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Tomorrow is Oxford Geek Night 31 and you should be there. As I recently mentioned on the oxford-geek-nights mailing list (and why aren't you on that mailing list? and why aren't you following the @oxfordgeeks Twitter account?) we've had a recent speaker switcheroo; but that's good, because we've managed to fit in another microslot, and a very timely one at that, about an upcoming academic conference that's looking for paper submissions.

I've given up these days on repeatedly and enthusiastically exhorting my website visitors to come along to Oxford Geek Nights: that's what the mailing list is for. After all, most people who read these blogposts are aware that, even though I have to go through the process of organizing them (always a bit like watching laws or sausages being made) I still think they're objectively well worth attending: arguably the best tech night out you can have in the county, if not in the counties beyond. And all that comes down to having such brilliant speakers: the invited keynotes, you expect to be quality; but definitely the local volunteer microslot talks are a heck of a cut above a lot of other events.

So, come along tomorrow, if you like; you'd be a fool not to, but that's your own business.

Once again, I presented and helped organize a great Oxford Geek Night last Wednesday. The keynote talks were amazing, and both about trains. Trains, APIs and laser scanning: how good is that?

I did a microslot talk, as well as trying to hold the night together. It was on how you can turn Kindles into literacy, for those who might get a Kindle this Christmas and are feeling charitably inclined on St Stephen's Day. You can download slides and listen to the audio already, which is great.

If I don't blog beforehand - and it's unlikely that I will, let's be honest - have a great Christmas, won't you?

Oxford Geek Night 26 happens in ten days' time. As tends to be the case these days, when I'm not panicking, I'm really looking forward to it.

We've got two fascinating keynotes as always. Simon Whitaker popped over to Reading recently to storm the Geek Nights there, and is back in Oxfordshire to discuss the lessons he learned, when he tried teaching coding to schoolchildren. Also, documentary maker and writer Michael Story will be explaining how the media can lie to us, and why they do it.

We've also got all the other usual stuff: four exciting microslots from fellow Oxford(shire) geeks; and a nearly full roster for our sixty-second, fast-paced open-mic slots in The Pitch. And there's free entry thanks to regular sponsors Torchbox, and a free drink per geek (while stocks last) thanks to OGN26 sponsors Historic Futures.

Stick a week on Thursday in your diary, then. And for more information about OGN26, and regular but infrequent updates afterwards, you should subscribe to the newsgroup or follow @oxfordgeeks on Twitter.

(Sorry for only going on about OGNs these days. With two site launches in the past two months, I've not had a chance since the last one to blog about anything much here: although I'm writing a few things elsewhere that might get a big reveal later!)

The 25th Oxford Geek Night is happening on Wednesday 29 February in the upstairs room at the (hopefully) newly refurbished Jericho Tavern. Despite a Christmas lull all round, we've finally got two ace keynotes organized:

• How to make rowing sexy: a web video case study, by Tom Wilkinson, Online Media Producer at the University of Oxford
• Getting geeks singing with Javascript, by Matthew Westcott, Senior Developer at Torchbox

They both broadly fit under the theme of "online video," so if you're at all interested in stretching your browser's capabilities in that area, or just want to see experts getting down with some interesting visual and internet technologies, you should definitely come along to OGN25.

If you want any more reasons to turn up, then: entrance is free (thanks to my employers and long-running sponsors Torchbox); and there's a free drink for every geek (thanks to OGN25 sponsors Historic Futures). We also hope to have a mystery raffle later on in the evening, if we can swing it; for more information about OGN25, and regular but infrequent updates afterwards, you should subscribe to the newsgroup or follow @oxfordgeeks on Twitter.

Meanwhile, I should start getting things organized. Now, where did I leave that microphone...?

In two weeks' time it's Oxford Geek Night #21. Twenty-one, eh? Sooner or later we'll have to stop numbering them. We'll just have to refer in retrospect to "OGN: the classics collection", or "OGN: the difficult progressive-tech years".

You should be at OGN21. You should be at every OGN, but you should definitely be at OGN21. We've got two design-themed keynotes: Clearleft's Paul Lloyd talking about "styleguides for the web"; and Thoughtworks' Eewei Chen and Nicholas Bailey trying their hand at live rapid prototyping. There's also four volunteer "microslots", covering a typically usual broad selection of topics and technologies. 

Not only that, though, but OGN21, like every other, is presented by Torchbox: so entry is free! And not only that, but Historic Futures have sponsored a free drink for every geek, while stocks last. So free entry, and a free drink. How can you not be at the Jericho Tavern on April 13? You won't get a better offer than that anywhere else on a Wednesday evening in Oxfordshire!

(Disclaimer: better offers in Oxfordshire might well be available on the night, but geekier? I doubt it.)

We've found the ideal complement to our first keynote for Oxford Geek Night 20 on February 9, 2011. Chris Govias and Andrew Godwin were already booked to talk to everyone present about the recent efforts by /dev/fort to put original NASA transcripts from space missions on the web in a searchable, linkable format. And now, alongside space exploration, we've got... car racing. Alex Powell from Soft Pauer is coming along to talk about their F1 mobile app, which presents real-time track positioning and timing data from the F1 official feeds.

We've already got four microslots booked, including discussions of the evil of pie charts and the joy of transparent swimwear. Before you start thinking about a roomful of geeks all dressed in transparent swimwear, let me distract you by saying that we still need volunteers for The Pitch, our sixty-second open-mic slot where people can pitch any ideas, vacancies, products, local events, meetups, organisations etc. The floor could be yours for up to a minute: email me, jp.stacey on the old GMail, or tweet me (@jpstacey) if you're interested.

On top of all this, Historic Futures have agreed to sponsor drinks: to the tune of one eagerly awaited drink per eagerly awaited geek attendee! They're based locally and they do research into supply-chain traceability. That means helping companies to work out just where all the components of their products come from and how, to improve transparency and good practice across lots of industries. They've also been good eggs in offering everyone at OGN20 a free drink.

Not only that, but we also have the regular sponsorship from Torchbox, meaning entry is still free. So: come along for the fast cars, big rockets and free drinks. How many geek events have that as their strapline, eh?

Last week, Oxford Geek Nights received some brilliant news: OGN19 was going to be sponsored by both the Nokia Ovi Store and Data.gov.uk, HM Government. Organization was well under way, so I popped out for a couple of days to see my family (and to go to my granddad's 90th birthday celebrations. Ninety.)

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to me, top tech magazine Wired had recommended OGN19 on their diary for next week. This perfect storm has happened before, when .NET magazine mentioned OGN4. As I recall, that was one of our best-attended geek nights, despite being in November. I managed to actually be around for that earlier mention, but this one has taken me a bit by surprise.

All in all, OGN19 is shaping up to be a really great event already: as already mentioned we've got some smashing keynote talks planned from Leila Johnston, David Caruana and Florian Müller. Since then we've also booked four cracking microslots, on open-source mobile portals, "internet plumbing", controlling an industrial robot with Twitter, and the battle of J2EE vs Python for web development. And then the funding news arrived. Now that the Nokia Ovi Store are funding a drink per geek, we're almost certain to have a great evening.

So maybe it's no wonder that someone submitted OGN19 to the Wired UK diary. But it was a pleasant surprise nonetheless. I just hope the rather discerning Oxford geeks have all put it in their own diaries too: Wednesday 1 December. Otherwise it'll just be me and Wired UK, drinking a hundred and forty pints. Merry Christmas!

The next Oxford Geek Night is on Wednesday 21 July, in less than two weeks' time. I for one am really looking forward to it.

We managed out of sheer luck and cheek to bagsy a fantastic speaker for OGN18, the ever-Interesting Russell Davies. Russell was the organizer of the 2007 and 2008 Interesting conferences, and is involved in lots of fantastic projects, including Speechification and Newspaper Club. He's also a writer for Wired, a speaker at many conferences including Lift 2010, and what one might frivolously call a futorologist or pundit. He's going to talk about his experiences turning internets into print, and what he's learned from doing it as part of projects like the Newspaper Club.

Along with our keynote speaker we've got half a dozen of the absolute best of local microslot volunteers. There's talks on topics as far ranging as "designing backwards", linked data, graphing 19th-century social networks, genomics, CSS and Rotacoo's Spotify #fridaymix tape. A few new faces and a few established (and deservedly so) local faces. As always we'll be putting video up on the site afterwards, so there'll be a permanent record of our high-quality speakers.

Finally, we hope to have space for the Pitches - our sixty-second open mic slots that anyone can volunteer for, even on the night - and a book raffle. All told it should be a great excuse to saunter over to the Jericho Tavern in the July sun / sudden downpour (delete as applicable.) Hope to see all the other Oxford geeks there.

Oxford Geek Night 17 is happening, and it's happening on Wednesday. That's this Wednesday. So this week I've been running round the office like a headless chicken, and Lawrence has been helping to pick up the pieces. We've got posters printed off, and a Pitch sheet drawn up as well. That's what we record the entries for The Pitch, our sixty-second open mic slots. We've still got a few spaces on that so you could tweet me on @jpstacey if you're interested.

I'm really looking forward to our keynote talks on open-source licensing and user testing from Andrew Katz and Rebecca Gill, but we'll also have a short announcement to make about the speaker for OGN18, scheduled for three months' time on July 21st. We've got a great keynoter lined up for then but my lips are sealed until this Wednesday (note: lips not actually sealed.)

Along with Lawrence, Nick and Neal will be helping on the night of OGN17 with the tech and video, as usual. Together we'll be like the four headless chickens of the apocalypse, so it promises to be quite a night.

After a slightly longer break between Oxford Geek Nights to make room for Christmas and the rest, I'm pleased to announce the sixteenth Oxford Geek Night will be on Wednesday 17 February, 2010. That's next year! Well, in just under two months' time.

Keynote speakers are confirmed: OGN16 sees the return of microslotter Andrew Katz, lawyer at Moorcrofts Corporate Law and open-source specialist; he'll be joined by Chris Thorpe, founder of Jaggeree. We hope to have more details about the talks soon.

We've already got some microslots lined up for OGN16, but if you're interested in doing a microslot then submit your suggestion here. Microslots are five minutes long and the OGN crowd is very welcoming to anyone who can stand up and talk for that long!

Right. Now that's all finalized, I'm off to have a celebratory sherry and listen to some Christmas songs.