Likemind.orl February 19, 2010

I had a great meeting with someone from the Urban Think Foundation today, and I thought we could send them a little bit of business. However, the bookstore does not open until 11AM, so that means we'd have to start a bit later than normal. I imagine the big topic of discussion this month will be Coworking.

More than 3 years ago, I heard about these two marketing guys / geeks from New York who had started an event they held on Friday mornings for coffee and conversation. The first few were just the two of them, but as they invited people and the word got out, it grew until it started getting on the radar all over the world. Now Likemind happens in scores of cities on every continent, and Orlando has been on that list almost since the beginning.

Likemind happens downtown, and everyone is welcome. Bring a few friends, get some coffee, and tell us what's on your mind.

The point of Likemind is the exchange of ideas - it's not a networking event, it's a discussion. There are tons of networking events. They suck. There are tons of user groups. Their format is generally a presentation. We all know from the Cluetrain Manifesto, and from events like BlogOrlando and BarCamp, that conversations are powerful things.

Groups in 60+ other cities all over the world will be getting together for conversations with their community - sure, they may not have 2+ years of these events behind them, but we do.

One of the first reasons we started Likemind was to encourage the coworking scene locally - that's grown up and there are now several healthy groups in town.

You show up, I'll buy coffee. Just like the old days.

Location? (must have good coffee)
UrbanThink! is a great place, and it's just outside of downtown in Thornton Park. DO NOT park in front of the 7-11. There is a pretty affordable parking garage you can access from Washington, and some street parking closeby (meters, $1 per hour). If you're willing to walk, there is free street parking along Eola Dr, or further South and East.

It's interesting to see how much of Orlando's Likemind is visible on the internet - Alex, Cory and Florida Creatives appear in the first 3 pages of google for "likemind", along with Piers and Noah (who started the event in New York), San Fran, Berlin, Italy, Austin, Milwaukee, Tokyo, and a few others. Orlando gets more hits on those 3 pages than the founders!

Please twitter about it, grow the community, talk it up, put it on your calendar, and help Orlando leave a wake on it's way sailing to the top of the world.

Official Website: http://floridacreatives.com/coworking/event/likemindorl