SEO Pub Meet - 28th May London Stansted

By: Nick W [privmsg] On 20th Jan 2005 In
- Social & Community

Following a thread started by DougS: Unofficial SEO Gatherings and the subsequent split off of JasonD's post to Arranging a UK SEO Meet it fills me with warm fuzziness to post the results of some great ideas - here go's...

Who, What, Where, When and Why?

Let me go briefly through all the details you need:

Who - Invites and How to Register

All attendees must sign in on this thread - This will enable us to keep track on how many folks we need to talk to the hotel about and other logistical stuff - its a free gig with no financial motive, there is no money to throw at this so this is the best we can do heh..

All manner of marketer is welcome - we often talk about what some consider to be "black" tactics here but we also have a good share of fairer folk - this is not an issue, if your a TW member and can make it to stanstead we'd love to see you :)

What - Details of What Will be Happening at the Gig

There is no agenda. Let me just repeat that so noone is under any false impressions: There is NO agenda. If you think this is a bad thing, this baby aint for you.

What is happening then? Well, in the good old style of MrMackins original pubcon from a few years back we will be meeting up at a hotel/pub and shooting the breeze - it's what you make of it. If you think getting together with a whole bunch of seriously good SEO's and having a lots of beer is a good thing, then you're in luck. If you want a show and booths, and lectures then your shit out of it. Networking is where its at for this beast.

Children and partners are welcome - in fact, we'd love it if they came. Jason and I are going to look into what facilities and attractions/distractions might be available for both kiddies and bored wives/husbands.

More details of eating and other stuff to come - We're working on this but in true TW style we're boldly going forth without the aid of a plan heh..

Where - Stuff About the Location

See the pretty pictures above? Nice eh? That's the Downhall Hotel in Stanstead and is about 8 miles from the airport. Easy peasy for euros and americans alike. Here's a little of the hotel spiel:

Main House 44 elegantly furnished bedrooms including Single, Double and Twin rooms. Eight Feature rooms with Four Poster beds or 2 Poster Beds and beautiful views over Down Hall\222s extensive grounds. One beautifully furnished Junior Suite featuring corner bath, separate lounge area and balcony.

West Wing 55 stylish and spacious rooms featuring extensive bathroom, small lounge area and executive rooms with extensive views over the stunning grounds. 8 Interconnecting rooms available connecting Twin rooms with Double rooms, ideal for families. Disabled access rooms available upon request.

I understand they have WiFi also right Jason?

When - Dates and How to Book!

The main event - when you should definately aim for in terms of attendance if you are pushed for time is Saturday 28th May at 2pm However, most folks will be arriving on Friday, and leaving on Sunday - with bank holiday monday reserved for recovery.

To make it clear:

Friday 27th - meet in the hotel bar at anytime - if you dont see folks you know, just wander over to the nearest group of geeks and say Hi
Saturday 28th - The main gig - 2pm till you drop - hotel bar
Sunday 29th Same as above, but people will slowly start to head off home throughout the day

Booking Details

£85 per night Bed and Breakfast
£95 per night Bed, Breakfast and Evening Meal Single Room
£125 per night Bed, Breakfast and Evening Meal Double Room.

Please make all bookings direct with Sarah at the Down Hall Hotel on +44 1279 732169 or email her on stebbs@downhall.co.uk mentioning "Threadwatch" when you make contact.

The hotel has 99 rooms

Why - The reason this is happening

Essentially this meeting/conference/pissup has been put together by JasonD with a very small amount of facilitation from me for one reason and one reason only: To do some face to face freeform networking in a beer soaked, smoke filled envirnonment conducesive to sharing info and knowledge.

Game Rules & Donations & Sponsorship Stuff

Firstly, there will be no sponsorship, advertising of any kind except the opportunity to buy us all beer and be thanked for it :)

All members are encouraged to send a paypal donation of $50 to [b]meeting@threadwatch.org[/b] PayPal This cash will be put behind the bar, used for transport, childminding if possible and all other things designed to make this fun for everyone. Let me repeat: There is nothing financial here for TW or JasonD This is strictly a non profit gig okay?
If you have promotion in mind, you are, in the style of rcjordan and NFFC's excellent seoroadshow limited to what you can carrry - there will be no speaches, sectioning off or banners, plackards or anything of that nature - 4eyes will chuck you bodily out of the hotel at the first whiff of anything like this. This means that you can circulate and talk to members, the same as we are all doing, if they like what you have to say you'll know about it - likewise if they dont.

What you CAN do...

You are welcome to send a sizeable donation towards beer at the paypal account above - you will be thanked for your contribution on the main day in the one and only speach to be had at the gig. Minimun donation is $300 to get a mention.

If You Plan to Attend - Sign IN

As i said above, if you're coming you must sign in here - we need to know numbers in order to liase with the hotel and arrange transport and this is the easiest way.

Boys and girls - see ya there!

- Y! MyWeb

I'll be there, and bringing a

I'll be there, and bringing along a few colleagues from the business and possibly the Missus and sprog. I do ask that you all treat the young female members of my staff with some respect!

Remember it isn't all true what they say about Essex girls :)

Just the record ,and in case you're in doubt mine's a cup of tea, freshly brewed in the pot with leaves not bags, a dash of milk and one sugar please :P

P.S. On the freebie front (cos I promise I can carry this) can I have a few CPUs worth of licencing from IBM for Informix?
P.P.S. I have also been told that TWATS has a different meaning in North America then here in Blighty. I think the 1st meaning is what is meant :)
P.P.P.S. Wireless Internet Access is available throughout the hotel, provided by T Mobile. It is chargeable but I'll see what can be done about providing a no cost alternative.

By JasonD at Jan 20 2005 - 18:46

And for Networking junkies...

There is the london SES on the 1st of June - so you get to have a day to recover then go to danny's slightly more glitzy gig :)

It's safe to say that im pretty psyched about this - a chance to quaff ale with some of the industries finest? yeah!

By Nick W at Jan 20 2005 - 19:22

..just to clarify...

Quote:

4eyes will chuck you bodily out of the hotel at the first whiff of anything like this

I just want to make it clear that this should read "4eyes and a bunch of his mates...."

By 4Eyes at Jan 20 2005 - 19:49

Looking forward to it, should

Looking forward to it, should be good. I live in south Essex so not to far from the venue really!

By creative666 at Jan 20 2005 - 19:56

I'm in for 2 places barring disaster in the meantime

Also interested in bringing the kids if there is going to be something for them to do. Unfortunately my other half is also a Computer/SEO geek so wouldn't take kindly to the idea of keeping the kids out of my hair all weekend.

By Kali at Jan 20 2005 - 20:03

See you then

We may want to plug something that maybe of interest....have to get off my arse now and get the thing built.

DougS

By DougS at Jan 20 2005 - 20:58

Then dont forget....

To give it away here for FREE first doug :)

By Nick W at Jan 20 2005 - 21:01

I’m in

Saturday for certain maybe even Friday, though talk of all these kids is worrying ;) – kids seem to think i’m a human punch bag / climbing frame and i attract them like flies to sh$* – bless em :)

By PaulH at Jan 20 2005 - 21:01

Looking forward

Looking forward to meeting you all there.

By Smiley at Jan 20 2005 - 21:37

I'll be there....

...possibly with partner and precocious child

By 4Eyes at Jan 20 2005 - 21:42

Looking forward to it

I'm in arrive Friday and leave sometime Sunday...

By mick g at Jan 20 2005 - 21:57

Interesting...

An informal warm-up before SES? Sounds like a good idea...but will have have to finalise arrangements. Not booked for London yet, but count me as darn interested.

By Brian_Turner at Jan 20 2005 - 22:21

will be there with bells on

Count me in guys - looking forward to it

By GerBot at Jan 20 2005 - 23:11

I'm in

just booking online as I don't do breakfast anyway 71 GBP

By ThomasB at Jan 20 2005 - 23:15

?

So is this MrM....

what gives you the idea it costs?

I did mention that donations toward the bar bill were encouraged but they are not necessary and wont be pushed for - we just thought it might be nice to collectively stick some money behind the bar is all...

That a problem you think?

By Nick W at Jan 20 2005 - 23:31

C'Mon, all chip in for some beers!!

I don't think that's unreasonable at all Nick. I'm in and I'll PayPal you over some beer money in a minute.

I will come down on the Friday and leave Sunday. See you all there!

By Keir at Jan 21 2005 - 08:01

ThreadWatch SEO Conference, Google Trademark Case in France, Rub

ThreadWatch launches an SEO conference. Google loses French trademark case. DMOZ lists RubberStamped, and the IHY squad has a fit. WikiPedia adopts new NoFollow tags. Google AdWords to unveil significant changes soon.

By SEO Book.com (trackback) (not verified) at Jan 21 2005 - 08:43

Count me in

Beer money on it's way!

By IAN_C at Jan 21 2005 - 09:29

I'm up for it!

Certianly up for going over to Stanstead...

Looking forward to it.

By SEbasic at Jan 21 2005 - 09:46

Is meetings@threadwatch.org set up?

Trying to donate funds via PayPal but it says the address meetings@threadwatch.org is not yet set up.

By IAN_C at Jan 21 2005 - 10:15

Damn

It's meeting@threadwatch.org

sorry... :(

By Nick W at Jan 21 2005 - 10:16

I am trying to book

But no reply from Sarahs email address :O(

If I manage to book I will be there with wife and child in tow (not that you will see them, I expect they will be enjoying the chance at shopping unhindred by me grumbling)

By chrisgarrett at Jan 21 2005 - 10:35

You leave me no choice :-)

I'm in

PS JasonD, calling the wrong person a twat might get you a good twatting :-) Which is never good.

See 58 which falls short IMHO, more than just hitting
h*ttp://w*ww.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/8120/bt_slang.html

By ukgimp at Jan 21 2005 - 10:44

Done

Hotel booked. Beer money sent. Bring it on!!

By Keir at Jan 21 2005 - 11:19

Count me in

No need for me to stay over as it's just 50 mins on the M25 for me!

By mr_tim at Jan 21 2005 - 12:22

NB. Anyone arriving saturday

Quote:

Check in time is from 3pm onwards, check out time is 11.00am

I will be missing the main gig (the meet time is 2pm) but am booking now in the hope I don't miss too much :O/

By chrisgarrett at Jan 21 2005 - 15:10

Looking forward to the UK

Looking forward to a nice UK visit. Imagine a few of us will stay to at least day 1 of SES so long as we're there. Party, party, tour, tour, tour, party....opps, party means network and learn.
Should be at least 2 of us that "speak the language", and maybe 1-2 more along for the ride.

By jimsthoughts at Jan 21 2005 - 15:22

Back to the roots

Just booked. Friday (possibly late evening) to Sunday evening. Couldn't miss out on the company and the location (just have to remember how my Essex accent works after so many years).

By stever at Jan 21 2005 - 17:12

Threadwatch Has UK Pub Meet

Into SEO? In the UK? Threadwatch is having a get-together. Details here: SEO Pub Meet - 28th May London Stansted....

By Search Engine Watch Blog (trackback) (not verified) at Jan 21 2005 - 19:48

Barring mishap

I'll be there. I may try to save a small portion of my liver for poisoning later, during SES, but I'll certainly do my utmost to be there.

By Black_Knight at Jan 21 2005 - 22:55

Sounds like fun...

Unfortunately, my daughter is graduating high school right around that time, so I don't think I'll be able to make it. Will have to miss the London SES even this year, I think. :-(

By Jill at Jan 22 2005 - 04:02

Off to book now

Looking forward to it - presumably it's OK to bring along a (work) partner, albeit someone who's not a member here?

Assuming yes, that's 2 getting in Saturday morning and heading off late-ish on Sunday. Ta.

By mat at Jan 22 2005 - 09:29

I'm in but not happy

Who booked the suite?

By NFFC at Jan 22 2005 - 11:22

Hmmm

Sorry did you want it

By mick g at Jan 22 2005 - 13:24

i'll be there

Staying over on the saturday and head off on the sunday.

By mcavill at Jan 24 2005 - 10:15

Yeah Matt, that's cool...

Absolutely fine matt :)

Quick update:

Jason and I will be compiling a list of things that need doing this week - please pm me or JasonD if you can spare a little time to make a couple of calls etc..
We got a mention in the SEW blog - feel free to spread the word :)
Beer money (voluntary paypay donations of $50 - meeting@threadwatch.org) coming along nicely
Couple of nice paypal corporate beer money donations :)
Quite a few international attendees - NICE

For an idea born so quickly and put into action the very next day this is coming along nicely...

By Nick W at Jan 24 2005 - 14:21

me too

Booked for friday and Sat night, so looking forward to joining you all.

Nick, 'bin reading here a while, great site, thanks.

By George at Jan 25 2005 - 11:16

I really just want to echo Ni

I really just want to echo Nick's comments and if any of you fancy working in that old fashioned way, using the telephone then give me a call (Details on my site, found under my profile)

IMO the highest priority is to compile a list of stuff to do for those not coming for the social gathering. Specifically partners and kids :)

By JasonD at Jan 25 2005 - 11:24

I'm in

May as well, not doing anything that weekend ;-)

By Serious at Jan 25 2005 - 12:15

What about NYC

I may not be in London... why not an impromtu gathering at one of the parties during SES NYC.... have to see which ones are going but grab a corner and BS would be cool.

By AussieWebmaster at Jan 25 2005 - 17:01

2 more here

Count myself and the other half in. Should be a good laugh and nice to put some names to faces :-)

By Shadowen at Jan 26 2005 - 10:02

1 more here!

Looking forward to it!

By Dan the Automator at Jan 26 2005 - 12:43

Cool!

George, Shadowen: great to see you guys in here :) and especially coming to the gig! do go and introduce yourself Shadowen :)

This thing is shaping up nicely, i'll put permenant link or even a little graphic up when the redesign is done...

By Nick W at Jan 26 2005 - 15:11

I'll miss yas...

I have to fly to New York for my sisters graduation that day. Then I fly out to London afterwards. So I may catch up with some of you at SES.

By sugarrae at Jan 26 2005 - 17:51

Hi Everyone

Your link Nick W didn't seem to work so I'll introduce myself here for you. My name is Jason Cartwright and I'm Head of SEO for GCDM which is based in Westwick, Cambridge (so it shouldn't be too much of a crawl home after a few drinks ;-)) Would be more active on the forums etc., but because, as my friend once refered to it, I "live in the ar** end of nowhere" and as such I have no internet connection at home to catch up in the evenings.

Should be going to SES in London, but that tends to be a case of sitting in a room all day listening to people, and then trying to be social in the evening when you're knacked. Frankly the idea of this gathering for just drinks, no selling and a general laugh sounds like far more fun to me. Maybe for a follow up meet we could go paintballing and have staff from the search engines Vs the Optimisers? Should be a good way for both sides to vent their frustrations :-D

By Shadowen at Jan 27 2005 - 12:54

I'll be there. Always wanted

I'll be there. Always wanted to check out the sights in Stansted.

By SlyOldDog at Jan 30 2005 - 21:24

Well if sly goes, i go

What you losers doing posting on Sunday night anyway! :)

By MaxD at Jan 30 2005 - 21:34

booked

Ok - booked. :)

Now to see how to add SES London to the trip down there. :)

Er - Nick - quick question - they do have Wi-fi, don't they? :o

By Brian_Turner at Feb 1 2005 - 14:20

I'm BOOKED

< recruit > I'm booked at the Downhall for May 28th and 29th. < / recruit >

Depart for meetings in Bedford on the 30th and then on to London for SES 31st through June 3rd.
You can find me at the Hilton Hotel Islington.

By MrMackin at Feb 5 2005 - 13:41

Booked!

Dont ask me why it took me till now to book, there's no reasonable answer heh..

Booked in for Friday - Sunday - Me, Ivana & Robyn

in other news...
We've had some nice donations for beer money from companies, i've still not written a TODO list for me and Jason to start going through but i WILL and we would like to remind the good boys and girls that a voluntary $50 paypal to put behind the bar would be most welcome :) the paypal addy is meeting@threadwatch.org

We will ramp up the exposure on this shortly, but its a bit early yet, cheers...

By Nick W at Feb 11 2005 - 11:33

I'll be happy to put my money

I'll be happy to put my money behind the bar when I arrive, but I would not touch paypal out of principal :)

By SlyOldDog at Feb 11 2005 - 22:48

ME Too

I hate "me too" posted BUT I'm with SlyOldDog.

By MrMackin at Feb 12 2005 - 00:15

Why not Beercast the bugger?

There are lots of people who can't make it to the StansteadFest. Why not Beercast the bugger? I am sure that DaveN will have all the equipment going on the amount of time he spends in pubs - even the pubs not in Edinburgh - and this is my last mention of that.

By eurotrash at Mar 2 2005 - 18:31

Can't Wait

It will be nice to put a face to some of the names

By mere1996 at Mar 2 2005 - 18:55

I'm hoping for some insider info

So would rather the juicy stuff not be recorded ;O)

Besides, I sound a right twxt on recording devices (IE. I would rather keep my delusion that I have a manly melodic voice rather than the nasally-challenged-barnsley-idiot voice I really have).

Willing to be outvoted though, could be good for future bribery situations, esp. if there is karaoki ;O)

By chrisgarrett at Mar 3 2005 - 09:20

Did Someone Say Beercast It?

London.. ahh, wish I could make it back out there, but it's too damned expensive!

In any event, if you do want to Beercast the event, let me know so I can post it up via the Beercasting site.

Greg

By beercaster at Mar 3 2005 - 17:52

Count me in

Looking forward to meeting some of the famous hyperlinked nick names in the flesh.

Alex

By indigo at Mar 3 2005 - 19:17

Good Stuff

Great job Alex, and Greg, we may just take you up on that offer! Welcome to Threadwatch mate, do introduce yourself here:
http://www.threadwatch.org/node/1692

By Nick W at Mar 4 2005 - 00:06

Conferences & Consuming Media: Too Much?

Post mentioning some of the various conferences in the middle of the year.

By Trackback: www.seobook.com (not verified) at Mar 7 2005 - 13:28

oops.. I'm IN

sorry i forgot to post it

DaveN

By DaveN at Mar 14 2005 - 12:21

trash on the way

complete with Lorry

Is everyone signing up on the Dinner rate or is everyone going out for dinner?

By eurotrash at Mar 17 2005 - 22:37

dinner???

I don't remember that option.
I usually take all options when offered - sucker point of purchase guy here.

All I know is that at least one night I'm having a liquid dinner!

By GerBot at Mar 17 2005 - 22:40

dinner

Dinner rate or is everyone going out for dinner?

If past experiences are a guide you will struggle to find the time to breathe, never mind food.

By NFFC at Mar 17 2005 - 22:45

heh..

Eating?

We'll be getting some questions answered (though gerbot and nffc pretty much covered that one) as soon as the redesign is out of the way.

I want to start a new thread, put a permenant link or graphic on the site somewhere prominent(ish) and get this thing rollin' just a little closer to the time..

Traditionally, at these things, friday night is a good one for little dinner groups, saturday, it's just beer.

By Nick W at Mar 17 2005 - 22:49

In the spirit of Pub conferen

In the spirit of Pub conferences I'm going to finish my Bordeaux tonight while I watch CuteFTP upload :)

By GerBot at Mar 17 2005 - 22:55

Booked!

Being a pub meet newb i was bit hesitant, but Finally booked, 27th and 28th
Looking forward to putting faces to names.

Maybe this thread should be a sticky?

By PaulH at Apr 13 2005 - 09:24

Gonna do a new one later actually Paul, glad you decided to come!

By Nick W at Apr 13 2005 - 09:34

Decisions

ok - not been to an SEO one before - this is close enough for me to drive home from and if everyone goes to bed at midnight I may as well, alternatively if everyone will be up and partying 'till 4am Sunday morning I should book a room. Which is it likely to be?

By Gurtie at Apr 13 2005 - 09:36

Which is it likely to be?

You will find it will be partying till very early in the morning, they always are

At the last meeting we did not go to bed and carried on after having breakfast :)

By mick g at Apr 13 2005 - 09:55

so actually

I probably won't need the room anyway?

ah well, booked anyway - it looks like they'll have a decent quality of biscuits with the tea making facilities :)

By Gurtie at Apr 13 2005 - 10:36

Downhall have gone and undertaken an update to their site and gone totally flash based (fools IMHO)

Because of this the images are broken above, but there are images embedded within the swf at http://www.downhall.co.uk/dhall.swf

Does anyone have a SWF decompiler, such as So Think's excellent app and can export the images so we can all get to see what a great place it looks again ?

Thanks

By JasonD at Apr 13 2005 - 11:35

last site was no better....

if not worse it crashed my browser on more than once occasion due to uber larger images or some such bullshit

By ukgimp at Apr 13 2005 - 11:39

gone totally flash based (fools IMHO)

As someone that has written more than my share of hotel web sites, you have no idea how stubbornly hotel owners want flash sites

It appears to be "keeping up with the Jones" rather than actually thinking what users want and how people are going to find it.

By cornwall at Apr 13 2005 - 11:43

Tell me about it

"We want it to be elegantly flashtastic with animation, transitions, swooshing menus like xyz company"
"And we want to be #1 for 'hotel' in all engines and geographies"
"And the conversion rate needs to be 100% because if we do not have full occupancy we lose money and we will blame you"
"And it needs to work on the chairmans next door neighbours PDA"

By chrisgarrett at Apr 13 2005 - 12:47

OK, Vikings booked.

Right, expect the usual 3 suspects to enter the hotel lobby at around noon Saturday. Looking forward to see all ya'll again :)

By Rumbas at Apr 13 2005 - 13:39

Can anyone extract the resources from within the swf for me please? :)

By JasonD at Apr 13 2005 - 13:43

Images added, but for some reason, i couldnt get the nightime shot to show up, i've no idea why..

I will be starting a new thread in a few days though, it's time this was put on the homepage again :) I can't wait, and Robyn says she's looking forward to learning how to sell STUFF - apparently she's been talking to MrMackin...

By Nick W at Apr 13 2005 - 18:22

I am glad to say that it looks like I will be joining you all in lovely Stanstead. Been to a few SEO things before so maybe i'll actually recognize a few people. ;-)

By jsavvy at Apr 13 2005 - 19:56

Threadwatch SEO Pub Meet - 6wks and counting...

There are just 6wks to go before the Threadwatch boys and girls meet in London Stansted for the first (i hope of many) Threadwatch Pub Meets. On the weekend of the 28th of May 2005, it's all systems go for serious networking amongst some of the finest

By Trackback: www.threadwatch.org (not verified) at Apr 15 2005 - 09:51