The Oklahoma City Coworking Collaborative

Maker’s Faire is a family fun festival to MAKE, create, learn, invent, CRAFT, recycle, build, think, play & be inspired by celebrating arts, crafts, engineering, food, music, science and technology.

If you might be interested in helping to organize one in OKC, come out to the okcCoCo, 1pm on Thursday.

Coworking Jelly – Free Coworking
Thursday, July 15th
9am-9pm
Oklahoma City Coworking Collaborative

It’s been a while since the last and with the summer here, there is no better time than now for a jelly. Come out for a day of free coworking! Or just stop by to say hello and shoot the breeze with smart and interesting people. We’ll have Jelly donuts first thing in the morning and enough coffee to last throughout the day. As always, we have places to plug in, wifi, comfortable digs and cool, cool, AC.

What is a Jelly?

A Jelly is an ad hoc coworking event. It is an opportunity for independent and freelance professionals, as well as corporate workers looking to get off-site, to work in a shared space for all or part of a day. Coworking provides opportunities to meet new and interesting people, to network with creative professionals, to share ideas, to get feedback, and even to start new collaborations.

Jelly Lunch – 11:30am

Thanks to everyone (thankfully there are a lot of you) for your support of the okcCoCo in its first year! We dared to launch a coworking facility, a new concept for Oklahoma, in the roughest of economic times. I’m please to say that we continue to survive and that in the short time that we’ve been open we have able to foster the technical, creative and entrepreneurial communities in OKC. We expect that this next year will be even more exciting and we look forward to contributing to the growth of Oklahoma City.

We would like to invite all of our members to a dinner to celebrate on June 4th from 5:30pm to 7pm. Our good friends at Rococos will cater a special three course summer dinner (chicken) for our enjoyment at the okcCoCo. Join us at 5:30pm to reconnect with other okcCoCo members over drinks. Then stay for dinner from 6pm to 7pm. Spouses and family are welcome. Please RSVP with a head count via email by Wednesday June 2nd. If you would like a vegetarian meal please let us know.

Once again we’re collecting non-perishable food for the Food Bank of Oklahoma. Please bring at least one can of food per person for those less fortunate.

Offices available at okcCoCo are a spacious 250 square feet in size with hardwood floors, high ceilings and window pane doors. Each office comes with a reserved parking spot in our adjacent parking lot. Offices are located in a secure area, with immediate access to the okcCoCo coworking area.

Having an office at okcCoCo also give you access to our community resources including the coworking facilities, 14 person board room, 6 person conference room, social area and event space. If you are running a company from your office, we do our best to promote your services through co-branding on our website (see the sidebar), listing you in our service provider directory, and providing you sponsorships on our events like OpenBeta.

An important part of being part of the okcCoCo community is the professional networking opportunities that exist only at okcCoCo. okcCoCo members are some of this city’s top developers and developers. We host the meetings of a dozen technology focused community groups each month. We also run special educations events and host invited speakers that are free for okcCoCo members to attend.

To really understand okcCoCo and the benefits that having an office at okcCoCo can provide, you need to visit. Please stop by anytime from 9am to 9pm to get a tour of our facility and our available offices.

Gov 2.0a – Technology applied to improve government
May 6th and 7th
Cox Convention Center
http://gov20a.com

Gov 2.0 stands for Government 2.0, the application of increased connectivity and new technologies to better help government achieve its goals by being transparent, participatory and collaborative. The benefits of this approach include increased efficiency, improved services, greater accessibility of public services, as well as more accountability.

The Gov 2.0a conference is focused on applications of technology to government problems. The conference will be a forum to learn about successful Gov 2.0 applications through case studies, to learn about best practices for Gov 2.0 applications, and to network with other professionals from city and state organizations, community groups, non-profits and the private sector who share interest in the application of technology to improve the functioning of our government.

Gov2.0a Keynote Dinner with incoming Oklahoma CIO Alex Pettit

Join us for dinner on 6pm, May 6th and hear presentations from Oklahoma State Representatives Ryan Keisel and Jason Murphey, and a Keynote presentation from Oklahoma’s Chief Information Officer, Alex Pettit on the future role of technology in Oklahoma government.

Speakers

* Jari Askins, Lt. Governer, Oklahoma
* Laurel Ruma, O’Reilly Media
* Carolyn Purcell, Cisco Systems
* Kurt A Snodgrass, CEO, OneNet
* Joey Senat, Professor, OSU
* Mark Mitchell, OK.Gov
* Mike Koehler, Schnake Turnbo Frank | PR
* Scott Anderson, CIO, Spigit
* Zach Nash, Creative Director, City of OKC
* Matt Mueller, City Manager, Guthrie, OK
* Paul Monies, OPUBCO
* Stephen Nolen, CIO, Shawnee OK
* Craige L. Baird, Technology Services Director, Ponca City
* Ryan Kiesel, Oklahoma State Representative
* Jason Murphey, Oklahoma State Representative
* Alex Pettit, CIO, Oklahoma
* Dustin Haisler, CIO Manor, Texas
* Jeff Blasius, CTO of SeeClickFix.com

Register Now! Only $10

okcCoCo Stirs Young Professionals’ Interest
By Rusty Surette, NEWS 9
News 9 Report

OKLAHOMA CITY — Fingers are crossed as new unemployment numbers are set to be released next week. That’s following a record number of jobless claims filed in the state last month, and while it’s been a rough ride for many, one group is benefiting from this bad economy.

One man took an empty building in downtown and turned it into a place where day dreamers can become business believers. Dustin Brewer is doing what he’s always wanted to do, work for himself.

“Now I do freelance Web design for agencies and direct client work and stuff like that,” Brewer said.

Brewer was laid off in December and decided now was the time to pursue his dream, but he lacked the office space and connections to make it happen. So he came to okcCoCo.

“There’s a lot of people you can feed off of for anything you might be working on at the time,” Brewer said.

The Oklahoma City Coworking Collaborative, or okcCoCo, is a new place for young entrepreneurs to come and network with one another. Its co-founder says the goal is to grow Oklahoma’s business and artistic community.

“What we’ve seen in the time that we’ve been open is that people have worked together to form new partnerships, even start new businesses,” okcCoCo Co-Founder Derrick Parkhurst said.

Parkhurst says the biggest benefit is the work space. There’s an open area that feels more like a coffee shop, but if privacy is what a client needs, he’s got that too.

“In this open area we have a space where someone who can’t quite afford an office can still have a professional work environment,” Parkhurst said. “They can leave their stuff overnight. They can expect it’ll be secure; it’s a secure area.”

Parkhurst hopes his business provides the people, place and position in today’s competitive workforce to launch successful careers down the road.

“We’re trying to grow not only the technical community, but the ENT community and the creative community,” Parkhurst said. “There’s a real synergy right now in this city going on between those three groups and we’re hoping to be the one place where they can come together.”

There’s a monthly membership fee for users, but Parkhurst says he offers a discount for those who’ve been laid off. He calls it the down-and-out plan.

Join us at H&H Gun Range, Friday – March 26th at 6PM for an evening of guns and fun! This is a gun-n00b friendly event. Women are encouraged to participate in this event. This event is especially for those who have never fired a gun, but are thinking about purchasing one for home defense. They also have a cafe that serves a very tasty burger…

We have a whole 6 lane bay to ourselves and have reserved a selected list of firearms from some of the most commonly carried firearms manufacturers for self and home defense. The idea is to get people familiar with the different brands and how they feel in your hands.

Experienced shooters are definitely welcome to attend and help out. We will have a lane open for attendees who want to bring their own firearms.

A certified trainer is available for $35.00/hr. Trainers must be requested one week in advanced. Costs of trainers will be up to you and whoever else is willing to split the costs of the trainer.

Pricing:
Cost for gun n00bs: $15.00 + Cost of ammo.
(This covers the costs of the lanes and firearms rental. Rented firearms MUST use ammo purchased from H&H. Ammo costs vary. See ammo prices below for additional info)

$8.00 if you are bringing your own firearms.
(Discounted lane fee. You may bring and use your own ammo. Please read the rules regarding firearms transportation at the H&H website)

Ammo Pricing:
.22LR – Really cheap. Still need to confirm pricing.
9MM – $13.95 / box of 50
.40S&W – 20.98 / box of 50
.45acp – $25.98 / box of 50.