First, A Small Disclaimer

It is time to start putting the world on notice. Des Moines is ready to step up.

Don’t let Des Moines’ polite people and little big city atmosphere fool you – it’s home to a tech savvy, hard workin’, ass kickin’ crowd of creative workers with opportunities to spare.

As local social networking consultant Nathan Wright puts it: “Des Moines is the greatest city in the world because you can make epic shit happen here, period.”

Des Moines is home to TweetUp Badges, the Sarah Lacy Square, a butter cow, 80/35, Market Street Media Foundry, and, of course, Impromptu Studio – the first (and most badass) coworking joint in the Midwest ran by Daniel Shipton. Des Moines has grown a lot in the two years since Fast Company proclaimed it “The Hippest City” in 2007 and it’s not slowing down anytime soon. Locals work hard and play harder, so we had to celebrate our first anniversary as part of Advance: A Week to Move Forward!

Advance: A Week to Move Forward

cultivate:dsm is launching with a week dedicated to collaboration, inspiration and Moving Forward. A partnership of Impromptu Studio and Market Street Media Foundry and the brainchild of Dan Shipton, cultivate:dsm is dedicated to providing a platform for big thinkers to rally the support they need to act big.

Advance will be held July 20-25 with events at Impromptu and Market Street. All Advance events are free and open to the public. The program is designed for creative and business professionals alike with useful, casual events encouraging people to work together and get to work.

Wednesday’s events will anchor Advance week with conversation, learning, and socializing. Acclaimed author Tara Hunt (The Whuffie Factor) will lead a presentation and Q&A about using social capital to build your business. A social meetup with conversation and karaoke led by local and national coworking and arts leaders will conclude the evening. Other Advance: A Week to Move Forward events include the Ignite Des Moines Remix luncheon, Your Baby’s Ugly aesthetic critique night, Rewrite copywriting workshop, Freelancer Friday, Expert Mode, and Market Day.

Bring on the Whuffaoke!

Did someone say Karaoke?  HELL YES.  Wednesday, July 22nd the Whuffaoke crew are helping us celebrate our one year anniversary in style!

“Shortly after the successful release of Tara’s book The Whuffie Factor, Tara desperately wanted a way to have the time and space to write her next book and continue to travel around. Taking a look at her current situation, she knew that, in order to do that, she would need to quit her job and move back to Canada (where she is a citizen). She picked Montreal, because it’s awesome and beautiful and incredibly affordable to be a writer in. Within minutes, it dawned on her that this was the PERFECT opportunity to pursue her dream of karaoke-ing across America. Why just move when you can move AND bring karaoke happiness in the process?” – via the Whuffaoke site

More information and the full schedule for Advance Week can be found the cultivate:dsm site.

Since opening our doors August 4th, 2008 we have had the pleasure of meeting and working with many people. The video below recaps a few of our favorite moments from the last few months.

In case you’ve missed any of our recent press coverage we’ve been in print and web:

The Business Record

Living Downtown Des Moines

Star 102.5 Blog

We’ve been on the news:

KCCI

KDSM

And on the radio:

IPR

Justin Brady of Test of Time Design presented at our Ignite Des Moines event on “Networking for Nerds”. We felt that this was especially important because so many of us “nerds” have trouble with this vital business skill. Justin provided us with a list of easy ways to get started at a networking event.

1. Wear a name tag dang it

2. Camera + Photos + Business Cards = Web Traffic

3. Piggy Backing

4. Picking off the Lone Ranger

5. Wear an “Ask me about” tag or pin

6. Be the First to Arrive

7. Be the Last to Sit

8. Bring paper Forget the Pen

9. Ask. Ask. Ask.

10. Get their Card, Follow Up!

Watch his full talk and download the pdf with a BONUS tip!

During Ignite Des Moines, Claire Celsi talked about the growing homeless population in Des Moines.  To that end we are organizing a #dmtweetup that will band tweeps together to feed the homeless at a local shelter.  This is a great idea and we thank Claire for bringing it to our attention.

Feeding off Claire’s energy and passion, we wanted to find other ways to take the scale of Ignite Des Moines and use it to harness the power of our community for good deeds.  Our founder, Daniel Shipton, had an idea come to mind that could help out ALL charities and causes: ActionCamp.

ActionCamp is about gathering really smart people with diverse backgrounds that want to make a difference in their local communities.  We put these bright minds in the same room, provide information about the important local causes and charities, then let them brainstorm about how to make a difference.  What can the power of people accomplish in 30 hours? We will find out!

Mark your calendars! ActionCamp Des Moines will take place on December 6th & 7th here at Impromptu Studio.

Visit the ActionCamp Des Moines website to find out more details!

Sign up for ActionCamp Des Moines on Upcoming.

Impromptu Studio Action Camp Press Release

WOW! That is all we can say. It has been 4 days since Ignite Des Moines and we still can’t believe how great it went. The next day we figured it up and there were 80 people at Impromptu Studio that night. We had six entries to the egg catapult contest including a creative approach involving a contestant attempting to catch his egg before it splat against the wall.

Thank you to everyone who presented that night! All of the presentations are were inspiring, and everyone did a fantastic job with the 5 minutes time limit. The improv power points were extremely funny and sufficiently embarrassed our own Abbie Shipton.

All in all we had a wonderful time at the event and feel so blessed to have the support of our friends and the community. Thank you all for supporting us, we hope you had as much fun as we did.

Check out some of our photos.

Video recap by CreateWowMedia:

Ignite Des Moines was a huge success and had an amazing turnout.  Filling Impromptu Studio  with talented energetic people is what we have always aimed for. We would like nothing more than to have you all there working with us everyday and seeing you all there gave us a great idea.  We would like to extend an offer to Des Moines: come and cowork with us for the month of November for FREE.

Those who come and cowork will be taking advantage of our Lite Membership.  If you sign up for a Full Membership during November you will get the first month at the Lite Membership ($175) price. Take a look at the plans for more details.

Impromptu Studio’s Founder, Daniel Shipton, is organizing Ignite Des Moines. Ignite Des Moines is built off a very simple premise: If you had five minutes to talk to the people of Des Moines what would you say? What if you only got 20 slides and they rotated automatically after 15 seconds?

Ignite Des Moines will be a chance for its finest to gather, network, and IGNITE! Participants should be ready to learn and laugh, be inspired and entertained. The event will showcase the creative class of Des Moines by listening to the Ignite Talks, participating in short impromptu presentations, and entering into the Egg Catapult Contest. Additionally, the Iowa Web Awards will be announcing its winners throughout the night. Mark your calendars and RSVP now because is an event you won’t want to miss.

We are hoping to fill Impromptu to the gills with local entrepreneurs, innovators, and up and comers. We are looking for sponsors to help us make this event great. So whether you just want to participate or would like to be a sponsor, check out www.ignitedesmoines.com.