@RetailGoddesses @SheSoSocial @giuliag  @jwierin @derekkoch @MatthewBrowning @joecascio @timtracey @leecruz @Mertens4Senate @TTHofficial @MyConnecticut

Last night, I attended the opening of The Grove, a coworking space in New Haven, CT. Many of my friends have used coworking spaces in New York and San Francisco and I've hoped that a coworking space would open up here in Connecticut.

Coworking fits hand in hand with social media, so it was great to see many friends from various social media activities there. There was the standard group of people from SocialWebWeek, @RetailGoddesses @SheSoSocial @giuliag  @jwierin @derekkoch and @MatthewBrowning. Although I don't remember if I ran into @MyConnecticut as part of the Social Web Week activities, Courtney is very much a social web person and I would include her in this group.

There was the tweetcrawl and podcamp crew, @joecascio and @timtracey. There was the nonprofit and advocacy crew, @leecruz and @TTHofficial. @timtracey also sort of fits in that space with his Yougottacall project. Also part of this group was Nathan Bixby.

In the political sphere a couple friends from Governor's Dean's 2004 Presidential campaign were there as was John Mertens who is running for U.S. Senate in Connecticut, @Mertens4Senate.

Also there were Matt and Lindsay Branscombe. Lindsay made a splash at the technologists and entrepreneurs meet during Social Web Week when she reminded everyone of the importance of design and it was good to have an arts and design perspective reflected not only in the photographs on the wall of the Grove but also by some of the participants.

I'm probably missing a bunch of other people that I spoke with at the opening of The Grove last night, but it gives a good flavor the variety of people that were there. It helps illustrate why I believe coworking is so important. It is when you connect with people from a bunch of different viewpoints that you can gain the insights to make whatever project you are working on more successful. The Grove is setting out to be a place where connections like this are made. They got off to a great start and I wish them well.