OxTwestival – Oxford Twestival write up

Oxford Twestival was not my first networking event in this city – city I love already, even though I am just planning to move to this spring/summer. I know most of the attendees from Oxford Geek Nights organised by Torchbox, and I was very happy to see you all again. Twestival is about Twitter, about music and about charity. And I think we’ve managed to enjoy all of those throughout the night! I am extremely impressed by Helen and Rob for arriving earlier and helping us out! We were also very lucky that The Funky Lamas took care of all the equipment for themselves and Ben and that they moved the crowd with their rhythm and enthusiasm. We are also very, very happy and proud to know that Ben is from Oxford and he honoured us with his presence and music that night. (I am not being diplomatic here: there are my genuine feelings about the night!). I am very happy to have worked with @jake and @colinmercer on the event, and I think that their spirit and humour made it an unforgettable evening. (Also, we have a good photo of Colin and his hat;) I am very, very happy that my friend Kristina made it, that newly met Marianne made it too, and that I got to talk to Amanda a bit. But most of all I am happy everyone else was happy! It was such a positive evening. Let’s face it – it was a perfect size party for Oxford feeling. We had space to talk, to share a pint, to listen or dance to the live music. Musicians had time and mood to play together and join in their experience of the evening. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think it was a good place to be that night – for everyone, regardless their social media expertise, their musical preference, their job etc. I just hope it’s not the last Oxford Twestival. But there is something else I felt that night – lack of unfriendly competitiveness. Torchbox is organising their night, Rob has ‘his’ Oxford Professional Meetups, but we all go to all of those events. And you will wonder why I mention it? Simply because of my experience – I worked in event organizing for about 10 years in Budapest – and I have always experienced a strange sense of ‘whose party is better’ mood, which actually causes a strange distraction during conversations. Here, in Oxford, I see the same trend as in professional blogging – support and common understanding of each other’s needs. We need knowledge, we need an occasion to have a beer, we need to develop and network. All this can be done in a friendly, open and transparent way. I hope I am right and I hope it will stay this way. I actually hope we will have more and more social media related events in Oxford and we will meet more often;)

So, what next: Oxford Internet Professionals meet-up this Wednesday. See you there!:)