London Bloggers Meetup:- Talk Talk

Wha, where, when... A month passes, I emerge from London's underground network, into Oxford Circus and Soho, only a few moments ago I was in darkest Wembley, eating Chinese and looking for my phone charger. The evening of the London Blogger's meetup has come round again.

I emerge blinking into the sunlight, looking for familiar sounding street names, and before long find myself outside the Talk Talk Customer Experience place. Large glass front, neon lights, there are many people inside.

I step in, fail to think of something amusing to write on a name tag, then go looking for people I know.

I find some and we chat. The talk covers many topics but one that sticks in ma heid is the Old Spice advert.

There is a speaker, this evening a cycling Rob talking about podcasting. Its a very indepth talk, covering what hardware to use (the latest Zoom recordery thing), what software to use (audacity) and what services to use to host and cast your pod cast. More of the details are at this link here, but what sticks in my mind is RadioKate's interruption pointing out that Audioboo has new features that the cycling Rob didn't know about.

Crikey, that must be unsettling, having you talk corrected by an audience member. I keep wondering what I'd talk about if it was me up there, what would I say that would hold people's attention, could I even hold people's attention at all.

The short train of thought lead me to ponder, would Andy the LBM organiser consider hosting a special, where all the regular bloggery meetuppery people had to do a 60 second talk. Some deal with twenty slides in a minutes or something. Would that entertain?

Anyhoo, the evening was hosted by talktalk, they were generous with their nibbles and booze and net access, I feel a bit guilty for the blog posts what I wrote back in February its not their fault, its BT with their hellish slow line connections. I hope that it doesn't matter who I direct my frustration at, as long as I vent it.

Regular readers of my blog will know I'm currently trying to write a screenplay, in the vague hope that someone reads it and decides its the greatest and most imaginative thing ever and then goes on to shower me with money and makes it. This you already knew.

I had an idea, a wee cutaway flashforward scene, like what they drop in to Scrubs or Lost. The scene involves a familiar character mentioning someone they know, some significant person in their like that the film's main protagonist doesn't know, the the flash forward to four years in the future, the protagonist finds themselves at a party or blogger's meetup, completely unrelated to four years earlier, chatting with a person who gives away just enough information to identify them as the person their friend mentioned. Then suddenly back to the narative.

As is my usual 'thing' for these blogger meetups, here's a list of bloggery people I spoke to.

• Aref-Adib
• Nima
• Peter marshall - My London Diary
  
• Thomas debuzzy
• Tom - Flashboy
• RadioKate
• Pradeep - Blogger User
  
• James - Battle Theme London
• Angus
• Reyes
• Melissa - Miss Geeky
• As - BBC
• Anna - Completely Novel - cool book publishing site
• Phil - Red rocket
• Rob - Real cycling
  
• Anthony - Fresh Plastic
• Caroline - Caroline's Miscellany - London's historical curiousities
• Longhaired crazy seat slasher chap
  
• His less haired friend called Matt

And here's a list of folk I made vague eye contact with or possibly nodded at and they nodded recognition back

• Lolly - blog til you drop
• Tom - Tired of life
• Doreen owl elbows - Tasty Fever
  
• Andy Bargery - The Marketing Blagger
  
• Londoneer
• Tiki Chris
• Annie Mole
• Proactive paul
• Guitar churchy
  

And here's a graph showing how such lists compare with previous London Bloggers Meetups.

Well, I think I've set myself a new record, cheesy grins all round.

Titter, chortle, guffaw.

London Bloggers Meetup: Best Buy

Went to a London Bloggers Meetup for the first time in ages, this time at Doggett's Coat and Badge, near Blackfriars bridge, under blazing hot sunshine, with civilisation on the verge of collapse. MyBerry was playing up beforehand so I couldn't log on to FourSquare adequately, no one would have known where I was, my last checkin was hours ago on the other side of town.

On the second floor as usual, a warm and fuzzy cloud of recognition, some folk I knew, some I didn't, all friendly and chatting, all united in their enthusiasm for new media and free beer provided by the evening's sponsors BestBuy.

We chatted and introduced ourselves randomly, the phrase "Do you blog?" starting to sound like some 1970's swingers party fetish as we nibbled on canapés.

At some point I broached the subject of how there appears to be the cultural requirement for an artifact, a milestone, representing social networking, what Romeo&Juliet does for love, what Frankenstein does for science, what Heart of Darkness does for stuff, something that encapsulates online relationships, checking out on facebook people you used to know, without actually seeking them. Something like Billy Jones is Dead, but with added internet. How to deal with being unfriended, people who don't exist online, truly its a twenty-first century issue that needs to be resolved adequately.

Andy the organiser set forth on stage, thanked and introduced the evening's speakers:-
Tom Tired talked about political blogging, he works in politics, talked about political blogging, how we have no rules or conventions to abide, only bloggers can compare John Prescot's schlong to a cocktail sausage. The talk was about three minutes too long but rather entertaining.

Kind of reminded me that I need to register "DianeAbbottShouldHaveWon.com"

The second speaker was the CEO from BestBuy. There was a prize draw, where the prizes were Dr Dre headphones and Bon Jovi tickets, as I didn't win my coverage of his talk will revolve round how the chap is very nasel, but nice message. Gotta quote the word "Cushtomer".

I like the idea of Best Buy, an electronics store where they know what they're talking about. Against the backdrop of the shite service that Comet and PC World are reknown for, then some thing as inspirational as Best Buy can only be a good thing. And from talking to the BestBuy blueshirts at the meetup, they sure are an enthusiastic bunch.

I promised that I'd check out the Thurrock store at the weekend, and fire into the hi-fi demonstration room, but I fear, in the light of my self-actualisation and realisation of my nature, that although I like the idea, and I'm an open minded kind of chap, I'm going to come away with rattling off a list of everything they're doing wrong, and everything I'm sceptical about.

Like 3D cinema and 3D TVs, its just a gimmick, the next excuse to replace your existing media collection. As Lossless compression followed MP3 followed CD followed tape followed LP followed sheet music, as Bluray followed DVD followed VHS followed cinema followed theatre. Yes, but no.

During the CEO's talk the recycling message makes me weep blood, aw c'mon ceo, its bullshit compared to "drive slower" and "don't fly", the energy efficiency of your domestic modern conveniences is pish in the wind, do any customers really care about recycling when they buy the product? Doesn't that suggest that they're buying an inferior product which they're not going to enjoy using for many many years. Doesn't that suggest some kind of failure on the part of the designer and retailer? "You'll love our product, but not for very long"

And, oh ffs! Windfarms?

As is my norm for this sort of event, here's a list of the bloggery folk who I chatted to (18):-

• Cristiano Betta
• Caroline's Miscellany
• Bruce Bird
• James Melon London
• Andy Bargery
• Lucy MissCellaneous
• Baz
• Tom Tired of London Tired of Life
• Chris the Best Buy balloonist
• Pradeep meta-blogger
• The BestBuy website blogger chap
• Hayley from Witness to the Beard
• Kate of 'Fox on escalator' internet phenomenom fame
• Doreen owl elbows
• BestBuyGeekTeam David
• Tom Flashboy
• aw man, that other guy who was in the photo at the top of the post, he was kind of cool, although by that point I'd had quite a lot to drink and was rambling
  

Didn't speak to (8)

• Sianysianysiany
• Mark Wainwright
• Fernando Rizo
• Paul Antoniadis
• Neil Hallmark
• Rich Clark
• Dan Walker Smith
• Kirstie Allsopp
• Electric Spectre
  

I think I may have set myself a new record there
but if we consult the graph we can clearly show that apart from February's plumbing the depths of solace, my London Blogger Meetup socialising has kind of plateaued.