My experience of this NMK event.
- If you are looking for an event to network, go to these events but since there is little turnover in the viewership I imagine the value after the second or third time will decrease significantly
- If you wanted to hear something new or ground breaking, this definitely wasn’t the place for it. Most of the thought leaders were listening rather than speaking, you could spot them by their sharp and insightful questions
- If you wanted to witness the echo effect of yelling into a small space e.g. speaking to a group of specialists that mostly all know the same things, then go to this event. Nothing said was new, nothing said was deeply discussed, most were borderline arguments, etc
That being said it was good to meet with colleagues and peers to socialise and share a pint. If I go again it will be because a friend is going, or I got a free ticket.
One positive I walked away with was that if you wanted to know what others were thinking and whether your ideas or views were original all you had to do was get into a conversation about this startup or that one. This can be a humbling experience if you aren’t used to others critising your ‘great’ idea.
As well it reminded me what an investor once said on my blog, its not the idea that is important, its the execution of that idea. If you are a startup or planning to become/form one then I recommend you consider this your most important objective - execute, execute, execute, because odds are your idea isn’t original and others will follow if not lead.
Check out NMK for more information about events in London, UK.
[tags]nmk,beers&innovation,aggregators,london,event[/tags]
Ping THIS!
| 
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Darren Moore 10.19.06 at 4:17 pm
Hi Roger,
As you said on my blog: your impression of this event was a little different to mine. But maybe my summary about innovation being stifled in this country follows your experiences too.
BTW our paths crossed before, albeit for 2 minutes at php london (maybe another challenged networking event?) a few months ago.
I would be interested to know if there are any events in London you’d recommend?
Cheers,
Darren
Darren Moore 10.19.06 at 5:17 pm
Hi Roger,
As you said on my blog: your impression of this event was a little different to mine. But maybe my summary about innovation being stifled in this country follows your experiences too.
BTW our paths crossed before, albeit for 2 minutes at php london (maybe another challenged networking event?) a few months ago.
I would be interested to know if there are any events in London you'd recommend?
Cheers,
Darren
jamescoops 10.20.06 at 11:56 am
Hey - I recommend *mashup, Mobile Monday and umair haques innovation Wednesdays as worth attending.
I dont agree with your view of the event Roger - I think it’s a great one
Roger Kondrat 10.20.06 at 12:10 pm
@Darren
I do remember you, just didn’t see you, too bad as it would have been nice to catch up. Next time.
@James
Yeah I get that people will mostly disagree with me about the event as I am without a doubt the harshest of event critics.
I have to admit Mobile Monday’s does sound interesting. I have heard of it but just don’t remember from where. A link would be nice!
In fairness though I am the same about my own events I just can’t of course publicise it.
Glad you guys enjoyed yourselves.
jamescoops 10.20.06 at 12:56 pm
Hey - I recommend *mashup, Mobile Monday and umair haques innovation Wednesdays as worth attending.
I dont agree with your view of the event Roger - I think it's a great one
Roger Kondrat 10.20.06 at 1:10 pm
@Darren
I do remember you, just didn't see you, too bad as it would have been nice to catch up. Next time.
@James
Yeah I get that people will mostly disagree with me about the event as I am without a doubt the harshest of event critics.
I have to admit Mobile Monday's does sound interesting. I have heard of it but just don't remember from where. A link would be nice!
In fairness though I am the same about my own events I just can't of course publicise it.
Glad you guys enjoyed yourselves.
jamescoops 10.20.06 at 4:19 pm
just do a search for mobile monday London and then join the Yahoo! group and you’re in.
jamescoops 10.20.06 at 5:19 pm
just do a search for mobile monday London and then join the Yahoo! group and you're in.
alanp 10.21.06 at 12:53 am
This was my first Beers event, very enjoyable - maybe eventually it is all the same faces, don’t know yet. I summarised my views in detail in my post on the Disaggregation of Aggregation here but I thought it was fairly useful. Mobile Monday is also quite good though I find Planet Mobile overall is a bit insular wjen it comes to the overall broadband revolution
alanp 10.21.06 at 1:53 am
This was my first Beers event, very enjoyable - maybe eventually it is all the same faces, don't know yet. I summarised my views in detail in my post on the Disaggregation of Aggregation here but I thought it was fairly useful. Mobile Monday is also quite good though I find Planet Mobile overall is a bit insular wjen it comes to the overall broadband revolution
Aggregators and upsetters and what it’s about « Beers & Innovation 10.24.06 at 10:51 pm
Aggregators and upsetters and 10.24.06 at 11:51 pm
Sam Sethi 10.25.06 at 12:53 am
Roger the UK start-up community is still very small and so many of us meet up at these events regularly when we can. It may be a bit insular for you but there are a few of us pushing the bounds on where the web is going next in our offline conversations.
The one thing I would add is people like Deirdre and other event organisers often do so in their personal time for the benefit of us all. If you think there is something wrong then it might be a good idea to suggest postive changes directly that can be made rather than negative commentary. Maybe organise an event yourself which we can all attend if that is not too insular or maybe speak at an event so we can hear and discuss your pov.
Sam.
Sam Sethi 10.25.06 at 1:53 am
Roger the UK start-up community is still very small and so many of us meet up at these events regularly when we can. It may be a bit insular for you but there are a few of us pushing the bounds on where the web is going next in our offline conversations.
The one thing I would add is people like Deirdre and other event organisers often do so in their personal time for the benefit of us all. If you think there is something wrong then it might be a good idea to suggest postive changes directly that can be made rather than negative commentary. Maybe organise an event yourself which we can all attend if that is not too insular or maybe speak at an event so we can hear and discuss your pov.
Sam.
Roger Kondrat 10.25.06 at 12:09 pm
Hi Sam thanks for dropping by.
I appreciate your position and I appreciate what Deirdre said in her blog post as she addressed my opinion.
However I take issue with your use of Deirdre’s name and that she works outside of work hours to implement these events. In the way you wrote that bit you made my editorial style post appear like a personal attack on Deirdre.
This could not be further from the truth. I have in fact a great deal of respect for Deirdre and have enjoyed the few chats we have had together immensely.
Regarding my negative commentary, yeah maybe I should have made some suggestions as well, maybe next time I will take the time to do so, but the commentary stands.
As well not everything I said was negative:
Ultimately I am happy that my blog has grown enough to even gain traction with TechCrunch and other higher ups.
Roger Kondrat 10.25.06 at 1:09 pm
Hi Sam thanks for dropping by.
I appreciate your position and I appreciate what Deirdre said in her blog post as she addressed my opinion.
However I take issue with your use of Deirdre's name and that she works outside of work hours to implement these events. In the way you wrote that bit you made my editorial style post appear like a personal attack on Deirdre.
This could not be further from the truth. I have in fact a great deal of respect for Deirdre and have enjoyed the few chats we have had together immensely.
Regarding my negative commentary, yeah maybe I should have made some suggestions as well, maybe next time I will take the time to do so, but the commentary stands.
As well not everything I said was negative:
Ultimately I am happy that my blog has grown enough to even gain traction with TechCrunch and other higher ups.