Watching someone go over the basics of a library/technology/etc in a real life presentation generally didn't provide a lot of value to us. Instead, we always found the best parts were in the questions and discussions at the end of each talk - except this time was often cut off in order to make room for the next talk.
What we wanted was a smaller, more intimate event aimed at talking through the technology side of building startups. One didn't exist, so we decided to do something about that and created Many to Many.
Many to Many is aimed at fostering group discussion instead of the traditional 'one person talks to audience' format. There are 3 discussions topics per event, each discussion leader will open with a short (5m max) introduction, before opening up to a half-hour group discussion. The idea is that everyone shares their experiences, asks questions and learns from each other. We've been running this event since last July, and have had some amazingly positive feedback from people.
The event is mainly aimed at engineers interested in web/mobile startups in London, but we happily get designers and product people attending and leading discussions too! The event is free, and being a startup event, naturally pizza, beer and soft drinks are all provided :).
The next event is on Thursday 20th of March, and is held near Old Street, London, UK, the leaders and discussion topics this time are:
- Ollie Glass: "Turning hacks into products"
- Rob Elkin "Communication between developers"
- (final discussion leader TBC)
If this sounds like something that interests you, please do sign up on: http://www.manytomany.co.uk/
Thanks!
