We’ll let you know the outcome!

Next week is vinyl week, followed by old photo week. Keep an eye out for some of the fun! Any suggestions for the following weeks?

Sometimes whilst down the pub, I get asked what I do. Depending who I’m talking to and in what context, it’s sometimes easier – and a bit of fun – to use a pseudonym.

So… Hi, I’m Andy and I design sports biscuits. Generally, people love it, “really?!!”, I’ve even been asked “can you design one with me on please?”

Then came along the social media boom, with myspace, facebook and Youtube at the forefront. Introduction of online social media created a snowball effect for people using it more and more to connect with friends and using it’s tools to help promote up and coming events/share music/video/photos etc.

So as these sites gained in popularity I took advantage of this to tell the world what events are going on. Not using this method is without doubt selling yourself short to gain popularity of events. Facebook is the first port of call for whenever I am setting up an event by simply uploading related artwork, adding content telling people in detail, where? When? Who’s playing etc. and then distributing across my network. Then telling my friends to invite their friends and so on……after the event I add photos and video from the night to share with people who could or couldn’t make it.

Other nights such as the legendary Back To Basics (the longest running weekly club night in the world) uses Facebook heavily, posting information on events each week. See the below link:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/event.php?eid=101739476531177&ref=ts

Here is a link to my next event:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/event.php?eid=10150136403150301&ref=ts

Stickybits brings the physical and digital worlds together with barcode stickers which trigger audio, video, photo, and text messages when scanned. The product is a mobile app for the iPhone and Android phones which lets users scan barcodes, attach messages, and keep track of the stickybits left by their friends. Will it catch on?

During December, January and February a new presence was crafted with a new web site, an updated Wikipedia entry to rival the best and a host of other initiatives including Facebook. The culmination of this work was an official launch party and subsequent concert the day after the new site was launched. An innovation in this concert was that conductor Natalia Luis-Bassa spoke at some length to the audience in between items, describing and analysing them quite humorously.

The concert was attended by a posse of 25 Connected teamies who all went along to support the orchestra. A great night was had by all and the concert was a resounding success with some great reviews.

…is DOUGS BIRTHDAY! I think many beers are in order, for the 24th anniversary of Dougs birth should be an important day in everyone’s calendar. The more the merrier!

In late November we descended upon Harrogate, the famous spa town in North Yorkshire staying at the beautiful Crown Hotel whose guest list boasts a number of famous names including Lord Byron and The Beatles. Once we’d all checked in, we headed up to our rooms to get ready for the evening event.

Now donning our suits and dresses, we had a couple of warm up drinks in the hotel bar before departing for The Restaurant Bar and Grill, just a short walk from the hotel.

We were seated and pretty soon the wine and conversation were flowing and the party was now in full swing. The courses were a grand assortment of things including Baked goats cheese, Crispy duck rolls and Tempura of king prawns for starters. Grilled salmon, Malayan spiced chicken (which was fantastic), Sirloin steak and Baked parmesan and butternut squash tart for main and Chocolate fudge brownies, New York style cheesecake and ice cream for dessert. All the food went down well with plenty of wine throughout which gave us a good foothold for what was to come.

After the meal we moved on to the Blues Bar where resident Jed Thomas and his band, were blasting out lots of great music. The cramped space was a little too much for some of us so quite a bit of time was spent outside in the chilly Winter night.

After a few drinks at the Blues Bar, we headed back to the hotel bar to play out the rest of our game of “survival of the fittest”. For some (including myself) the night was winding down from this point on. It was getting late and the drinks were starting to take hold. From here on I can’t really go into much detail as I slumped off to bed early compared to some of the group who continued to party into the wee small hours.