Event is a jam session of sorts for entrepreneurs

How about some Jelly Friday?

No, not the kind you find on supermarket shelves. This Jelly is the name for a meeting - the first of its kind on Long Island - that takes place in Woodbury Friday and is designed to allow new, small businesses to get together in one place at the same time so they can keep one another company, and learn from each other.

Jason Reis of Selden, the event's organizer, said earlier this week that Jellys have been held in Manhattan, Philadelphia and San Francisco, among other cities. Today's Long Island Jelly will be in a room donated by the architectural firm Spector Group at 220 Crossways Park West in Woodbury.

Reis stressed that a Jelly is not a networking event. "The premise is to get work done and do it in a social environment," said Reis, a website designer. "There are a lot of entrepreneurs in this in-between phase. They're making money but not enough where they can rent an office. So they work at Starbucks or at home." And usually they are alone, he said.

"They get their work done, but they're isolated," Reis added.

So why Jelly? Jelly changes shape and form, Reis said. So too will the sessions. Sometimes 25 people may show, and sometimes 10. A session will be held at one place, but at other times someplace else.

The Woodbury Jelly Friday will be from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and attendees are free to come and go as they please. There is no charge, but eventually, Reis said, he and co-organizer David Gist hope to provide consulting services and workshops, and will add fees some day. Gist, a tech entrepreneur who lives in Whitestone, Queens, said a plasma screen will display the names of attendees and their biographies so others can see who might help them with projects or ideas.

"I've been visiting co-working spaces in the U.S.," Gist said. "I really see the benefit of having entrepreneurs fighting the fight together in the same room."