London Geek Girl Dinner

A Consuming Experience

Blogging, internet, software, mobile, telecomms, gadgets, technology, media and digital rights from the perspective of a consumer / user, including reviews, rants and random thoughts. Aimed at intelligent non-geeks, who are all too often unnecessarily disenfranchised by excessive use of tech jargon, this blog aims to be informative and practical without being patronising. With guides, tutorials, tips - and the occasional ever so slightly naughty observation.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

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Last night I went to the first London Girl Geek Dinner at the Texas Embassy (there have apparently been two other geek dinners, but they weren't mainly aimed at girl geeks). Token men were allowed last night, but only if accompanied by a responsible female...

About 40 or 50 people turned up - not just those working in IT but also mere bloggers like me, though I didn't get to talk to any "non-IT industry" bloggers. I met some very interesting and fun people (and it's not just my soft spot for geeks talking!):

Nina, the non-Swedish scuba diving SQL consultant
"Mystery Bloke with(out) Alison" John, the MBA Marketing Man
Teresa, cordon bleu chef turned IT manager and future grey hatter
Sherry and crew (sorry we didn't get the chance to chat more before you left)
Surprisingly silent about her SAP skills Emma, the table dancing strategist
Maria, Emma's pal
Last but certainly not least, the lovely Sarah, hostess with the mostest and organiser extraordinaire of the whole event (who even produced sticky name tags with URLs for everyone - well some of us, anyway - to plaster prominently on themselves).

There was an after dinner speech by Hugh, hoster of the wiki page about the dinner (the previous geek dinners I am told featured speeches by Robert Scoble and Seth Godin respectively). There will also be a podcast at some point, courtesy of Lloyd, including interviews of random attendees. But if I were you I'd hit fast forward when it gets to my bit (though hopefully he'll have sensibly cut it) - I was there as a blogger, he didn't want to know about my blog, I didn't want to talk about anything but my blog, so that sure made for an exciting and fun-filled few nanoseconds. As I said, best to just skip that bit...

The £20 included seemingly unlimited wine at the sit down buffet dinner, the food was good (the starters excellent), the staff were friendly (especially the nice barman, mwah!), and the venue was comfortable and spacious (dedicated floor for the event). Couldn't ask for anything more, really.

If you're in London do look out for next month's geek dinner, which I gather will probably be a mixed one, and will feature another speaker, identity TBA. Thanks again to Sarah and Hugh for everything.

Technorati Tags: geeks, girl geeks, London geek dinner, Improbulus, A Consuming Experience, Consuming Experience

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5 Comment(s):

A room full of English Geek Girls, ummmmmm....drool. I should have been allowed in as a Token Texas Redneck to give the Texas Embassy some real authentic flavor ;-) sadly I wasn't invited. :-(

Sounds like y'all had fun. See, I say y'all. Authentic I tell ya.

(By RedRyder, at Thursday, August 18, 2005 2:57:00 AM) Edit Comment

Sounds to me like Improbulus was in her element ;).

(By ChickyBabe, at Thursday, August 18, 2005 10:55:00 AM) Edit Comment

I'm sorry you felt I wasn't interested in your blog - I am - great pictures of the copyfighters btw.

If I ever interview you again, just talk over the top of me about what interests you - don't let me dominate, I'll natter on for hours!

(By Lloyd, at Tuesday, August 23, 2005 10:20:00 AM) Edit Comment

RR, I'd have invited you if you'd actually agree to leave Texas! You want to come next time, and actually decide to make it over here, lemme know and I'll invite you. :)

CB - yep, it was fun. You'd have enjoyed it too I'm sure, if you'd been here.

Lloyd - glad you liked the pics. Well you kept asking about what I did outside my blog, I did think I hinted very heavily I'd rather not talk about that, but OK, you want me to dominate another time, sure I will! :-D

(By Improbulus, at Monday, August 29, 2005 8:07:00 PM) Edit Comment

Aaah, y'see hinting doesn't work with me, I need to be told clearly and unambiguously to shut up and let you talk about what you want to talk about. Looking forward to our next encounter - sounds like it's going to be fun.

(By Lloyd, at Monday, August 29, 2005 10:31:00 PM) Edit Comment