I want to talk with once every month or every few months for a few minutes, just to catch up and see what results. I have also believed that the key to personal and professional success is mostly "serendipity" and as I'v gotten busier and more committed over the years, I have less time for serendipity. So mostly what I want is more serendipity, which means not a lot of agenda or structure.

2. Most of the business networking events that are high quality (e.g. CVF) are in the evening and the combination of lots of out-of-state travel and the desire to be with my young kids in the evenings when I am in NM prevents me from prioritizing those events for the next few years.

3. A lot of folks ask for "just 30 minutes of my time" and, without sounding snobbish, there is just no way I can realistically make that happen. But, I *do* want to talk with these folks and often 5-10 minutes is enough. We're all busy and none of us can afford to schedule our days with 30 minute one-on-one meetings so I was hoping to create a venue where I can still see and talk with everyone about specific issues they have in mind. Also, even if I were to try to schedule the impossible set of all such 30 minute meetings, they would invariably be in lots of different places, which would waste a lot of time driving around to each meeting, so having a central place where I know I can invite people to meet up once a monthis useful - and then everyone else meets each other as well.

4. It's very important to me that this not turn into anything that requires invitations, RSVPs, name tags, etc. There are great such forums. This is a place to allow for serendipity, including the serendipity that allows for someone to just show up unannounced when they suddenly find themselves free for an hour.

5. I'd like to try to figure out how to avoid having to do continuous re-introductions as people come and go, but not sure how to do that. Any ideas? I do think that using this ning site is a useful tool to replace the need for a signup sheet, i.e. if you want to follow up with someone, hopefully you can just find them here on the ning site.

6. I really like the idea of figuring out how to enable lots of mini-conversations instead of one giant conference table feeling. I think a different type of venue might make this easier...including a non-commercial spot or a coffee shop with lots of little tables instead of one big one? There is always the cocktail standing-reception idea as well. Any great ideas?

Happy holidays to all!

[gary]

Hello Andy,

I just signed up per invitation from Trevor. Has the next meeting/venue been scheduled yet?

[Andy Alsop]

Hi Gary,

I am working with Trevor on his schedule and will post something as soon as we've nailed down the next time. Thanks

Andy

[Betsy Ehrenberg]

I have not attended either meeting due to scheduling conflicts but
hope to bring some issues to the next meeting. I am particularly
interested in the answer to this question: "When thinking about
economic growth in Santa Fe, what does a win look like?"

Betsy

[Michael Hare]

Two more ideas:

1. I suggest that we establish a standing OpenCoffee date/time, with the caveat that it is subject to change. We’ve met on the 1st or 2nd Tuesday of the month so far, and either of these seem like good defaults. 10:00am also seems like a good time slot.

This way, those of us who travel frequently could mark our calendars and schedule to be in town when possible.

2. Re Trevor's comment about re-introductions, one idea would be to "schedule/limit" intros/re-intros for the top of each hour (if needed) and set a timebox (e.g. - 30 seconds a person). To help keep people brief, and to make it more interesting, we could create an OpenCoffee intro template similar to name, rank and serial number (e.g. - name, current business, factoid most people don't know about me).