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Why Ballston Needed A Coworking Space Specifically Designed For Tech Companies

By ARLnow.com Sponsor
TechSpace Ballston

With the rise of coworking spaces appearing in Ballston and many other markets, companies have a lot to think about when selecting a coworking space.

As with any major decisions, there are important factors to think about including the atmosphere, office design and layout, and technical capabilities. While there are many trendy options in our market, there is only one that is designed with tech companies in mind — TechSpace Ballston.

TechSpace caters to the needs of growing tech companies in many ways including our robust technology platform, phone services, scalable private office suites and overall community atmosphere.

Creating an identity that resonates with technology companies is incredibly important to us, and members see it and experience it by just being in our halls — from the sleek, minimalist design of our space to the tech-oriented events, you are in a coworking space like no other.

Speaking of events, we host a variety of them! We highly encourage the Ballston community to join our bi-monthly Kublr meetups (next one on May 15 at 6 p.m.) where Arkadii Ocheretnoi, a Lead Platform Developer at Kublr who will be discussing “Stable, Predictable etcd Storage with Kubernetes.”

Please RSVP to attend. We look forward to showing you TechSpace Ballston!

Feel free to contact us at 703-650-7700 or reach out to our site manager, Julie Manning.  

Last Chance to Register for DC Bike Ride This Saturday

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

Mother’s Day has passed, but it’s never too late to celebrate!

DC Bike Ride is offering a $10 discount on registrations to their annual bike ride on May 18!

DC Bike Ride is the perfect way to celebrate with friends and family. The 20-mile closed-road ride means NO cars, just FUN! Say goodbye to the stress of having to dodge traffic — this is your chance to own the road worry-free. The ride is only a few days away — hurry to register and save!

In addition to cruising through the most iconic landmarks in D.C., you get to enjoy some of the best food and music D.C. has to offer along the course. And the fun keeps going after the ride! You can stop by the Finish Festival on 3rd street after you’re done with the ride to enjoy music, foods, drinks and lots of giveaways and fun!

Don’t miss out on your last chance to join the ride of a lifetime. Sign up for DC Bike Ride and let the fun times roll!

To redeem your $10 discount, click here and enter code MOM10 at checkout!

True Food Kitchen Now Open at Ballston Quarter

True Food Kitchen is an award-winning, health-driven restaurant & seasonal bar rooted in the philosophy that delicious dining and conscious nutrition can go hand in hand without sacrificing flavor, creativity or indulgence.

The flavor-forward menu rotates seasonally to showcase the freshest, in-season produce and nutrient-dense ingredients, and caters to preferences of all kinds with a variety of gluten-friendly, vegan and vegetarian options.

Enjoy lunch, dinner, cocktails and weekend brunch at its new location in Arlington.

For more information, visit TrueFoodKitchen.com/Arlington.

D.C. Area Professionals Benefit from Experiential Learning Approach

The working professionals who pursue the Arlington-based Executive MBA at Virginia Tech get a rich education in the fundamentals of business — accounting and finance, marketing, operations, ethics, communications and leadership.

But woven around those foundation courses are “experiential modules” designed to accelerate development in four essential and current areas:

  • Business analytics
  • Entrepreneurship & innovation
  • Leadership & governance
  • Global business

Each module includes two concentration classes plus a “big experience” course that puts the learning to work immediately, says Barbara Hoopes, academic director for Virginia Tech MBA Programs.

Corporate leaders are brought in “to provide guidance and bring real-life projects to students,” adds Parviz Ghandforoush, associate dean for graduate programs in the Pamplin College of Business.

What does this look like on the ground? For the analytics module, which covers BI and data mining along with marketing analytics, Hoopes brought in four software vendors — Microsoft, Qlik, SAS and Tableau — to provide access to their products and act as coaches.

Students addressed pressing issues with U.S. infrastructure using publicly available data to analyze Congressional airport funding and its relationship to economic growth, identify causal factors for large utility outages and predict hazard classifications of dams in order to prioritize inspections.

Hoopes asserts that students really “need to understand how data can be used to support their decision-making.” That means “learning how to tell a story that convinces others” — in other words, traversing that last mile between the data scientist and the people at the very top.

Ghandforoush notes that students often arrive with an expectation that the data work they will do during their MBA is a throw-away “because they don’t need it or they have analysts at work who will do this for them.” And yet faculty hear back from former skeptics that those lessons turned out to be the most valuable in the program “because they’re actually using it at work and they’ve seen the results.”

That’s just what Virginia Tech had in mind when it undertook its redesign of the MBA for working professionals. “It’s not like students graduate and four or five years later we will hear if they have benefited from their MBA,” he concludes. “This is like a laboratory. We get to watch this as it’s happening right before our eyes.”

DC Bike Ride is Only a Few Weeks Away

It’s National Bike Month and DC Bike Ride is the main celebration!

Join us on May 18 for the best car-free recreational bike ride in the District. Not an avid bike rider, but still want to have fun? DCBR has you covered! The 20-mile ride is meant to be a ride NOT a race!

Feel free to pedal at your own pace, stop along breathtaking sights, and join a scavenger hunt challenge throughout historic landmarks. The course is packed with entertainment, pit stops, great food, music and giveaways from start to finish.

After the ride, stop by the Finish Festival on 3rd Street between the U.S. Capitol building and the National Mall to enjoy the FitDC Movement Zone and dance to DJ Jealousy beats!

Sign up today to join the 8,000 riders on this celebration, and don’t miss out on the chance to let the fun times roll on May 18!

Advertisers: Here’s How to Write an Effective Promoted Post on ARLnow

By ARLnow.com

It’s no secret that it can be tough to be a local business.

Competing in the age of e-commerce and digital marketing is hard and sometimes confusing. While we can’t tell you what hashtags will best help you market yourself as Arlington’s go-to electronic-scooter-riding real estate agent on Instagram (as an example) we can, however, offer some advice for publishing promoted posts on ARLnow.

Promoted posts are sponsored articles that help give local businesses a boost by getting the word out about openings, new offerings, upcoming events and more. Here are some recent examples.

To make the most of your time in the ARLnow spotlight, here are some quick tips for best reaching our quarter-million monthly readers:

  1. Keep it concise — The shorter the post, the more likely it will be read.
  2. Keep it informative — People want to learn about local businesses but they generally don’t want to be “sold” to, so keep exclamation points and sales-y writing to a minimum. Instead, give people useful information about you and what you have to offer.
  3. Keep it local — You’re a local business, so emphasize your local-ness. Go ahead, tell everyone the owner of the business went to Wakefield High School or your cafe is within easy biking distance of the W&OD Trail.
  4. Keep it actionable — If you’re promoting an event, include a prominent link or two to the page where you can RSVP. If you just opened a new store, say where you are, link to a map and note what your hours are.
  5. Be authentic — Staying on-brand is usually a good idea, but being your authentic self in your writing is even better. Write like a human and not a machine and you may be surprised to find how positive the reaction is.

Promoted posts are a popular option for advertisers because they’re affordable and they work. To learn more, see our 2019 media kit or drop our business team a line: 703-348-0583 or [email protected].

For more local advertising best practices, see our Guide to Effective Advertising.

The Arlington Home Show and Garden Expo Returns This Weekend

The annual Arlington Home Show and Garden Expo is coming to Kenmore Middle School (200 S. Carlin Springs Road) on Saturday, April 27, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

The home show is a community event — not a commercial event. The goal: to educate Arlingtonians about the best ways to add value to their homes and improve their overall quality of life.

Now in its 13th year, the home show is a one-stop shop for all things related to improving and building homes including permitting, financing and choosing the right contractors. This year the show will focus on informing visitors about value remodeling — making sure that every dollar invested in home improvement achieves the best return.

The free, family-friendly event will include 18 workshops covering a wide spectrum of topics, including Accessory Dwellings (ADUs), Energy Efficiency, Smart-on time and on budget-Contracting, Landscaping, Going Solar and the well established Landlord Seminar that deals with the legal and practical nuts and bolts of being a landlord. The Show features more than 65 exhibitors, including local builders, designers, master gardeners and more.

Attendees can also discuss their home improvement or building plans with representatives from a number of Arlington County agencies, who will be available for one-to-one consultation.

Admission and parking are both free. There will be a raffle for a 50-inch television, free LED bulbs for visitors, many contractor specials and great food will be provided by Cafe Sazon.

The event is organized by Arlington County’s Housing Division and the nonprofit group Resilient Virginia. Gold Sponsor of this year’s show is Alair Homes Arlington.

Boutique Life at 672 Flats

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The Boutique Life has arrived in Ballston. And it has an address: 672 Flats.

Near the heart of bustling Ballston, 672 Flats is the new apartment boulevard just walking distance to Metro (Ballston-MU), convenient to eight bus routes and close enough to Ballston Quarter to call it a next-door neighbor.

What is the Boutique Life? The designers and architects of 672 Flats have thought big while staying small, incorporating a touch of exclusivity by keeping the community relatively small while expanding the luxurious feel of the amenities.

The common areas are perfectly proportioned for casual comfort and privacy, yet the spaces open up when it’s time to stretch out, including the in-house bar, the fitness center, game room and cyber lounge/mailroom (with computer stations and coffee service).

The studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments boast stainless steel appliances, solid surface countertops and elegant-not-fussy fixtures that will accent the up-to-the-minute contemporary décor for years to come.

Being in the heart of Ballston, 672 Flats is surrounded by shopping and entertainment choices, anchored by the refurbished Ballston Quarter center and dozens of national and local retailers.

For those looking now, the good news is there is a one-month-free offer on select units while they last (or until April 30). And if you apply within 24 hours of a tour, you get half-off move-in fees. Schedule a tour or stop by the Open House on Saturday, April 27.

Be sure to ask about the transportation benefits for carshare, bikeshare and Metro fare.

672 Flats is located at 672 N. Glebe Road. Call 703-312-0672 or schedule a tour at this site.

Cook Bros 101: How to Reduce Risk When Hiring a Contractor

Homeowners can take a class on how to choose the right contractor for their remodeling project at this years annual Arlington Home Show & Garden Expo this Saturday, April 27 at Kenmore Middle School.

Those homeowners will be learning from the best! Steven Tinter, President and General Manager of Arlington’s No. 1 Design Build Remodeling Firm, Cook Bros will be the instructor on the main stage at 10 a.m.

Tinter says that specialization reduces risk for consumers. Reducing risk is especially vital when it comes to one of the most expensive expenditures a homeowner will encounter — renovating their home.

“Arlington homes are modest, but they’re expensive homes,” Tinter says. And many of them are older, with residual quirks from previous builders. “Working with someone who specializes in renovating these homes will reduce your risk of cost overruns, delays and potentially missing out on something in the overall design.”

Cook Bros’ specialized experience in the area gives them an advantage when it comes to encountering challenges distinct to Arlington homes, including not only critical design elements but also navigating the county permitting processes. “Cook Bros only renovates homes in Arlington County, and has for 32 years.

We don’t do new homes, we don’t remodel homes in Maryland or D.C., or other places in Virginia,” he said. “Arlington County is all we’ve done for over 30 years. If you’re contemplating a major renovation and not talking to us, you’ll be missing out.”

Class seating for Steven Tinter’s class is limited. Kenmore Middle School is located at 202 S. Carlin Springs Road, Arlington, Virginia.

Cook Bros is at 5521 Lee Highway in Arlington. Call 703-536-0900 or email at [email protected]. The website is here: cookbros.org.

GMU Antonin Scalia Law School has Launched a New Juris Master (JM) Degree Program

George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School is excited to announce the January launch of its Juris Master (JM) Degree Program!

The JM Degree is designed for professionals who interact with lawyers and legal issues regularly in the course of their careers. This type of program is in high demand and now offered by over half of all tier one law schools.

“We are proud to offer the Juris Master Degree Program at Scalia Law School,” said Dean Henry N. Butler. “This is an opportunity for professionals to learn the law, so they will be better equipped to provide leadership in their respective fields.”

Scalia Law’s two-year part-time program is offered at the Arlington campus, and enrollment for the Fall 2019 class is currently OPEN.

As listed on the JM Degree website, https://jurismaster.gmu.edu/, in addition to general legal research, writing and introductory law courses, JM students can select law school courses from six concentration areas:

  • Criminal Justice
  • Employment & Labor Relations
  • Financial & Commercial Services
  • Government Contracts & Regulations
  • Intellectual Property & Technology
  • National Security, Cybersecurity & Information Privacy

JM students can maintain employment schedules, while benefiting from the opportunities afforded by a tier-one law school.

There is a growing base of legal services and legal knowledge required by employers and the JM Degree is designed to educate students with the legal knowledge necessary for them to succeed in their chosen professions.

Applications are being accepted now. For more information about the JM degree program, please visit our website or contact Jessica L. Sartorius, Director of Juris Master (JM) Degree Program, at [email protected] or 703-993-8418.

Rock the Block at Quarterfest on May 18 and 19

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Quarterfest presented by Dittmar is coming to Ballston on May 18 and 19.

From 12-6 p.m. each day, this festival continues Ballston’s tradition of giving back, as a charitable event of BallstonGives, and invites visitors to sip, sample, shop and savor the best that Ballston has to offer!

Located on Wilson Boulevard near the Ballston/MU metro station, and directly in front of the newly redeveloped Ballston Quarter — an entertainment and dining destination, the festival will feature a Quarterfest Crawl on Saturday, Curbside Kitchen‘s Food Truck Alley on Sunday, street pub all weekend serving up craft brews, wine and specialty cocktails, and a free concert.

New to the neighborhood, the Quarterfest Crawl will allow festival-goers to explore the neighborhood, sampling “tastes” at each participating venue with purchase of a Quarterfest Crawl wristband.

Food crawl venues include established Ballston favorites such as SER and Mussel Bar, and neighborhood newcomers DIRT, True Food Kitchen, Punch Bowl Social and more. Additionally, the Crawl wristband entitles visitors to exclusive retail discounts and giveaways of experiential activities at Cookology and 5 Wits, plus two free drink tickets to use at the street pub.

The festival and concert are free and open to the public, but festival-goers will need a wristband and drink tickets to savor the food and drink experience at Quarterfest. Tickets and wristbands are now on sale at “early bird” pricing until May 1.

You can find out more about Quarterfest Crawl locations and what will be coming to Ballston May 18 and 19 at https://www.quarterfestballston.org/.

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