Geek Dinners

A few days ago I was invited to a dinner by Tim Leung of VBUG in Reading. Thursday night I attended that dinner. It was a dinner with a difference.

First of all Tim gave a short presentation on some of the new things he’d picked up at TechEd. As it was a small group of us around a table at the back of the restaurant it was much easier to engage the speaker and the presentation was more interactive as a result. By the end of the presentation a number of conversations had been started based on what had been discussed previously.

Afterwards came the food. The conversation continued in its technology vein. Everyone had something to share and some advice to give.

What was most interesting about this over other geek dinners that I have attended is the combination of the presentation at the start and the small (less than 10) number of attendees. I think the combination made for an excellent more intimate evening and I think that everyone got something useful out of it.

This is something I’d like to replicate in Scotland and interestingly earlier this evening Frank Kerrigan, my co-conspirator at the west of Scotland branch of Scottish Developers, was suggesting the same kind of thing.

Watch this space – we will be arranging something in the new year.