South Florida

Indie Craft Bazaar : Peace, Love and Craftyness @ Cinema Paradiso

info@liberatr.net (Liberatr.net) — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 06:52:07 +0000

Jul 18 01:00 - 06:00

Location

Cinema Paradiso

503 SE 6th Street

Fort Lauderdale, FL, 33301

Link:

Indie Craft Bazaar

Come join us at Cinema Paradiso on July 18, 2010 from 1-6 PM for an Indie Craft Bazaar, chock full of handmade, vintage, repurposed, recycled and vegan goods!

Ain't Your Country Kitchen Mama's Crafts! We'll be selling all sorts of cute, unique and quirky goods including jewelry, hand-sewn, crocheted and knitted items, original art, vintage clothing and items, baked goods and other yummy things for non-vegans and vegans alike, paper goods, henna tattoos and more! Music, arts and crafts, food, beer and prizes! What more could you ask for!

$3 Admission - Includes ticket for a raffle full of handmade prizes!

FREE PARKING!!

FREE T-shirt tie-dye station! (Just bring a white tee or purchase one there and we'll supply the rest!)

FIRST 100 GUESTS RECEIVE FREE SWAG BAG FULL OF GOODIES!

http://www.getupandcraft.com for more info + sign up for our newsletter and receive an EXTRA ticket into the raffles!

Community or Meetup:

SoFlo Creative Meetup

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South Florida

A Community of Mentorship

info@liberatr.net (Liberatr.net) — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 04:06:41 +0000

I'm giving up control of Florida Creatives in Orlando. That's the short version of this announcement. If you have a short attention span, you've now skipped to the end and read the last page of the novel. I imagine this post will be a long one.

Right now, I'm sitting in a Hotel in San Francisco, getting ready to head to the last day of the North American Drupal Conference. This is my third DrupalCon, and I don't imagine I will miss a single one of them in the next several years, barring another volcano disaster, hurricane, earthquake or tsunami. In all seriousness, the Drupal Community has made me repeat a statement I once made about Florida Creatives Happy Hours in Orlando - I bend over backwards to attend our monthly conversations, and I evangelize them non-stop to almost every single person I meet, including here at the summit of the worldwide Drupal community.

I honestly believe every person here at DrupalCon needs, just as much as the folks in Orlando, Brevard and the rest of the state do, a safe, inviting place to share ideas, meet new friends, hatch schemes, and be among your peers. A major goal of Florida Creatives is to help you tap into a support group, and potentially make connections with people that will last a lifetime.

Here's a personal case study, and it happens to be about the birth of this idea:

Story Time with Uncle Ryan
In 2006, the first-ever BlogOrlando was held at Rollins College, put together by the legendary Josh Hallett. Through an interesting course of events, I arranged to meet Alex Rudloff for the first time at the unconference. Alex and I got connected because of his job at AOL. I was testing out one of their products, which Alex helped to write, and his user avatar was a UCF mascot. I was so amazed that a UCF grad was working at such a high-profile company (please, try to remember 2006), and I contacted him. He and I had recently heard about BlogOrlando, and we were very excited to find out about the state of social media in Orlando. It turns out we got in on the ground floor. To this day, I count Alex among my most trusted advisors. If it weren't for an event like BlogOrlando, our paths may never have crossed. This story is so clear in my mind because of the huge and unmeasurable affect it has had on my life.

BlogOrlando 2006 was also where I met John Rife, whom is no less important to the origin and growth of Florida Creatives, and my personal ideas about entrepreneurship, community, social media, and countless other subjects. John, Alex and I rarely see each other, but I always value every minute I have to be in the same space (physically or virtually) as this pair of amazing and charismatic gentlemen.

After BlogOrlando, I had the thought, "What happens now that it's over?" Just having the knowledge of those two people's existence was enough to make me want to make sure there would always be a place for making connections like that, and from the very beginning, I was interested in taking it to the entire State of Florida. It's no secret that Florida has several problems to solve, such as our creative identity, global reputation, shared culture, and heritage to name a few. Our region has a set of unique challenges that many people are trying to apply cookie-cutter solutions to, and they're not nearly as world-changing as they could be. Take a look at our unemployment rate - compared to other states - as just one indication that we're under-serving our local needs.

The very first thing I discussed with John relating to Florida Creatives was creating a massive banner-waving of our unique culture and strengths as a region - what makes Florida the place that it is above all else - the people, and groups, and their collected passion, work, history, and stories - both shared and personal. I called it the Florida Creative Summit, and I envisioned something that resembled the Orlando Fringe Festival, South by Southwest, a 48-hour Film Festival, and a Summer Camp Skit Night. Some of the attractions would be put together by people who have barely known each other for a few days, while others would be masterfully-crafted demonstrations that built on decades of experience, truly standing on the shoulders of giants. Finally, I wanted to be able to invite my mother, grandmother, and all of my friends to at least a small part of this gathering. Now I would say it's not so much important that they can attend in person - TED has taught me the value of recording and sharing these experiences, and how that sharing, and the act of doing so, can inspire every single person on the planet.

John, ever the realist, and already acting as a great adviser, asked me one simple question: How?

How do we get these thousands of people to show up?
How do we fund it?
How do we convince the right people that they belong?
How do we get them to share?

I decided that this journey might take (at the time) 2 years or more; here we are three and a half years later with no Florida Creatives Summit. BarCamps, Ignite, and dozens of other events have begun to resemble that original vision, and that's an amazing start. As I learned in my years as a musician, what happens in between the loud and dramatic parts of a performance only serve to enhance those exciting and memorable moments. In traditional music you don't see many pieces - and certainly not entire concerts - that are all fortissimo, all impact. Every art form has similar rules. HERE ON THE WEB, IT WOULD BE COMPARABLE TO TYPING WITH CAPS LOCK ON. Therefore, I tried to decide how to create the crescendo that would lead to the big cymbal crash, the final note, the fermata at the grande finale.

The answer came in an instant: Florida Creatives Happy Hour. Several of my past experiences made me realize the value of simple gatherings of likeminded individuals. Since I started hosting them in December of 2006, my belief remains strong that in-person social gatherings are absolutely essential to the health and growth of a community. Right now at the DrupalCon, many people who have worked together -shared blood, sweat and tears - are meeting for the first time face-to-face, and they would all tell you how amazing the experience is.

Sidebar:
I was talking to someone here are DrupalCon about the similarities between this event and a tour of the Grateful Dead. The parallels are striking, and probably too numerous to mention. I see our monthly gatherings of Florida Creatives Happy Hour at local watering holes around the state with the same eyes that my Drupal friend and I used to compare the Drupal Community to the Dead-Heads.

Sadly, in the last year, I have not been able to attend as many of "my own" Florida Creatives Happy Hours in Orlando as I would have liked, always because of travel. In Orlando, my lack of attendance is a major failure, and a number of problems face the group on these days. The events are not very well-attended, new people may not recognize anyone, as they may be looking for me in particular, and the following day brings several comments to the website with lost and confused Creatives looking for answers. This is truly unfortunate, and a definite sign that the Orlando group has a serious "bus problem". If I get hit by a bus, or even if I'm out of town, nobody has the responsibility to take my place. The number of travel days on my calendar will be increasing in 2010 and beyond - my business providing training on-site and my involvement with the Drupal Open Source community will continue to pull me out of Orlando, creating unavoidable conflicts.

There is a great solution, and that is, simply put, you.

If you're reading this post, chances are you've been to an event, met me somewhere out in the world, or are possibly here for some historical perspective. (If you are from the Future, have we created the Florida Creatives Summit yet? I'm dying to know how that turns out!) It also means you are a member of this community, and that has many ramifications.

In a very Starfish and the Spider way, every member of this community has the same level of responsibility as everyone else, as well as the same ability to use the resources of our community for your own purposes. When I say that, I'm describing the ideal scenario. The Orlando group has not been operating very close to the ideal, however, and that is completely my fault. Say what you will about my contributions, but my one largest failure is that I have not created an environment that distributes the responsibility properly. There are many models in the world for coordinating the actions, and owning the hearts of, a group of people, and I would like to see them flourish here at Florida Creatives - some are well-tested and others are emerging. I know that whatever our group looks like in the future, there will need to be more than one person doing the job I have been doing for the last three years in order to ensure we can maintain the atmosphere and grow the community.

I have been talking to the active, passionate people a bit in the last year about how to hand over the responsibility, and I wonder if I shouldn't just treat them like baby birds leaving the nest. Ready? ::push!:: If you feel like you have anything at all to contribute, such as adding links to the wiki, keeping lots of cool events in the calendar, bringing name tags and greeting new people, or even keeping people up to date on the various and sundry web communities - Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouNoodle, Upcoming, and new possibilities that may not yet be realized. Sometimes during the week of an event, I wonder how effective it all really is, but then 6 o'clock rolls around and people start showing up.

I've been really proud of the number of new people we get coming to events every month because of referrals from friends and coworkers, but I wonder if there aren't a few simple things we can do to retain those new people and make them want to come back, get them to create a profile on the website and start talking about the cool projects they work on, or ideas they have for new creations.

At the possibility that I leave someone out, I'd like to extend a thanks to the following members for being "out there" and constantly showing up for conversations. It's also an invitation to volunteer some time in order to keep our meetups healthy. Erik Baldwin, whose work has been helping to spruce up the website. Karie Sue Brown, who seems to be involved in 17 things at any given minute of the day but still has tons of energy, which is inspiring by itself. A new friend who hasn't been active in Florida Creatives, but I really hope will be, is Elizabeth Farmer. Adam Wiggall, Terry Pappy, David Rogers, Gregg Pollack, Cory Collier, Steve Matheney, Josh Blount, and so many other awesome and inspiring people here in town - the point is that their faces are so important to making everyone feel welcome, and that they can share freely.

Our next meetup will actually be during the Orlando Fringe Festival, and I've decided to mix things up by holding an Ignite / Pecha Kucha / Battledecks event to get people used to sharing in short bursts. More info on this will come very soon, but I wanted to mention it here. In the past, I was unsure about how to make the events more structured without losing the social atmosphere, so we'll call this May event an experiment. There will still be plenty of time for Happy Hour, but there will be some "show and tell" too.

The next step is really to just talk. I feel like I've said tons at this point, so now it's time to hear from all of you. This is really all about you, if I haven't made that painfully obvious. Let's build something, and then get on to making the Creative Summit happen!

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Southwest

Creative Resources Across the Globe

info@liberatr.net (Liberatr.net) — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 16:41:34 +0000

Outside of Florida, a whole tumultuous world of content exists. What are some that may be useful to folks on this site?

Video

TED: Ideas worth spreading Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world
South by SouthWest on YouTube Every year in March, SXSW entertains thousands of attendees at its Interactive, Film and Music conferences & festivals in Austin TX. This year SXSW will feature 250+ films, 1800+ bands, 400+ talks, 4 exhibitions, and hundreds of special events.

Blogs

Creatives DC Blog Discussion on creative clusters, industries and the creative economy to help District of Columbia creatives lead innovation
TechStars Seed capital and mentorship for startups. Boulder, CO

Contests

Capitol Factory is an early stage accelerator program for tech startups that provides a small amount of seed capital and weekly mentoring sessions by entrepreneurs who have founded successful companies. Based in Austin, TX

Please feel free to edit this page and add your own suggestions.

Startups

BarCamp Orlando 2010

info@liberatr.net (Liberatr.net) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:07:18 +0000

Apr 03 09:00 - 18:00

Location

Wall Street Plaza

19 North Orange Avenue

Orlando, FL, 32801

Link:

Official BarCampOrlando Website

Artists, trend-spotters, activists, geeks and performers from Orlando and all around the SouthEast will be flocking to Orlando for an annual event unlike any other in Central Florida. BarCamp is a conference with no keynote speaker, no pre-defined schedule and no admission fee. It sounds like a bunch of chaos, but in fact it's one of the most fun days you can participate in. It's very easy to be involved, speak your mind, meet likeminded folks, maybe get a job, or just hand out and listen to all the passionate conversations happening in and out of the rooms where sessions are held.

This ad-hoc day of sessions invites participants to control the programming by preparing a 20 minute talk on any creative topic and presenting it to other participants. A large board separated into time slots will be opened at 9AM. Those wishing to lead discussions should be present early to write the name of his or her session on the board first thing in the morning.

Or ask Nick about BarCamp:

There will be an hour break in the middle for lunch, which is being provided thanks to our generous sponsors.

We've still got a few $500 sponsorship slots left, for which you'll be on our t-shirts, on flyers, and in our hearts. If you or anyone else you know is interested in helping out a great cause, contact Tim (tim AT timrosenblatt.com) for details.

Get registered today! http://barcamporlando2010.eventbrite.com

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Southwest

Coworking in Tallahassee: Homebase

info@liberatr.net (Liberatr.net) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:53:44 +0000

I was contacted by Emily Wray via the global Coworking list because of some posts I made recently, and now that I know there is a coworking movement in Tallahassee, I'm very excited about all of this!

Homebase is community/collaborative coworking space for Tallahassee's independent professionals... Think cafe culture meets your home office.

Think about it: Tampa Coworking has Ideafield, Miami Coworking has Brikolodge, we have CoLab and Blank Space (and Julia from UrbanThink! has started coming forward about a new space), and now Tallahassee?

A quick Google search even revealed this Jacksonville Coworking Survey posted on someone's Tumblr last year. Nearby is Office Divvy, which is sort of between Daytona and Jacksonville in Palm Coast.

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Tallahassee

Florida Creatives Happy Hour #38

info@liberatr.net (Liberatr.net) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:52:30 +0000

Jan 18 18:00 - 21:00

Location

Crooked Bayou

50 E Central Blvd

Orlando, FL, 32801

Link:

RSVP at Upcoming.Y!

Come join Orlando's longest-running art and tech happy hour for our first gathering of the new year! Lots of exciting things are happening in Central Florida, and people who are well-connected and passionate about the future can't afford to miss out on these tribal gatherings.

Whether you're a poet, an actor, a photographer, a producer, a marketer, a programmer, an entrepreneur or a combination of them all, you'll find some great conversation and new friends by attending, and coming back every month on the third Monday.

We also have a chapter in Melbourne that has been meeting for over a year now with great success. If you'd like to see events like this in your town, feel free to start one!

Crooked Bayou has some of the best food in downtown Orlando, and drink specials for people who show up in the first hour. Monday is also when they run a special on their wings - check them out. Of course, the traditional "hot tots" and fried pickles are always a favorite.

P.S. Please bring a camera and snap some photos! You'll want to show your friends what it was like.

Community or Meetup:

FLCreatives Happy Hour Orlando

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Startups

Florida Creatives 3 Year Anniversary

info@liberatr.net (Liberatr.net) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:08:37 +0000

Dec 21 18:00 - 21:00

Location

Crooked Bayou

50 E Central Blvd

Orlando, FL, 32801

Link:

RSVP at Upcoming.Y!

In just a few days, Florida Creatives will have been a regular event in Orlando every month for 3 years. This is a cause for celebration. I hope you can all make it out to the festivities.

2010 is going to be a big year for Florida Creatives, with the Brevard circle turning 1 year old, and new circles starting in South Florida and Lakeland.

Come and meet some likeminded folks - people who are always learning, working to change the world, looking to create something new, or people who just like being social.

Thanks for 3 awesome years of your input, ideas, friendship and support. This group is reaching a new plateau, it is entirely due to our members, whom we ask little of, but who give us so much.

Admission is free, there is no sign-up form, there are no nametags, just come and be yourself, and the creatives will guide you from there!

It's not a user group, it's not an unconference, it's not a geek dinner, it's not a meetup or a networking event. Yet, people who enjoy these types of events will find a home at our table.

The best way I can tie all these folks together is with the string of Innovation - that magic pixie dust that inspires us when we see it in others, rewards us when we achieve it ourselves, and pat our peers on the back when they can do it without bragging.

Indeed, whether they be engineers, entrepreneurs, artists, actors, writers, or anyone else, the spark of invention brings us all to the marketplace, and has kept us coming back for over 2 years.

For those keeping tabs, we've also got a Florida Creatives on the Space Coast as well, and a new group getting started in South Florida. Creatives are getting organized all over the state, and being a part of the movement is as simple as showing up and having a conversation.

Community or Meetup:

FLCreatives Happy Hour Orlando

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Startups

LinkedIn Group - South Florida Creatives

info@liberatr.net (Liberatr.net) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:03:28 +0000

For those of you South Florida Kids on LinkedIn, I went ahead and added a South Florida Creatives LinkedIn Group. You need manager approval to join, and once I get Travis in there, hopefully he will take over approving members.

The overall FLCreatives Group has 99 members right now, and the Brevard FL Creatives sub-group has 18 members. I'm sure South Florida can step up and make it to 24 (just like on this site) with no problem.

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South Florida

Site Going Down for Maintenance Today

info@liberatr.net (Liberatr.net) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:54:22 +0000

Attention all:

If you can see this message, the site has been upgraded! Please let me know what is messed up... the upgrade went a little TOO smooth.

Update: OpenID login as well as Facebook Connect are working again. Now I am going to send a comment to see if the notifications still go out.

In a few minutes, I will be disabling commenting and any new posts or edits. I don't want the content on the site to be inaccessible, but I am going to be upgrading the site software, so I don't want any changes to get lost in the process.

~~The site should be back to normal in a few hours, running on some new software!~~

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Startups

LessConf in Jacksonville Florida

info@liberatr.net (Liberatr.net) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:39:17 +0000

Oct 17

Location

Times-Union Center - Terry Theater

300 W. Water St.

jacksonville, FL, 32202

Link:

LessConf Details

We just announced that we're putting on a conference in Jacksonville, Florida - Oct 17th 2009.

We have an awesome venue and a killer set of speakers for this one day conference. First 100 signups for the conference get to eat lunch with the speakers.

Gary Vaynerchuk of WineLibrary.tv
Derek Sivers founder of CDBaby.com
Kevin Hale founder of Wufoo.com
Mike McDerment founder of Freshbooks.com
David Hauser of Grasshopper.com/GotVmail.com
Eoghan McCabe and Des Traynor of Contrast.ie

Learn more about the speakers

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Startups