At the beginning of the month Business Innovation Zone posted a quickie article by Mike Colwell outlining the basics of coworking setups, culture and goals. It’s chock full of resourceful links, especially for coworking in DSM, so hop over and give it a read.
Gwen Barker is one of Impromptu’s newest members, a producer who recently came to DSM from Chicago. We were going to write this profile up in the the third person, but Gwen wrote about herself so well that we’re just leaving it to her. After you read up on Gwen, you can find her on Twitter at @gDUBen, and on LinkedIn.
“I moved here from Chicago only about 4 months ago, but I’m no stranger to Iowa. I went to the University of Iowa and majored In Cinema and Communication Studies. So, basically I am a Film Geek with a purpose. I always knew I wanted to be a Producer, so I kept working for free until someone hired me to do what I always wanted to do.
I’m a Producer—I love connecting talented creatives with great projects and great clients with talented creatives. All the while I watch the bottom line and cultivate relationships. I have mostly worked in advertising and TV, but did have the opportunity to work on a Sundance winning documentary a year or so ago.
Most recently I have been working with an amazingly talented client called Grasshorse that produces high end animation, design, and technology work…and they are located in Winfield, IA of all places! I’m currently broadcasting their name all over, so that people know that this kind of talent can be found here. I love what the Midwest has to offer.
I am loving Impromptu Studio as my coworking space. Working here offers great company, is affordable, and beats having my dog as company day in day out when I have to work in my home office. I mean, no one interrupts me to let them outside every hour. Or, at least not yet!”
Here’s a quick overview of the upcoming events at Impromptu:
Impromptu Mobile Plan Members: Remember that every Wednesday offers late coworking. If you need to invest some late-night hours in your project, we’re open until 10 PM.
This Saturday, Impromptu member and artist Cat 
Rocketship invites the public to a preview of her new works in Demons and Worse Things. This event will be the only Des Moines exhibition of this show featuring over two dozen new oil and mixed media paintings exploring fear, monsters, demons and worse things. Find more information at the Facebook event or through www.catrocketship.com.
The Des Moines Mac Users Group meets at Impromptu on Tuesday, April 27 at 7 PM. More information at http://www.dmmug.org/.
Prepare yourself for Coding Dojo, a new event wherein coders will complete projects under a time limit and in front of an audience. The first event is May 3rd from 7-9 PM.
In a Coding Dojo, coders come together and complete a programming challenge in a fun environment that provides a night to refine ones’ skillz. Coders have no knowledge of the problem until they form teams on the evening of Coding Dojo. The Des Moines Dojo adds the challenge of coding from scratch in front of an audience.The solution of the night’s problem for may require use of various languages, tools, and exercise formats.
Coding Dojo is a non-competitive, collaborative event at which all skill levels are welcome. It’s a fantastic place to test new methods and ideas. Participants should bring their lappies!
Learn more at http://codingdojo.org/ and RSVP at the Facebook event!
And that takes us through the next two weeks. We have another fresh batch of events on the horizon, so stay tuned and stay informed.
The Des Moines Web Geeks are expanding their programming to include a Coding Dojo. We are pretty excited about this and are helping them throw the first one! The first event will take place her on Monday, May 3rd from 7pm – 9pm. Mark your calendars and come on down. If you aren’t sure what Coding Dojo is or want more info… then read on for the full deets!
In a Coding Dojo, coders come together and complete a programming challenge in a fun environment that provides a night to refine ones’ skillz. Coders have no knowledge of the problem until they form teams on the evening of Coding Dojo. The Des Moines Dojo adds the challenge of coding from scratch in front of an audience.The solution of the night’s problem for may require use of various languages, tools, and exercise formats.
Coding Dojo is a non-competitive, collaborative event at which all skill levels are welcome. It’s a fantastic place to test new methods and ideas. Participants should bring their lappies!
The problems are always new and provide a challenge for all levels of coder.
An exercise is successful when coders complete the challenge within the time limit AND can repeat the solution at home, alone.
The evening runs as follows:
- 10 minutes: Introduction & Team Formation
- 5 minutes: Problem Explanation
- 40 minutes code, code, code
- 5 minutes: BREAK
- 40 minutes: code some more
- 20 minutes: solution presentations
- Beers at local pub. (optional)
Learn more at http://codingdojo.org or contact Matthew Nuzum: newz@bearfruit.org
We want to share the coworking experience with as many people as possible. To that end, coworking will be absotively posolutely free the first Wednesday of every month.
Drop in anytime between 9am and 10pm the first Wednesday of every month and experience coworking for yourself.
Can’t make our open coworking days but want to learn more? Drop us a line to set up a tour.
We’re streamlining, iterating, updating, organizing. There was a big “Go Button” floating ’round here and somebody slammed it like their life depended on it. We’ve boiled everything down to two simple coworking plans. No matrices or complicated formulas, lots of freedom.
Desk Coworking
Grab a desk – no really, grab it – plant your things, call it home, and work anytime 24/7: $200/month.
Mobile Coworking
Pull up a chair at one of the shared tables or workstations during coworking hours for only $50/month – that’s as many days a month as you want.
New Extended Hours
In addition to our normal 9am-6pm M-F hours we are staying open late every Wednesday until 10pm for some extra open-coworking goodness.
Impromptu is all about community, and we want to build as large and strong of a coworking community as we can. With the new plans, you could afford to cowork just to have a place to call home for your blog or side projects. Getting signed up is as simple as sending a note to hello@impromptustudio.com!
Here at Impromptu Studio we are asking the community to help participate and become more active in our space. Some of the opportunities are:
Community Manager: We are looking for a responsible individual that loves working around others. This individual would help spread the word, organize events with outside vendors, give tours to new members, and help maintain our blog. In exchange for helping us out we would carve out a spot in the studio for you to work from for little to no cost.
Community Ambassadors: We also would like to ask everyone to be on the lookout for people that should be utilizing coworking and possibly don’t realize that it exists. We have made amazing strides in educating the public as to the concept of coworking and how we feel that it benefits all types of fields and not just the tech related ones that it was founded by. Entrepreneurs and small business owners employ 70% of all workers and we want to be a place that helps then achieve their goals and realize their dreams. Even if that means that they eventually leave us because the become so successful that they need a bigger space. Our hope for all our members is that they will eventually become successful enough to “outgrow” us.
Finally, we are putting together a list of the top 25 things that came out of Impromptu Studio in 2009. We have a good sized list already but want to make sure nothing escapes our list. SO, shoot all of your suggestions for inclusion over to info@impromptustudio.com!
This is your chance to create a cycling tour that highlights the best of the best sustainability stuff in Iowa!
Come for FREE food and friends. Executive Director of Urban Ambassadors, Adam Hammes, shares what has made the past 3 years of the Sustainable Living Bike Tour in California a success, and how we might do the same in Iowa. Then, we open to YOU to make it a reality ~ brainstorm routes and stops; gauge rider interest; just put your two cents in or be an integral part of a future trip. It’s up to you!
Date: Wednesday, February 3
Time: 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
Place: Impromptu Studio
Official Movement Bash Poster (Click for Large Version)
DES MOINES, Iowa (October 8, 2009) – Impromptu Studio plays host to movers and shakers from across the Midwest at the first ever Movement Bash on Thursday, October 22. A select group from Des Moines’ growing tech and creative communities are joining forces to celebrate entrepreneurship with free food, free beverages, and free entertainment. Organizers are creating a casual networking evening for entrepreneurs and creatives from the Omaha, Kansas City, and Des Moines metro areas coming to town for Highlight Midwest.
“There’s a lot of good energy in Des Moines right now, and it’s connected in a big way to the same energy that’s growing across the whole Midwest,” said Dan Shipton, an organizer of the event and co-founder of Impromptu Studio. “Movement Bash will be a great way for big brains and big ideas to come together, network, and have a good time. No presentations, just conversations.”
To keep the event free and open, organizers tapped 18 19 different local businesses for support including tech start-ups, law firms, and creative agencies.
“Everyone I called was really excited,” Shipton said. “[Our sponsors] are a broad mix and involve a lot of businesses that are part of this movement of genuine innovation in flyover country. Events like Movement Bash, BarCamp, BIG Omaha, Ignite Des Moines, Advance Week…they’re tied to the new platform that real movers and shakers in the Midwest are building.”
Organizers are encouraging Movement Bash attendees to cut loose and come share their passions over food, drink, and activities. Rock Band, social games, an anonymous “suggestion box” for entrepreneurs, conversation-sparking nametags and other activities will help prevent wallflower-ing and keep the evening lively, Shipton said.
Movement Bash is being presented by Paragon IT, BitMethod, Law Offices Of Brett J. Trout, P.C., Public Relations Project, Grand Consulting, Click! Photography, Internet Solver, Napkin Sketch, Tweetup Badges, Test of Time Design, createWOWmedia, Market Street Media Foundry, Catchwind, 25 Connections, 48Web, Spindustry, SmartyPig, Olde Main Brewing Co. and Mars Café.
An RSVP is requested but not required and available at http://movementbash.eventbrite.com. Impromptu Studio is located at 300 SW 5th St, Des Moines IA 50309.
Impromptu Studio is known for a few things: being a hub for Des Moines entrepreneurs, highlighting and connecting our community, and throwing KICKASS shindigs! In October, Impromptu Studio plans to do ALL OF THEM AT ONCE! We lined up ~20 sponsors (which we kindly referred to as the Movers & Shakers of Des Moines) to help make this a reality so a BIG shout out is in order for them. A larger, more legible version of the poster below will be be gracing local businesses and available for download shortly!
On October 22nd, 2009 the Movers & Shakers of Des Moines are throwing a big party for all of the folks who are helping put the Midwest back on the map. This party is called the MOVEMENT BASH and it will include free bevvies, free food, and free entertainment:
Keep checking back for more info about the BASH but here is the lowdown-
- What: MOVEMENT BASH
- When: October 22nd, 2009. 6pm.
- Where: Impromptu Studio
- RSVP at EventBrite
