More on Open Coffee Club Meet Bangalore

Kpowerinfinity and others had questions about Open Coffee Club Meet. I a posting here my reply to that for the benefit of you.

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Hi K,

K had a question about OCC

"Have you guys decided any agenda for the meet? Is there a list of people/speakers who have already signed up so that I can get an idea of how the event's shaping up?"

Good that you brought it up. (I am also sending this mail to other groups, to garner their opinion).

Open Coffee meet is not a formal meetup. No speakers no presentations. We all are bound by the basic passion for entrepreneurship (that is the key).

As mentioned in my blog, the idea behind this meetup is "meet in an informal setup and share/exchange thoughts"

Please check this post (must) which talks the concept behind Open Coffee.

The Open Coffee started out first in London with the following agenda!!

"This is an attempt to establish recognized, open and regular meeting places where entrepreneurs can meet with investors (and anyone else who fancies coming along) in a totally informal setting.

The key is a regular place and a regular time - it's not important who comes along, some days it might be no one - just that people know if they want to meet, this is the time and this is the place.

We want to create some density for people -- a few places where people know they can meet or bump into others.

Something that can be replicated anywhere else at little or no cost -- though we do want to build a list of all the places (wiki to come) where entrepreneurs can meet and know people might be around for them to talk with."

My Self and Vaibhav are coordinating the event. (Finding proper venue, date and so on). The rest of the what goes on is upto the people who come there and contribute to the discussions.

There was a discussion in BCB4 about lack of good networking in Bangalore on a regular basis (Barcamps are great but they are far too apart even at the rate of once every 4months). What was needed was a regular meet of about an 1hr to 2hr, where people can meet, toss their ideas, show their products and on and on..
That was the idea behind calling this meet.

No agenda.. only a direction.. !!
*) you want to show some cool stuff that you have done.. you have the audience.
*) you want to meet like minded people in your sector, or who can guide you in pointing to people who can help you.
*) a great networking opportunity, where you can know more about the folks you probably met at BCB or some other event and get to know them better.

The best part.. !!
**) If you are alone on sunday.. you can find more people like you and know that you are not the only one!! ;)

Do Drop by this sunday!! at Brewhaha, Koramangala Bangalore. 11am.!!

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Bangalore Open Coffee Club Meetup.

There are lot's of entrepreneurs in Bangalore(a cliche isn't it). However, what we lack in here is an ecosystem where entrepreneurs, VC's, people interested in entrepreneurship,evangelists, and people like me(I don't fall in the above categories !!) meet in an informal setup and share/exchange thoughts . Open Coffee Club meet for Bangalore is one small step to address this issue. This meet will be on

Venue: Brewhaha (Directions)
Time: Sunday (11Am)
Date: 19th August 2007
Contacts: Ram(09342509088), Vaibhav(9986186194)

[sTory bEhind]
To give you a brief of what OpenCoffeeClub(OCC) is all about check out a previous post of mine. There I talk about the concept and introduce you to OCC. As you can see, I was planning to have an OCC Bangalore meetup earlier, but could not do so because of personal reasons. After that I was tad lazy until the BCB4. In BCB4 I met Siddharta, Jankiram, Indus, and a host others who felt there was visible need for people to group up on a regular basis in an informal setup. Thus was born openTIE.

The week following BCB4 Siddharta(aka. Sid) called for a Chennai OpenCoffeeClub meet. This was picked up by Kiruba on his blog. Finally the Chennai OCC meet happened on 5th of August. We at Bangalore were not behind, Vaibhav an avid techie. got in touch with Sid and Vijay(proto.in) to get some funda on how to organize a Bangalore OCC, and was directed by Sid to contact me.

The efforts started out with this post calling for OCC meet by Vaibhav. There is also a Google Group (thanks again to Vaibhav) where those of you interested can join to follow up on what's happening.

[wHat nExt]
As pointed at the beginning of this post,be there at Brewhaha coming Sunday(19th August) at 11am. Let's kick start the exciting times ahead.

Mind you this event does not carry any registration fee, but you need to pay for your coffee/other stuff.

Bloggers among you, post about the event and spread the word.

Update: Check the update on Bangalore OCC meet by Vaibhav.

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Make a difference this Independence day

It will be 60 Years this 15th of August from the time since we breathed the first bouts of free air. Times have changed, today 15th of August is just another holiday in most of our lives. In a city like Bangalore it is a day of slumber for most of the folks.

That was my impression until today morning. It all changed with a mail. A mail from an young lady(a fellow blogger), who took it upon her to make a difference to some lives at the dawn of the 60th year of Independent India. She has the following to say:"

15th Aug is when we complete 60 years of our independence and this year me and my friends have decided to do something on that day rather than sitting at home and enjoying it as any other holiday.

We have decided to meet at IndraNagar CMH road, outside Cafe Coffee Day on 15th Aug 2007 from 10 a.m. onwards and we have thought of distributing clothes, stationary etc to people who would need them.

There would be carton boxes kept there where you can come and put in your used but wearable clothes, pencils, pens, note books, etc which we would be distributiing among people.

This is a very small gesture that we have decided to do and I look forward to all support from all of you without which we may not succeed. Hence, requesting each one of you to spare some time, so that you can come in and drop your stuffs which you think someone needy can use. Also, please forward this email to as many people you know and as many network and mailing groups that you are part of so that we have a lot of participation.

Thanks for whatever effort you can put in

Snigdha "

I will be there to chip in what ever I can. It won't take much of your time, just spend 15minutes to give away the stuff you won't need but can help those in need. Let's join our hands in this small cause and take a giant step in building a culture of sharing.

Please publicize this event in all courteous manner as possible. (Mail, Blogs, etc.). For further information please feel free to contact me.

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Coming Week: Proto.in, A Vacation, BCB4

The last one month was my prolific posting time. I had at least one post every day. (Weekends, are my blog off days!!). The title should should tell you of my activities starting tomorrow.

I will be at Proto.in over this weekend. For more about Proto.in check out this post of mine. I will miss out on the Bangalore Bloggers Meet tomorrow at Brewhaha. Those of you are attending or plan to attend get details here at Bangalore Bloggers wiki. If you plan to attend or interested in watching this meet, make your intention clear at upcoming (will help the organizers). For the location of the meet check this link which will take you to Brewhaha on Google Maps.

Now for some more juice, after the Proto.in, I will be on a vacation with my parents for a week. Keep tuned to my flickr for some amazing shots.

The last and my most awaited event for the month Bangalore Barcamp 4 is on 28th and 29th of this month. It's the place to be in, if you have even an iota of interest in ******. Check out the link for what the stars mean. For more about check out all the blogs which talk about BCB4 .

That's a happening week for me. However, there is one thing I regret, that is not being able to reach you all folks with more stuff. Yes, I may not blog for the next 10 days. (A sad proposition). I promise you, will make it up with some great stuff once I am back.

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Meet the Bangalore Bloggers

What do you say when 15 strangers get talking like they are pals since eternity, they mob the few hangouts where sweet couples spend their Saturday evenings, find it almost impossible to find a place to accommodate them?

Wondering who they are?

They are the first bunch of Bangalore bloggers who met over a "Coffee"! Thanks to Sanjukta for the initiative and her liveliness. I won't get into the details, you can read it at these posts by Dhivya and by Hari .
That's not just it, Bangalore Mirror feature the meet in next days paper. Balu a gamer and a journo does the honors with his friends. (Check me out in the pic).

A mixture of techie. and non-techie crowd, it was fun and some serious stuff. Hari gave an intro about bar camp to all the folks. Then Prayank came up with his idea of a blog journal! (This dude has some cool tips for low cost dating watch him out at BCB 4).

Sridhar a very enthusiastic bloke has some really cool tips on how to market blogs and make money. He is going to take a session on podcasting at BCB 4 Bloggers collective. Also, his idea of Web NGO was well taken by all present, check out for some innovation here.

Ananda Bora an artist with a scientific bent, a silent assassin. Check out some of his art works here.

Dhivya mentioned of David a blogger from Australia who guides bloggers on about their blogs. Check him out for some great insights.

Was I excited to meet all these folks? You bet on that!!

There were many others, who write on various things about which you can read at the blogs mentioned earlier. All you folks at the meet it was great to meet you all and share some wonderful stuff. Hope to pick up from here and build a best blogger's community.!!

[pHoto lInks]
Vinu
Hari
[uPdate]
Niranjan's Post

[cRedits]
The news paper cutout source for this blog is from Dhivya's post

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