Tag Archives: London Geek Dinner

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Geek Dinner Roundup

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As usual, the Geek Dinner on Saturday has a broad selection of reports from a number of different sources. I thought I’d highlight some of the postings that caught my eye.

Firstly, Robert Scoble himself posted about the dinner on Sunday morning, linking here – which has certainly given my traffic a boost over the past couple of days, and left me quite chuffed to be picked out. He also linked off to a stack of pictures taken by Tim Scarfe.

Dave, nursing a hangover it seems, blogged pretty quickly about his experiences – and it was he that pointed out the link from Scobleizer.

Jen and Neil Dixon of Britcaster.com have several blog postings on the dinner, including this one which includes a picture of me photographing Dave’s nipples… 😮 As an aside, Dave pointed out that Jen and Neil have a story similar to Beth and myself, with them having had a long distance relationship over e-mail before Jen moved across the pond and settled in the UK.

It is worth remembering that it wasn’t only geeks that attended the dinner. Probably the most interesting posting on the event was from Andrew Denny, who blogs on the subject of canals over at GrannyButtons.com, and has an interesting angle on the evening, especially his description of Scoble at the dinner.

He also took a great series of pictures of the evening. Having done a tour of all the tables during the dinner, he does have a picture of us, with a caption that gave me a laugh when I read it – Celebrating your 40+ birthday at Geek Dinner – all of Sarah and Barry’s hard work arranging the surprises for Dave was worth it as now nobody believes he’s only 35!!!

Looking at the slightly more controversial aspects – Ben Metcalfe, who has previously been pretty critical of Hugh McLeod and Stormhoek on his blog mentions in a longer post about current issues a conversation which he had with Jason Korman of Stormhoek (no mention of it in the Stormhoek blog posting though), which includes the following comment:

I came away from that conversation with the impression that Jason (a self-described “wine entrepreneur�) had no real threshold above which he wouldn’t consider marketing his wine (other than legality, I’m sure).

Having chatted to the Stormhoek guys at one point in the evening we didn’t get that impression – certainly we didn’t feel like it was any sort of sales pitch. I have come across salesmen before who really never switch off looking for a pitch, but that certainly wasn’t the impression I got.

Finally, don’t miss the excellent interview with Hugh McLeod and Robert Scoble – great listening.

Anyway, all in all it was a great evening, and I’m sure we’ll put in an appearance at another dinner soon!

Computers/Technology

Blogging Guardian and the Geek Dinner

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Todays Media Guardian took a look at the growing blogsphere, including an interview with Hugh MacLeod, who is co-hosting the Bloggers/Geek Dinner on 10th December.

In the article he talks about how blogs can be used for limited marketing, highlighting both Stormhoek and English Cut, who are building business models based on blogs. Certainly it seems that media companies are starting to take notice of blogs and blogging, however the article also highlights the uproar when Cillit Bang produced a fake blog and linked it into a real blog, effectively using that blog for free advertising. Certainly something that we may see more of in the future I expect.

Anyway, the guest list for the dinner is looking good, currently up to 135 people, so still plenty of space. It’s a real mixed bunch too, with some names that I recognise from previous dinners, plus various self-confessed geeks, media types and bloggers, there is even a “Interactive Love Coach and Sensory Artist”, and another blogging priest.

It certainly looks like a good bunch, and for the cost of £20 plus drinks looks like it should be a really interesting party to attend. (Oh and not forgetting that it is also the day that Dave Oliver hits 35…) If anybody else is keen to attend, all you need do is add your name to the list, and turn up at the Texas Embassy (just off Trafalgar Square). Robert Scoble, the other host and guest speaker gives some tips on how to get the best out of the dinner, especially he highlights that it’s not just for techies and geeks:

Tell me about yourself. What are your dreams? What do you do? I haven’t found someone with a boring job yet. My brother-in-law drives a bus and passing through town you can see he has made that job interesting. Lots of people recognized him and said hi. Why is that? He’s a good storyteller and he is interested in the people in Newport.

Also, in common with his first tip, we’ve put in an order for some Blog Cards, which certainly saves on having to write out our URL if anybody wants it at the dinner!