MiniBar: London's Premiere Web 2.0 Geek Night
Browsing Upcoming.org for some interesting social events, I came across fun little event called Minibar, ironic I know. Minibar is essentially an evening "geek" night thrown at local bar/lounge where influential people from the community, start-up business, investors, and enthusiasts come together to mingle and learn about the new technologies in the Web 2.0 economy. During the February meet-up, Minibar drew more than 200 people from around the London area. Amongst the selection of presentations, there were some impressive presentation made by Vodaphone's R&D division, web start-up CommenTag, and Webcanvas. To give further credibility to the audience, Minibar had none other than Techcrunch UK editor, Mike Butcher, moderate the event as MC. If the strength of the presentations weren't enough to lure an audience in, an hour of free drinks courtesy of Mute and Ubuntu definitely sealed the deal to some attendees. The end result was far from "mini," as the event proved to be one of the largest, geekiest, and most importantly, coolest of its kind this side of the pond or across.
Presentations From
OpenBusiness - developing "open" business models and sharing them with the community *Minibar Organizers*
Vodaphone's R&D Labs - " Betavine" Mobile Development Community
CommenTag - centralized blog comment analysis tools.
WebCanvas - create, collaborate, paint in real-time online.
Interesting Comments from People
Xaviar, founder of CommenTag, when asked about decision on using LAMP:
"It's free and as a start-up you use the technology that the available talent pool uses."
Margaret, Manager of Betavine project at Vodaphone, when asked about Google Android:
"We fully support the Google Android development community. In fact, if you're working on Android come see me; I want to hear about it."
Founder of Cashinn.tv bar games platform, discussing use of Windows Embedded:
"We use Windows embedded in our products because it reduces the amount of development work we have to do and lets us focus on our product."
Sponsorships:
OpenBusiness
Every event is different. See the OpenBusiness Website.
Past sponsors include BBC, Techcrunch, and Vodaphone
Also, the Minibar prior to this one, Microsoft spoke about their "Start-up" program to help new companies get funding and help. For more information on how Microsoft can help support your start-up, follow this link.
Next Minibar is on March 28th. They just expanded and had their first Minibar in Italy, so it is catching on! I think anyone certified geek should come out! Maybe you'll even meet the geek of your dreams *c'mon lvl 56 female druid*
