A group of #VegasTech community members recently started a coworking night event at Itsy Bitsy, a restaurant located at the ground floor of The Ogden at 150 Las Vegas Blvd N. Attendees of the event can cowork, network, listen to speakers, meet the tech community and enjoy some ramen.
“We were inspired by the coworking events that popped up around town in the last 4 years such as Jelly and Pop-Up-Coworking,” said Graham Kahr, VP of Social/Digital for Wendoh Media and co-organizer for The Web along with the Corner Bar Management team. “We have seen people working on their laptops at Itsy so often in the past that it just seemed like a natural fit and the venue had never really been used for an event like this before – but it worked.”
Kahr says the idea came to be over a lunch meeting at Itsy Bitsy.
“The term “canoodling” was used and it sparked a conversation about coworking there,” he explained. “It’s right in the heart of downtown, we could offer food and drink specials.”
The organizers of the event believe events like The Web are good for people to share their experiences, network, make friends, and learn something new.
“Las Vegas is a small city which empowers us to be a tighter tech community,” said Kahr. “Helping each other grow and learn makes us all smarter and happier together.”
“The overall goal of The Web is to bring our rapidly evolving tech community together to discuss ideas and get to know one another,” added Alexis Smith, Marketing Manager at Corner Bar Management. “All it takes is a little collaboration between friends to spark big ideas that have the power to change our community. Itsy, and Corner Bar as a whole, wants to provide an environment where these ideas can grow and flourish.”
The Web launched the first event on Wednesday, August 5, 2015 and 50 people attended to cowork, mix, and mingle.
“Jimmy Jacobson delivered a talk about Wedgies’ involvement with the State of the Union and the White House,” said Kahr. “And the ramen and PBR was flowing. Coworking happened from 8:00pm to just before 11:00pm. There was a good mix of people on laptops and others just socializing.”
The organizers are planing to host a second event on August 19, 2015 that will feature more speakers, great food and drink specials, and a similar format. Sara Hill from The Mill will be speaking. The event kicks off at 7:00pm.
“We know it will take some time to get it dialed in but we are committed to making it a successful biweekly meetup,” explained Kahr. “We’d love for you to join the Facebook event and invite your friends. It’s great just to show up and hang out for a bit. Tell the people you work with about it. Bring a funky idea you’ve been toying with to the event. If you’re passionate about a topic or you have a talk you want to give to the community, we’d love to have you. This event is all about the attendees! Thank you for supporting The Web and let us know what we can do to make it better because at the end of the day, The Web is all about the people wrapped up in it.”
