Feb 6 – May 15 2012

FemSexComm, a modified version of the long-running and popular female sexuality workshop at UC Berkeley and Brown University, was held for the first time in Fall 2011 in San Francisco. It is currently running at 518 Valencia in San Francisco’s Mission District and at Tech Liminal in downtown Oakland. The sessions for Spring are now closed. Read below for more information and check FemSexComm website for information on the next series.

MISSION :

FemSexComm provides a safe space for exploration, encourages honest dialogue, and facilitates collective learning.  It engages and grapples with the social forces that inform individual experiences, and seeks to build allyship.

The Female Sexuality Workshop for the Community (FemSexComm) is a 15-week workshop that aims to create a mindful, respectful, and open environment for participants to validate their experiences, challenge their ideas, and learn with and from others.  Evolving from the long-running, student-led courses at UC Berkeley and Brown University, FemSexComm seeks to bring the values of empowerment, diversity, and community to a space outside of the university setting.

FemSexComm encourages exploration of identities, boundaries, desires, experiences, power and privilege. Through group discussions, activities, and individual assignments, the workshop explores what it means to take ownership of one’s own body, pleasure, language, and education. Peer facilitators foster introspection and encourage participants to develop empowered, informed relationships with themselves and build ally relationships with others. FemSexComm promotes intentionality, agency, informed decision-making, and consent in all areas of life. Themes include pleasure, health, gender, consent, boundaries, privilege, power, body image, communication, race, class, orgasms, masturbation, sex, kink, and sexual identities.

TOPICS AND WORKSHOP STRUCTURE:
The workshop topics include: female sexual health, anatomy and physiology, orgasms, masturbation, partnered sex, erotica, sex work, sexual diversity, cultural influences, race, class, power, privilege, communication and consent, boundary violations, and community building.  The workshop utilizes group activities, discussion of analytical readings, self-exploratory assignments, and guest speakers.

You have a newsletter. Now what? Hands-on class with Oakland Local Academy’s experts on how to build newsletter landing pages and measuring results for your newsletter.

If you’re wondering what a landing page is and whether you need one, this class is for you.
If you want to build landing pages and want to keep visitors, instead of having them bounce away, his class is for you.
Make live links work for you–here’s how to do that.
Improve your language for conversion and permissions

We’ll also take a look at Google Analytics, open rates, and conversion pipelines.

Cost:$35

Instructor, Debi Mason

Oakland Local Academy’s Debi Mason is the queen of all things newsletter. In addition to managing Oakland Local’s 2X month What’s On email newsletter, Debi works with a variety of local non-profits and arts organizations to help them organize and send out their own newsletters. She has taken trainings from Constant Contact and is great  at sharing what she knows.

Do you have a newsletter for your group, business or project? And does anyone read it? This hands-on class is for people who have a newsletter, but want to make what they have better—increasing their open rate, click-though and subscriber rate.

Whether you use Constant Contact, Mailchimp, Vertical Response or one of the many other platforms available–this is a class where you can improve what you’re doing through getting tried and tested tips and advice.

Cost: $35-$50

Instructor, Debi Mason

Oakland Local Academy’s Debi Mason is the queen of all things newsletter. In addition to managing Oakland Local’s 2X month What’s On email newsletter, Debi works with a variety of local non-profits and arts organizations to help them organize and send out their own newsletters. She has taken trainings from Constant Contact and is great  at sharing what she knows.

Every third Friday at noon

Using social media in your work but have some questions? Not sure how to measure what’s working–or what new things to try?  Now the doctor is in!  This hands-on clinic is for social media users and consultants  and offers a chance for the community to get ideas and advice from one another and from social media experts Kwan Booth, Deb Mason and Susan Mernit.

We’ll answer questions from participants, and try to work through issues together – this is how everyone learns.

Bring your lunch to this drop-in event.   Register ahead of time–or drop if if there’s room.

Cost: $15

About Oakland Local Academy:

Want to sharpen your online tech and social media skills? Oakland Local Academy is the premier East Bay resource for learning how to use social media, market your business or organization online, and learn how to tell–and share–your own story. We also offer special workshops for job seekers.

Oakland Local Academy is the acclaimed training division of Oakland Local, the East Bay’s most-visited non-profit news & community web site.

We’re committed to offering affordable, high-quality training, mentoring and follow-up to Oakland-area residents, non-profit and community workers and business people. We also support tech and media entreprneurs through our leading role in InOak, an organization we helped start focusd on tech innovation in Oakland.

Oakland Local Academy is a tool that can help in job creation, better employment and speaking truth to power. To join our mailing list,email trainings@oaklandlocal.com

See oaklandlocal.com/trainings for more information.

If you’d like to sponsor a training for your group, contact us at trainings@oaklandlocal.com

Instructor:  Susan Mernit

Susan is the founder of Oakland Local and a recognized national expert in using social media for personal branding, business and civic engagement.  Mernit is a nationally active trainer and coach for organizations including The John S and James L Knight Foundation, JAWS (Women in Journalism), and The Knight Digital Media Center at USC Annenberg School of Journalism. She was a Senior Fellow for the Reporting on Health project at USC Annenberg School of Journalism and works as a Circuit Rider for the Knight Community Information Challenge.

Associate Instructor: Kwan Booth

Kwan is Oakland Local Academy’s lead trainer and and a co-founder of Oakland Local. He has taught online skills for programs run by The Knight Foundation, Netroots Nation, The Rose Foundation, the Online News Associaiton,  and many other organizations.

Looking for work? What’s your strategy? Take this hands-on workshop on LinkedIn and find out how to get the most out of pitching yourself, networking, and finding jobs on this essential platform. Learn about:

Creating a powerful profile that will get the attention of hiring managers
Networking on LinkedIn to find jobs before they get listed
How LinkedIn groups can help you–or waste your time

Bring something to take notes with and bring a wireless enabled laptop or netbook, if you have one. Participants should have a basic knowledge of using a web browser and have Firefox or Google Chrome browers installed (preferred).

Q&A will be a part of the session.

Class fee for session includes class materials and personalized recommendations. A drop in session at our clinic is included with the premium tickets.

Cost: $35-50

Instructor: Susan Mernit

Susan is the founder of Oakland Local and a recognized national expert in using social media for personal branding, business and civic engagement.  Mernit is a nationally active trainer and coach for organizations including The John S and James L Knight Foundation, JAWS (Women in Journalism), and The Knight Digital Media Center at USC Annenberg School of Journalism. She was a Senior Fellow for the Reporting on Health project at USC Annenberg School of Journalism and works as a Circuit Rider for the Knight Community Information Challenge.

3 Evenings – Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday – January 17, 18 & 19
6:30 – 8:30 PM (FULL)

Join us for a 3-session class in which we’ll build a basic website using WordPress, a friendly tool for creating and managing blogs and web sites. We will use WordPress.com, a free hosting provider for the WordPress software, which means no pesky software installation or hosting requirements.

The January session of this workshop is full.  We will be repeating this workshop in March if you missed it on this go-round.

What you will learn:

You’ll learn how to plan your site, choose a design, and create pages with photos, videos, and text.

At the same time, you’ll be learning about WordPress, the leading open source tool for building simple web sites and blogs.

We’ll be using a pattern for a 3-page professional site with a blog, and following step-by-step instructions for creating:

• A Home Page
• About Us, Products or Services Page
• Contact Form
• Blog

Register

Lesson overview

• Session 1: Why Use WordPress, Planning Your Site
• Session 2: Choose a Theme, add your content, working with the editor
• Session 3: Working with widgets, contact forms, and next steps

Agenda
Monday, December 5, 6:00pm
LiquidSpace Crawl, Opening Presentation with Ryan Coonerty, Mayor of Santa Cruz, and Melanie Nutter, Director of the San Francisco Department of Environment

Starts at Carr Workplace, Four Embarcadero Center, Ste 1400, San Francisco
For years we’ve heard businesses across the globe encouraging employees to work remotely and embrace more flexible cultures and regiments, but more than ever, today governments and city officials are taking it upon themselves to get involved and help enable this new way of working within their community from the ground up.

In this presentation, Ryan Coonerty, Mayor of the City of Santa Cruz, and Melanie Nutter, Director of the SF Dept of Environment, will address the role of government in supporting teleworking, urban sustainability and economic development when it comes to their mobile working citizens, including how to help local organizations bring choice of location to the forefront, empowering employees to choose where and how they work.Already today, governments are conducting pilot programs to gather data on how choice impacts productivity, real estate cost and carbon footprint. Furthermore, you’ll hear how business managers and city leaders are creating solutions and support systems to transition this new trend into a working, professional norm.After the presentation, you’ll have the opportunity to visit other LiquidSpace partners including NextSpace Coworking, RocketSpace, Hatchery and DEGW for more drinks and prizes! Look for the red pedicabs to get you from space to space!

Tuesday, December 6, 3:00pm to 4:30pm
Legal Issues Facing Early Stage Technology Startups, Discussion with Patrick Pohlen, co-chair Emerging Company Practice, Latham & Watkins, LLP

Latham & Watkins office, 140 Scott Drive, Menlo Park
Patrick Pohlen, co-chair of the Emerging Company Practice for the global law firm of Latham & Watkins LLP, will discuss key legal issues facing early stage technology startups and entrepreneurs. Patrick will lead a lively discussion about business-entity formation and fund raising.

Tuesday, December 6, 6:30pm to 2:00am
“The Mobile Worker Toolkit: Development with the Mobile Worker in Mind” Roundtable Discussion + Late Night Coworking with SF Nightowls

pariSoma Innovation Loft, 169 11th Street, San Francisco
Industries across the board are realigning themselves around a new paradigm for work: mobility. The effects of this reorganization are far-reaching, and companies are both encouraging their employees to work the way they choose and also helping them leverage products and tools to support that shift.

The opportunity for developers is massive. Many pain points still felt by today’s mobile workers have gone either unsolved or completely untouched — everything from getting insurance and managing HR to finding a quick flight for cheap or even just keeping up with receipts. There is room for more apps, services and tools and today, mobile workers are busy padding themselves with whatever makes their already hectic work life easier and more efficient.

During this roundtable, we’ll go beyond discussing the trends in mobility and hear from specific businesses and developers who have successfully catered to mobile workers with their products and offerings. They’ll share challenges and learnings, as well as advice for building your own products and application for the 1 billion mobile workers worldwide.

Come early for the panel and stay late to get productive with the SF Nightowls as we provide space, food and drinks to keep you going throughout the night.

Wednesday, December 7, 12:30 to 1:45pm
“Get a Room — IP, Confidentiality, and Mobile/Coworking Spaces” Lunch Discussion with Rachael Lamkin, IP Litigator, Turner Boyd LLP

Pacific Business Centers, 201 Spear Street, Ste 1100, San Francisco
Would you simply give all your ideas away? If you don’t protect them now, you can’t protect them later.

Businesses everywhere are opening their doors to mobile workers — providing space, shared amenities and in some cases, even collaboration. Shared coworking can be incredibly productive and valuable, and often both sides can benefit from the experience. At the same time, “hard” intellectual property (IP), such as patent rights, and “soft” IP, such as confidential business processes and trade secrets, may be implicated. Moreover, this is an emerging area of law and largely untested in the courts.

This presentation will address some of the potential legal conference, with a special focus on patents, trade secrets and confidential business processes and methods. In short, the guiding principle is that, if you don’t protect your ideas now, you won’t be able to protect them later.

Join Rachael Lamkin as she shares more on this new legal frontier and answers questions attendees may have and tries to suggest some workable “hows” for protecting your ideas while still taking advantage of all that shared coworking spaces have to offer.

Lunch is on us but you must register for a ticket to attend as space is limited.

Thursday, December 8, 6:30 to 10:00pm
LiquidSpace Launch Party

Bluxome Street Winery, 53 Bluxome Street (on Bluxome between 4th and 5th just north of Townsend), San Francisco
It’s time to celebrate as LiquidSpace officially makes it mark in the Bay area and you’re invited! The Tourist (Magnificent7) has been DJing in the Bay Area for the past 17 years and will be spinning tunes for your ears Come meet other mobile workers in the community and have a drink on us. We’re going all out to celebrate the launch and hope you’ll join us.

Friday, December 9, 8:30 to 10:30am
Turnstone Media & Blogger Breakfast

RocketSpace, 181 Freemont Street
Small business owners didn’t start a company to be ordinary. So how can space reflect the unique culture in a growing organization?

Join Turnstone, Liquid Space and RocketSpace for breakfast as Turnstone reveals its latest research and insights on the unique culture of small and emerging businesses. Network with other bloggers and reporters and experience first-hand the company’s latest experts and innovations.
Friday, December 9, 12:30 to 1:45pm
“Consumerization of Real Estate/Designing for Mobile Work” Design Discussion with Mark Gilbreath, CEO of LiquidSpace, Kevin Kuske, Chief Brand Advocate for Turnstone, Gretchen Addi, Fellow Associate Partner and Co-Lead of IDEO SF, and Yancy Widmer, Associate Partner at IDEO

Steelcase Showcase, 475 Brannan Street
We’re closing out the week with a festive and lively lunch discussion about the consumerization of real estate.  How is mobility changing our relationship with commercial real estate.  People are leaving ‘work’ to get work done, is that a good thing?  Yes !  Especially if you design your strategy based on mobility.  Mark Gilbreath, CEO of LiquidSpace, Kevin Kuske, Chief Brand Advocate for Turnstone, Gretchen Addi, Fellow Associate Partner at IDEO, and Yancy Widmer, Associate Partner at IDEO, will lead a discussion on three important things to consider.  Lunch is on us, so come early to enjoy some good food and grab a seat for this forum.

Wednesday, December 14

6-10 PM

Bring your holiday cheer to Tech Liminal for our holiday party.  RSVP below.

Fridays, 2:00 – 3:00 PM (after the WordPress Support Group)

Cost:  $10

The public demands it!  We will now be offering a CSS clinic on Fridays, immediately after the WordPress Support Group.  Bring those pesky things that don’t line up, questions about fonts, colors, and more, and get help with your site.