sponsorship

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!

After much discussion and chewing of metaphorical pencils, the Guardian Open Platform have very kindly confirmed sponsorship for Oxford Geek Nights, for the rest of 2009! That means drinks will be courtesy of the Open Platform at both Oxford Geek Nights 14 and 15, which I think you'll agree is great news. Even better news is that regular sponsors Torchbox and Moo are on board as well, so Oxford Geek Nights will continue to be free events.

Speaking of which, OGN14 is now less than two weeks away, and my rising panic is tempered only by the fact that I'm already panicking about moving house shortly beforehand. But you shouldn't be panicking; instead, put OGN14 in your diary now, or follow it on Upcoming.

Friends of Ed and Moo, publisher in tech/design and online printer of gorgeous business cards respectively, have both very kindly agreed to add their sponsorship to the pot for Oxford Geek Night 13 on Wednesday 15 July. That's just over a week away now.

They join Torchbox and the Guardian Open Platform in hopefully making for an excellent OGN13. Should be a lovely evening of food outside and then drinks and chat inside the Jericho Tavern. Time to get Moo cards and posters printed, I think.

I don’t know how well this reflects on me.

As I was wondering idly when the delivery would arrive containing OGN5’s book lottery giveaways (thanks again, Friends of ED!) I started making a note of calendar dates for different bits of OGN organisation. I was working with Trac milestones at the time, so they were all in the format MM/DD/YY.

“Let’s see,” I thought, “today is 01/30/08; so the books should arrive hopefully on—let’s say—02/02/08. That means I’ve got the weekend plus a couple of days before OGN5, which is on….”

02/06/08. I stared at this date longer than I probably ought to, and noticed something about it. Can you spot what it might have been?

If so; if you’re like me and you read a date like “02/06/08″ and shortly afterwards think “2 plus 6 is 8″—just as an aid to memory, you understand; then you probably ought to join us at OGN5. We will understand.

The fifth Oxford Geek Night is shaping up to be a really great night. Following on from our keynote confirmations, we’ve now got a full house of microslotters.

Not only that, but we’ve also sorted our extra sponsorship. Joining the ever-indulgent, ever-understanding Torchbox are Google and Friends of ED. In return for sponsoring us, Google have asked us to contribute a post-OGN article for the Google Code Blog, a request which would have been churlish to refuse. Friends of ED will be providing us with another book raffle, which is basically meant to keep people hanging around till the bitter end in the hope of free stuff. We’re of course always open to new sponsorship opportunities, so feel free to get in touch (me, of all things, at jpstacey.info) if you’ve got any ideas.

If you’re interested in coming along, you can let us know on our Upcoming listing, as that lets us keep track of interest. Either way, tell your friends; blog about the geek nights; most importantly, come along!