This blog has now closed. Please visit my new blog, Stepreo.

Archive: meetup

Interesting event: Political Innovation

21 October 2010 13:22

Categories: Blogging, Current affairs, Edinburgh, Internet, Politics, Scotland, Technology

There is an event coming up that will interest a lot of Scottish political bloggers. Political Innovation is taking place on 13 November at the University of Edinburgh’s Informatics Forum.

The Political Innovation project is a series of free-to-attend practical events at which people with ideas on political innovations can meet up with technical experts, journalists, bloggers, politicos and others with an interest in politics and public affairs. The event will allow to find about about innovative projects like these ones. You may even want to get involved in one of them.

It sounds pretty good to me and I plan on attending. It will be a good opportunity for bloggers to meet up and chat with others that are interested in this sort of thing.

As far as I know, it has been a while since there was a bit meetup of Scottish bloggers, and from time to time people ask me when there is going to be another meetup. The political focus of this event might not appeal to everyone, but it sounds like the ideal place for some of us to catch up, as well as meet other interesting people and discuss innovative ideas. Best of all, they will be supplying lunch.

1 comment

Another successful bloggers’ meetup

29 August 2009 00:04

Categories: Admin, Blogging, Edinburgh, General

As you have no doubt seen if you are a regular reader, there was a meetup of bloggers on Thursday. What a good evening it was too — plenty of friendly chit-chat and drinks.

So thanks to those who came and made it such a great evening:

Special mention to those who went out of their way to come, especially Wendy, Yousuf and Holyrood Patter who went through to Edinburgh from Glasgow. It was good to meet some people again, and great to meet some people for the first time. Will Howells, whose blog I have been reading for years and years, even popped down briefly to Holyrood 9A between shows after we had vacated the Pleasance due to the deteriorating weather.

The last time we had a meetup, there was a special guest in the form of Iain Macwhirter, fresh from calling us bloggers “ejaculators”. But despite Malc’s best efforts, no surprise guests turned up.

However, Tom Harris was there in spirit. Well, maybe not in spirit, but in the form of twenty pounds which he kindly donated towards a round! That was good of him.

It was a shame some people were unable to make it, but I get the sense that it won’t be too long until the next bloggy get-together. Everyone seemed to have a good time, and as Jeff noted the whole thing went very quickly which is a good sign. The next one will probably be soon, and will probably be in Glasgow to make up for all of our Edinburgh encounters.

Check out Stephen’s blog for a report, and Steve’s blog for the photographic evidence.

4 comments

Final meetup plans

25 August 2009 02:16

Categories: Admin, Blogging, Edinburgh, General

Apologies for the lack of proper material here. It’s all been meetup chat for the past couple of weeks, for which I apologise. Hopefully normal service will soon resume (whatever “normal service” is round here).

I need to tie up a few of the loose ends which were present in the last update about the meetup. So here are all the details you need to know.

We will be meeting in the Pleasance Courtyard in Edinburgh on Thursday 27 August from around 6pm onwards.

Some people have suggested Pleasance Courtyard may be too busy so there may have to be a Plan B. In case we need to change plans, I will try my best to keep everyone updated on Twitter — @doctorvee. Likewise, if anyone needs to get in contact with me the best way is probably to direct message me on Twitter. Alternatively you can email me — the address is in the sidebar.

To help people find us, I will wear a green long-sleeved t-shirt. Look for a young-but-strangely-jaded-looking person and chances are it’ll be me. (My picture is up in the top right there, though I’m constantly told I don’t look much like it.)

Everyone is welcome and based on the feedback so far it seems like we’ll get a relatively good turnout. So I hope to see you there!

7 comments

Meetup information — date settled

21 August 2009 12:58

Categories: Admin, Blogging, Edinburgh, General, Scotland

The votes are in, and 27 August won by one vote! (I know it looks like it won by two votes, but one person had to change their plan after they’d already voted.) I would actually have preferred the 25th and I was sorely tempted to ignore the vote, but we wouldn’t want another Scottish election scandal on our hands. So 27 August it is. We can kick things off at around 6pm.

There wasn’t any overwhelming verdict on whether we should see a show. Seven people wanted to see one (but were split on which one to see), and six didn’t. I think as a compromise we can let those who’d like to see NewsRevue see it, while everyone else can have a chat.

In terms of where our meetup will take place, that would tend to lead us somewhere around the Pleasance Courtyard. I’ve never been for a drink there and actually come to think of it I couldn’t suggest anywhere else because I’m not familiar enough with Edinburgh’s booze scene! That rather raises the question of why on earth I’m organising this thing, but shh!

Last year we met at the Udderbelly which seemed quite good, but is a five or ten minute walk for the NewsRevuers to make.

So if anyone can provide any more solid suggestions in terms of meeting and having a chat round a table, do let me know in the comments and I’ll update this post when we’re settled.

10 comments

Meetup latest: vote on our plans

19 August 2009 01:44

Categories: Admin, Blogging, Edinburgh, Entertainment, General, Humour, Scotland

A meetup of bloggers is planned for next week in Edinburgh.

Having looked at the initial round of feedback, I have decided that two dates in particular stand out as the most suitable: 25 or 27 August. Alternative possibilities are 26 or 28 August. Personally, I am erring towards 25 August, but if more people can come on one of the other dates we can go with that.

So that I can get a sense of everyone’s availability, I have set up a poll so that people who are thinking of attending can let us know which dates suit best. We will probably go with the date that has the most votes.

I know, I know. Voting is often a pointless activity. But may I remind you that it is your civic duty to vote. Plus, with the relatively small numbers that will be attending I can assure you that your p will be relatively large.

We are also thinking about going to see a show at the Fringe as part of the meetup. This may not be to everyone’s taste — some might prefer to chat and do meetup-type stuff.

Jeff has suggested NewsRevue, which starts at 6pm at the Pleasance Courtyard. Stephen has suggested About the Scots which is at 8pm at the Beehive Inn on the Grassmarket.

Personally, I am erring towards NewsRevue because it might end up being cheaper (Jeff says he might be able to get half price tickets). Also, the earlier start time means that people can avoid it more easily if they wish by just popping along a bit later, and it leaves more time for chat after the show has finished.

If you would rather not go to see a show though, I have included that as an option on the poll too.

Of course, the choice of show almost makes our choice of venue for us, so I will wait until we have settled on an answer before we finalise those plans.

I will take the poll results as they stand at noon on Friday which gives you about two days to vote, while giving people plenty of time to plan ahead for the meetup if they need to.

Thanks!

5 comments