Thanks to IndyHall’s Painting Crew
Filed under: Community Support, Education/Workshops, Events, In The News, Independents Hall, coworking
Over this past weekend we spent almost 20 hours working on giving the new office a paint job. Thanks to the help of over a dozen volunteers, we made quick work of over 5000 square feet of wall that needed painting, and the new spot looks AMAZING!
Big thanks to:
And SUPER special thanks go to Kara LaFleur for not only painting during all of the shifts, but for providing IndyHaul, her Subaru Forrester that was used for many, many trips to Home Depot to replenish paint reserves.
And finally, to Natalie Nagele and Dana Vachon for planning the entire event including picking colors, designing their placement on the walls, and getting the paint, and most of all for Dana being an extremely successful foreman (forewoman?) and really doing a great job of managing tasks. It was phenomenal to spend my weekend working on getting paint on walls, and being able to reply to almost any question “I don’t know, you should probably ask Dana”.
Great job everybody, thanks for all of your hard work!
IndyHall & Mashable <3 Our Party Sponsors
Filed under: Announcements, Community Support, Events, Independents Hall, coworking
We’re just 2 weeks away from the big Mashable/IndyHall party!! As has been demonstrated in the past, social media and social lubrication go hand in hand and this event is no exception.
We’ve had great response already from a number of local companies interested in supporting the event to make sure that everyone can enjoy themselves. We kept the sponsorship levels approachable because we thought it was important to highlight as many local companies as possible during the event, and we’re really happy that our model fit so many companies.
Just a quick reminder about the details:
When, where, how?
Date: Friday, May 1st, 2009
Time: 8:00 pm Till Close (that’s 2:00 am for the out-of towners, or the non-party-goers)
Location: Cavanaugh’s River Deck, 417 N Columbus Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19123 (map)
Tickets: Open Admission, 21+ Only Please, but please register yourself on one of our Socialize Pages, so we know you’re coming
Socialize: Facebook , Meetup , Upcoming
And without further adieu, IndyHall’s first batch of “BarTabCamp” sponsors!
“Zivtech is an Open Source Web Development and Support shop. We love building robust and cutting edge online applications (mostly using the Content Management System Drupal), creating and empowering communities, and working within and taking part in the Open Source Software movement.”
Bloblive’s are open mic notes for business ideas. Check out bloblive.com for a schedule of events and join us for an evening of offline crowdsourcing, and invaluable networking. Bloblive is the offline component of ideablob.com, our interactive marketplace where one idea each month wins $10,000.
With an intuitive interface and design, Newsberry makes it easy to create, send and track email campaigns. Their focus on segmentation and targeting allows you to send relevant emails to only those subscribers who are interested, maximizing the results of each campaign. Newsberry offers affordable monthly and pay-as-you-go plans.
Duck Duck Go is a new search engine with less garbage and better results. There are a lot of things it does differently in order to get you what you want faster and with less mental effort. For example, Duck Duck Go has “zero click information” in the form of topic summaries and related topics to explore. It labels official sites. It has simpler links, using titles and descriptions that actually make sense. Duck Duck Go also omits all those spam pages you’re always coming across. And much more–try it!
Beanstalk allows web designers and developers to store source code, track changes, and collaborate with their team. Never worry about overwriting code or managing backups again, it happens automatically. With Beanstalk’s FTP deployment tools, you can even deploy to your web server in one-click.
LTLprints is an e-commerce company selling “larger than life” (up to 7 feet tall by 4.5 feet wide) customized and self-adhesive artwork. Designs are printed on a tear resistant, easy to install, removable cloth material that can be used in almost any environment or flat surface. Customers can buy ready-made designs from the online catalog, create unique prints by uploading their own pictures, or sell their own designs in the online catalog at LTLprints.com. LTLprints is also an ideal platform for designers with unique digital content allowing them to sell their own artwork to the community.
“Poptent is connecting independent and freelance creative commercial videographers with companies who need affordable branded content.”
OurShelf is a web-based platform to catalog your personal goods, and does this within a social environment. You can borrow, lend, and track your personal goods as well as socially shop or find the next hot item you’re interested in. Sign up for the early preview beta by sending an email to beta@rshelf.com or sending a DM to us on twitter (@ourshelf). Your Stuff, OurShelf
With Jimdo, you don’t need to know HTML or CSS to create a website and keep it up-to-date. In just a few minutes, you can build a personalized, professional-looking site. With powerful customization options, it’s easy as pie but NOT cookie-cutter. Whether you need a personal or business site, creating your 1st site or your 100th, Jimdo makes websites simple, accessible, and intuitive. Create a website on Jimdo for free or get your own domain and email with JimdoPro.
Laan Labs makes cool stuff for all of your favorite toys: iPhone and Android phone apps, web and desktop applications, and useful webservices for other developers. We don’t just make stuff for ourselves, we’re are available as hired guns as well. Read more about what we’ve made at labs.laan.com.
And finally, we can’t forget Mashable’s sponsor, 
, DUB “gives you a simple, smart way to exchange contact information from your mobile phone. The contact data loads directly to your existing mobile address book and updates automatically whenever your contact changes their information (phone, email, address, etc.). Create your mobile business card at www.dubmenow.com”
Wanna be a sponsor?
We’re still accepting two levels of sponsorship, $250 and $500, to go towards making sure this party is epic and the tab is kept open. Our prices are designed for local startups to be able to participate and get some great exposure, not just at the event, but on all of the event promotion properties.
At both levels, you’re listed as an event sponsor with your company name, logo, description, and link. Where does that go?
- Here (indyhall.org)
- Mashable.com
- Facebook, Upcoming, and meetup event promotion pages
Additionally, all sponsors will have their logos on our giant sponsor wall at the event thanks to LTLPrints. $250 sponsors will have a 12″ wide logo, and $500 sponsors will have a 24″ wide logo. Want to sponsor even more? Drop us a line and we’ll sort something out and make sure it’s worth your while.
If you’re interested in being a sponsor, contact us for more information!
The Painting of IndyHall 2.0: THIS WEEKEND!
Filed under: Community Support, Education/Workshops, Events, In The News, Independents Hall, Kudos, coworking
Our brand new office is coming together, and we’re a little more than a week away from moving in! Our desk building party was a huge success, with 25 desks coming together in under an hour (that’s GOTTA be some sort of Ikea record).
This upcoming weekend, we are planning three painting sessions. Colors have been picked out and organized. Supplies have been gathered. It’s time to make IndyHall look amazing.
Dana has organized three sessions this weekend, and we’re looking for volunteers to help out.
Session 1: Saturday 9am-12:30pm
Session 2: Saturday, 3pm-7pm
Session 3: Sunday, 9am-2:30pm
We have all the paint, a bunch of rollers and some trays, but if you have your own roller, or other painting supplies, feel free to bring them along. And of course, dress appropriately.
As with the desk building party, you’ll need to call to get into the building. Please send us an email to let us know you’ll be attending, which session(s), and we’ll respond with instructions on how to get inside.
IndyHall-U pilots “Mac Programming Foundations” class with Philly Cocoaheads
Filed under: Education/Workshops, Events, Independents Hall, IndyHall U
Education is core to IndyHall. Specifically, peer education. We’ve said (and not just Geoff and I, but our members) that it’s hard to not learn something while working at IndyHall. The diversity of skillsets and experiences, along with a group over people who truly love their craft, makes for some really unique learning experiences.
Take that, mix in Geoff’s University professor background and our shared flare for seeing education reformed into a more hands on format, and something starts to bubble.
For a while now (at least since the first IgnitePhilly), we’ve been musing around the idea of having a more formal workshop series than the evening workshops we’ve held over the last 2 years. Something where the model for organic peer education we already know works, but we have a chance to really focus on it and figure out a way to institutionalize it without killing it with bureaucracy.
With the move to the new office space on 3rd street, we’re left with “IndyHall Classic” (the new pet name for our Strawberry street location) for the next 10 months as an experimental classroom workspace. We’ve got lots of ideas, and will share more as things evolve. Things are likely to start design and tech heavy, but that’s only because that’s who’s volunteered to work on developing classes. IndyHall U is NOT meant to be a tech shop, much like IndyHall isn’t. Diversity is welcome. Deviation from the norm is encouraged. Seriously.
In the mean time, we’re excited to announce the very first beta class from within the Tech Department of IndyHall U: Mac Programming Foundations.
Bring an Apple for the Teacher
As a natural evolution of the monthly Cocoaheads meetup that convenes at IndyHall once a month, Mac Programming Foundations grew out of a desire to develop a higher baseline of knowledge for Cocoaheads attendees. Cocoaheads organizer Andy Mroczkowski banded together with Jason Allum, David Martorana, Aaron Evans, and Michael Zornek to put together the two-session class, and urged us to let them hold it almost immediately after we’ve migrated our office to our new location.
The class will consist of two sessions on Saturday May 9th and May 16th. $100 gets you not just the two sessions, but a copy of “Learn Objective C on the Mac“, a companion book for the class.
$100 is a steal even without the curriculum and the book: to get to learn from 5 extremely bright Cocoa Developers for 8 total hours is well worth the c-note.
You can visit the Mac Programming Foundations page for more information.
Space is limited, so if you are interested in the class please register as soon as possible!
IndyHall 201: Communities of Trust
Filed under: FAQs, Independents Hall, IndyHall 201, Kudos, Movies, Videos, coworking
We’re back with another IndyHall 201 video. This time, we’re talking about the importance of establishing trust as an important community value in your coworking space.
A few weeks back, I gave a professional development seminar at the Comcast Interactive Media group, and this topic came up indirectly. The question was asked, “what makes a coworking space such a hotbed of innovation?” While the diversity of talent is certainly one of the aspects, even diversity provides little value without a network of trusted between the talent that works together.
Proximity helps too, but the most important thing you can do is lead by example. More on that topic coming up soon.
In the mean time, enjoy our video on building communities of trust!
Desk Building Party – THIS Saturday from 6-8pm
Filed under: Announcements, Community Support, Events, Independents Hall
Picture from Bart Mroz's Flickr
IndyHall isn’t about the desks. But it sure works better with them.
Yesterday, we coordinated with a 8 or so of our members to pick up a new batch of desks for IndyHall from Ikea. The next logical step is to put them together!
From 6-8pm on Saturday, April 18th, we’ll be gathering at IndyHall 2.0 at 22 North 3rd Street (street view in google maps). This event is BYOD! That’s Bring Your Own Drill. We’ve got 25 desks to build and teams of 2 are ideal for building these desks. There’s plenty to do for non-drill-holders, but the more drills the better. How many times did I say drill in this paragraph?
When we’re done, we’ll head right around the corner to Sugar Mom’s to celebrate Jess Victor’s birthday. If you’ve ever come to IndyHall for Cupcake Thursdays and enjoyed yourself, you should join us, as Jess is one of the trio behind OpenSourceCupcakes. Even if you’ve never had their cupcakes (which is your problem, not mine), you should still come out and have a good time with us.
All members, new and old, are encouraged to come and hang out together. Not a member but want to hang out too? OF COURSE you’re welcome! The more the merrier.
There’s a dirty rumor that Geoff DiMasi might even make an appearance at the desk building party. The only way to find out if he does is to be there. I don’t know about you, but that’s enough reason for me.
If you can’t make it, that’s OK too. We’ll have a painting party in the next week, and plenty of other opportunities to chip in and hang out.
IMPORTANT: How do I to enter the building at 22 North 3rd?
We don’t have the keypad directory at the front door hooked up just yet, so you can call or text message the IndyHall number (215) 586-3909 when you arrive and someone will come down to let you in.
If you’re confident you will be there, let us know in the comments or send us an email so we can look out for you!
Blood Drive Success!
Filed under: Announcements, Community Support, Independents Hall, Movies
The blood drive that we helped coordinate with National Mechanics and The American Red Cross earlier this week was a HUGE success. We blew our goal of 40 donors out of the water by 25%: we ended up with over 50 donors by the end of the day! That’s more than double last year’s drive.
The event wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for the help of National Mechanics, The Red Cross, all of you…and a very special thank you to Reed Gustow for really carrying the torch on this event and helping us coordinate with the Red Cross. Reed also put together a great video talking to myself, Jason Hill from National Mechanics, and a number of the donors. Give it a watch, and again, many thanks to everybody!
Our new digs are official: IndyHall moves to a larger office on May 1st, 2009
Filed under: Announcements, Community Support, From the Business Side, Independents Hall, coworking
If you read my previous post carefully, you might have noticed that I slyly announced that IndyHall would be moving on May 1st. While this isn’t non-public knowledge, it wasn’t until about 15 minutes ago that I got a signed copy of the lease back from our new landlord, making the move official.
That’s right, over the next 3 weeks, we’re going to be preparing the new space for occupation. We’ll likely have walkthroughs on Friday May 1st once we take official occupancy but our first official day in the office will be Monday, May 4th, buying us a couple extra days to button things up.
We have a LOT of work ahead of us, but luckily, we’re far from alone. This move wouldn’t have gone forward without the community’s support, and it won’t happen without it either. We’re going to be having a bunch of events between now and then, not the least of which will be a BYOD (bring your own drill) desk-building party.
PLEASE watch this space carefully (or follow us on twitter) if you are interested in volunteering to help get the space set up. We’ll be posting tasks privately to our member basecamp, as well as some calls for community action here on the blog.
Thank you to everyone who pledged their support earlier last month to help us decide to expand, and to every member of our community who’s helped us to accomplish everything we have so far.
And don’t forget, as soon as we’re moved in, we get to celebrate!
Mashable + IndyHall v2.0 = MASSIVE Philly Party, you’re invited!
Filed under: Announcements, Community Support, Events, Independents Hall
It’s springtime. That means it’s time to party. And we are TOTALLY stoked to be celebrating in 2009. The world isn’t perfect, but we sure have a lot to celebrate. In just a few weeks, we’ll be joining forces with Mashable to throw one of the best parties we’ve ever had.
Mashable.com, for those of you who aren’t familiar, was voted into the Top 25 best blogs of 2009 by Time Magazine and focuses on social networking, social media, and the ever elusive “web two point oh!”. I’ve had the pleasure of writing for Mashable a couple of times, not the least of which was an article I wrote about the Top 6 Reasons to Start Coworking.
Mashable’s made a name for themselves not just online, but offline, hosting parties and events all over the country. On Friday, May 1st, Mashable is coming to Philadelphia for the first time. They contacted us to partner with their events team on a Mashable Mixer Philly, which we are working together on to organize, promote, and of course the Mashable team will be attending! Their NYC-based team includes: Adam Ostrow (Editor-in-Chief), Sharon Feder (Features Editor), Adam Hirsch (Chief Operations Officer), Brett Petersel (East Coast Events Director).
It gets even better. May 1st marks the our move-in date for the new IndyHall offices on 20 North 3rd Street, and we’re using this opportunity to blow the doors off and celebrate the growth of our community, many of whom are almost as big Mashable fans as they are IndyHall fans. We’ve all worked hard and come together to make Philadelphia a better place to do the things we love. Craptastic economy be damned, our community is thriving. And most importantly, we’re having the time of our lives doing it. That, my friends, is worth celebrating.
This time, we’re trying a new venue: Cavanaugh’s Riverdeck is an awesome, open venue on Delaware Ave, just a few minutes from Old City. We picked this location for size, the possibility of an outdoor venue in the springtime, and a chance to work with a new venue. Also, we know that lots of people will want to come in from out of town, and we thought that parking in that area would probably be easier than Old City on a Friday night.
Who’s Invited?
This event is open to the entire community. You don’t need to be an IndyHall member or a Mashable reader. You just need to be a friendly face who wants to hang out with a rad group of geeks, throw back some drinks, and enjoy each others’ company!
When, where, how?
Date: Friday, May 1st, 2009
Time: 8:00 pm Till Close (that’s 2:00 am for the out-of towners, or the non-party-goers)
Location: Cavanaugh’s River Deck, 417 N Columbus Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19123 (map)
Tickets: Open Admission, 21+ Only Please, but please register yourself on one of our Socialize Pages, so we know you’re coming
Socialize: Facebook , Meetup , Upcoming
Why?: Mashable is in town for the first time, IndyHall is growing like a teenager on miracle grow, $5 drink specials (or better…see below) and it’s a Friday night!
SPONSORS!
Mashable’s sponsor, DUB, “gives you a simple, smart way to exchange contact information from your mobile phone. The contact data loads directly to your existing mobile address book and updates automatically whenever your contact changes their information (phone, email, address, etc.). Create your mobile business card at www.dubmenow.com”
Want to be a sponsor?
IndyHall is looking for a few good sponsors as well. While Cav’s Riverdeck has given us a good deal on drinks, we’d like for our guests to simply come and enjoy themselves. If you’ve been to one of our events in the past, you know that we really make sure that everyone is having the best time they can, and if your company or brand would like to be a part of that, we’d love to have you on board. We’re looking to bring on a few sponsors at $250-500 each to help with the drink tab. All sponsors names, descriptions, and logos will be posted and linked to on all of the event promotion properties (including this site and Mashable.com), as well as being provided signage at the event.
Take a look at our awesome sponsor wall from our Birthday Party in August:
For interest in sponsorship, contact us ASAP!
We can’t wait to show Mashable what Philly is made of, for our new office, and for so many more announcements coming soon!
Hall Together Now – IndyHall in the Citypaper
Filed under: Community Support, In The News, Independents Hall, coworking
Over the last month or so, TechnicallyPhilly co-founder and writer Brian James Kirk has been talking with Geoff and I about the past, present, and future of IndyHall. We’ve been happy to commit the time, because Brian’s done a great job covering our actions before, and we were confident in his ability to really do a great job with a new piece he was asked to do for the Citypaper.
Tonight, the digital version of that article went live, and the print version will be on news stands tomorrow.
A big thanks goes out to Brian, as well as everyone else involved/quoted in the article. I’m particularly happy that Brian made mention of “Starfish and the Spider“, which I’ve been pushing really hard recently as required reading for a lot of my peers.
I’d also like to point out that this is not the first article where Geoff and I were photographed perfecting our punk rock sneers.
Update: further kudos to a progressive arrangement between TechnicallyPhilly.com and the Citypaper, allowing both publications to run the same article. See it on TechnicallyPhilly’s site.
