Archive for the ‘north east england’ Category

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Testimonials

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

Intro

A post about recent work that Souter Consulting carried out on behalf of two North East England customers:

  • Digital Transport event at Newcastle University
  • CONNECT North East

Please read on for more details.

Digital Transport

Souter Consulting Limited was approached by Hannah Bryan, at the time working as part of the Newcastle University School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, to help her run an event which would investigate what role technology would play in the future of transport.

What SCL did

  • Acted as a mentor, explaining how Social Media tools could help publicise & run the event
  • Set up and configured a number of tools to publish information about the event, and capture any multimedia content that was created
  • Wrote blog posts, tweeted, and ‘live blogged’ the event itself (i.e. created a real-time & interactive record of proceedings).
  • Provided project management and community management advice

What they said

Hannah Bryan, Director of event management company Sailor Girl Limited said:

Swallow smallJustin was a pleasure to work with. I was given three weeks to put on this event and Justin was a massive support from the initial brainstorming to the post-event feedback capture and close. The ‘live blogging’ in particular was a real hit as many of the project partners were not able to attend in person and so attended ‘virtually’.

More info in the related case study.

CONNECT North East

imageCONNECT North East (CNE) brings together high growth technology businesses with those who are interested in funding them. Typically these businesses are start-ups, often run by young entrepreneurs who are very comfortable using digital technologies to communicate and collaborate.

What SCL did

  • Created a social media strategy for CNE, and provided ongoing tactical advice
  • Set up various online tools, e.g. blog, Twitter & YouTube accounts; published regular blog posts; ran the Twitter account; and monitored what was being said about CNE online.
  • Participated in existing online forums to help increase awareness of CNE
  • Worked with PR agency and CNE team to re-package key messages for Social Media audience
  • Shot, edited, and published video of key sessions – so those who couldn’t attend events might learn through viewing the material online.

What they said

John Sargent, CNE Business Manager said:

clip_image001“Souter Consulting added a very significant dimension to our marketing activity: contemporary, effective and insightful communication, tailored to a technology-savvy audience in a medium which they value. We recommend Souter Consulting highly.“

More info in the related case study.

Drop us a line

We’d love to hear from you if you’d like some help along these lines – please use our contact form.

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Posted in Business, Social Media, Web 2.0, blogging, collaboration, education, enjoyable, experiment, innovation, newcastle, north east england, research, technology, tools | Comments

Belated write-up of TaaD event – ‘Social media: beyond the hype’

Friday, November 20th, 2009

A recap of this event, with photos and the presentations (where possible).

Intro

“Your Honour, being conscious that it’s a while since the ‘Social media: beyond the hype’ event at the end of October, I’d like to plead in mitigation that I’ve had a couple of bouts of ‘flu since then, and a broadband cut-off [although that’s another *very* long story :-s].” [Enough excuses – Ed.]

Event details

As per my original post, the event was held at the Great North Museum Hancock, and really ran very well, courtesy of fantastic organisation from Ellie Silson and Julie Moore (and others) from Codeworks.

We discovered during the evening that the reason the room was so cold was because of a dead body at the back of the room (until 27th Nov 09), more often known as Lindow Man.

I’m told that the business networking facilitated by the Dollywagon technology was a success, although perhaps the format should have included a bit longer for folks to make each other’s acquaintance.

Only blot on the landscape was my dodgy timekeeping. :$

Photos

Paul Santos

Photos that Paul took are on his website here. They’re also available via the Codeworks account on Flickr, viz:


Via Armin

Mine

Presentations

Herb Kim

How Twitter Helped Save the Thinking Digital Conference
View more presentations from Herbert Kim.

Stephen Davies

Social Media is a Global Phenomenon

Declan Metcalfe

Think and a Drink Social Media Presentation
View more documents from Declan Metcalfe.

Mine

Social Media – Measurement

Presos from Jason Brownlee (Professor Young was also struck down by ‘flu) and Armin Talic to come hopefully. I’ve checked with Paul Smith, who feels his presentation loses rather too much in translation, but essentially tells the story of Twitchhiker.

Feedback

Ellie tells me that the speakers all got excellent marks, and also that the feedback was very favourable. Well done everybody!

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Posted in Business, Social Media, Social Networking, Web 2.0, blogging, business networking, collaboration, customer service, education, enterprise 2.0, experiment, ideas, innovation, interesting, marketing, newcastle, north east england, photography, technology, tools, twitter, work | Comments

TaaD event – Social media: beyond the hype

Monday, October 26th, 2009

Introduction

Quick plug for this event by organised by Codeworks Connect this coming Thursday.

Think and a Drink

As credited by Herb Kim at the recent TEDxNewcastle, I am helping to ‘produce’ the evening – i.e. Herb and the team were kind enough to adopt my rough concept for the evening – and organise it! :-D

Aims (from my perspective):

  • Bring Social Media to a wider audience and into the mainstream of the North East
  • Grow the pie for various players in this space – yes, we’re in competition, but that doesn’t mean it’s a zero-sum game out there
  • By using these tools, Regional players can help increase turnover and reduce costs.

Codeworks billing

As the Two Ronnies used to say, in a packed programme on [Thursday] night, we’ve got an All-Star line-up (excluding me!).

The following is a cut-and-paste from the Think and a Drink website [n.b. link is probably time-limited].

Date: Thursday 29th October 2009

Time: 17.30 until 22.30

But what’s the truth about social media? Can they really help your business? And how, exactly?

Everyone and anyone is talking up social media right now. Asking you to "join the conversation", "engage" with your customers rather than shouting at them. And telling you that if you don’t use these tools you’re at a major disadvantage. 

At October’s Think and a Drink event, you’ll get to see social networking in action and learn about the science behind it. A selection of social media experts – including ‘Twitchhiker’ Paul Smith and Stephen Davies, one of the UK’s most popular PR bloggers – will give you an insight into how social media can be used, based on their knowledge and experiences.

Who’s speaking?

• Professor Malcolm Young. A professor at Newcastle University, Malcolm’s research expertise lies in complex systems analysis and informatics. He was one of 18 scientists worldwide nominated by The Sunday Times as the "Brains behind the 21st Century".

• Paul Smith. A freelance journalist, copywriter and new media "ideas man", Paul is perhaps best known in social media circles as ‘The Twitchhiker’. Together with Newcastle-based developer Jon Nairn, Paul recently launched Never Odd Or Even LLP, specialising in mobile application development.

• Stephen Davies. An online public relations specialist and managing director of 3W PR, an online PR and social media agency based in Sunderland. He also writes PRblogger.com, one of the UK’s leading PR blogs.

• Jason Brownlee. Prior to launching Dollywagon Media Sciences, Jason was the founder and research director of Other Lines of Enquiry, a successful media research consultancy. He has developed several new media research technologies, including eye-tracking, SMS surveys and online media engagement testing.

• Justin Souter. An experienced, customer-facing consultant who recognises the wider context for IT solutions. Justin recently started his own business, Souter Consulting, which offers advisory and consultancy services to customers who want to maximise the return on their technology investments.

• Armin Tali?. Armin has spent the last seven years as a designer, project manager and new media practitioner, most recently putting his experience to use as the community manager for revolutionary web video specialists Quick.tv.

Want to be a guinea pig?

Good. Because if you come to October’s Think and a Drink, you won’t really have a choice. During the event we’ll be running an exclusive networking experiment run by Jason Brownlee of Dollywagon Media Sciences.

Armed with a Think and a Drink delegate badge, some business cards and your sparkling personality, you’ll be ready to experience 3 genuinely useful 60 second business meetings.

The Think and a Drink delegate badges will have 3 names on the back with 3 highly relevant people you are due to meet (and in what order).  It will also tell you what you are meeting to discuss and where you will meet – the venue will be split into ‘zones’.

Each meeting will last for 60 seconds.  That’s long enough to put a face to a name, break the ice and identify your common interests.  You can then arrange to meet later in the evening, perhaps with a relaxing drink in your hand. 

After 60 seconds a bell will ring and you’ll dash off to your next meeting.  At the end of the speed networking session you will have made 3 new contacts with experience of a specific issue or challenge that you stand to learn from.

We will learn all the information we need to from your registration form.

Register today

Places for Think and a Drink events usually run out quickly. So book yours today at www.thinkandadrink.com

If you have any questions please call Ellie Silson on 0191 556 1127 or email ellie.silson@codeworks.net.

P.S. If you’re coming from Middlesbrough you can hop on a free bus we’re running to and from the event. Please indicate so when booking.

So, hope to see you there and good luck with the networking!

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Posted in Business, Social Media, Social Networking, Web 2.0, blogging, collaboration, enterprise 2.0, experiment, ideas, interesting, newcastle, north east england, research, technology, tools, twitter, work | Comments

Byte Night 09 – the sleepover @ The BALTIC

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

A write-up of the combined exploits of Byte Night 09 North East.

At last it has arrived!

I have to admit to being a bit apprehensive before the event. I had done some prep – as documented here and here. But I was a bit in the dark about what was happen, so really wanted to get it on.

In addition, the weather forecast seemed v. unpleasant – Heavy rain, 8 degrees, windy. Meh

I happened to be up in Troon, doing a presentation on social media in the morning, so had a three hour drive back yem. That said, it was made more bearable but the utter genius that is Down the Line on the CD player.

The night itself

A bulleted list to save time

  • I arrived at the BALTIC at around 8.15 – there was a good introduction e-mailed in advance by what to expect
  • We registered at the front desk: there were sleepers & their supporters already there and the party was getting started!
  • Free drinks – provided by Codeworks I believe
  • Supper was a decent–looking lasagne, but they did a chicken salad for me (with my funny tummy)
  • I did some mini-interviews – see video below
  • After supper, we had a quiz & some amateur singing
  • When we arrived, outside on the wooden-floored balcony were some large parasols / umbrellas, which have lights and heat lamps underneath.
  • I then used a bit of initiative to find a pitch. I had
    • A big bit of cardboard – well worth it
    • A bed roll – indispensible
    • 3 season sleeping bag
    • Foam cushions as pillow – excellent
    • Fleece hat – again a winner
    • Experience of week before, in tent, was v. useful
  • All in all it was a big party outside – lots of laughter, music etc., for most of the night!
  • I slept from about midnight until 0400
    • Wind started up
    • Did a video recording with David Coxon
  • Went back to sleep & we were woken just after 6
  • Breakfast of bacon butties, sausage baps, tea coffee & orange – winner!
  • Check all the tweets etc. via http://bytenight.osmosoft.com/

Video

Photos

Mine

David Coxon

Paul Keating – Red Boat photography

Wash up

Well done

  • Derek Curtis and the team for organising g
  • Providence for being pretty kind with the weather – it was filthy later in the morning, with rain and high winds
  • David Coxon from the BALTIC for being our host and sorting the A-V side of things
  • Kim Inglis for the MC’ing
  • Codeworks for the free booze
  • Everyone for staying out there and at it!
  • AfC team for organising, St. John Ambulance for attending

Fund-raising

  • Bond Solutions for mega fund-raising – £10k
  • My sponsors – I’m standing at £770 at the time of writing
  • You can still contribute – if you missed out

Beard

My brother kindly said that he would double his donation if I shaved my beard off. So, taking him at his word, I decided to grow it a bit longer than the normal (long) stubble. Avec barbe

So, I thought I would do a before-and-after comparison – terrifying and slightly cringe-making that it is! ;-D

Sans barbe
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Posted in bonkers, business networking, collaboration, education, enjoyable, experiment, gateshead, good cause, interesting, newbie, north east england | Comments

Byte Night #3

Monday, September 28th, 2009

The latest enthralling instalment of my preparations for Byte Night in NewcastleGateshead on October 2nd.

Tent & dry run

Somewhat embarrasingly, when I tried out the tent & sleeping bag on Friday night, I managed an hour or so and felt a bit odd, so came in to a nice warm bed. Mmm, perhaps sleeping outside is not so easy after all.. :$

I should say that I cycled around Brittany with a school friend when I was 19, and for 2 weeks that was rather pleasant – perhaps it was because it was during the Summer…

Anyway, I’ve learned that

  • a pillow would be a terrific idea
  • bed roll was rather good
  • sleeping bag was warm enough (fingers crossed)
  • it could be quite a tough gig to sleep out, especially if the weather isn’t kind :-s
  • I’m not all that good at putting up tents :$

I’ve also found my own survival / bivvy bag and also a sleeping bag liner.

I think I’m beginning to get my head around it all – but it helps having the pledges so far, and also means I can hardly back out.

So, Friday night at the Baltic – here we come!

Photos

Some of my stuff – and putting up my tent.

Video

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Posted in Business, bonkers, business networking, byte night, experiment, gateshead, good cause, north east england, serious games, technology, work | Comments

Byte Night update #2

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

Hello folks, I’m thrilled to be able to say that (at the time of writing) I’ve nearly reached 2/3rds of my initial fund-raising target of £500. I’ve also got some cheques coming in, so the fund-raising continues! :-D

I’m really happy about this, but am keen to collect as much money as possible.

[The widget on the right is powered by the JustGiving website, so the total will hopefully have gone up.]

My Brother has offered to double his donation if I shave my beard off, but I’m not altogether sure for how long!

So, if you can think of other ideas as to how I can raise some more wonga – please leave a comment.

I’m including some more background information:

  • Things I think I’ll need
  • The second part of a previous Byte Night video diary from Reading
  • The flyer to accompany the Newcastle event, to give you an idea of what’s it all about.

Packing List

I like lists, so this one is my aide memoire starter-for-ten:

  • Camera
  • Video camera?
  • Microphones
  • Monopod
  • Sleeping bag
  • Inner?
  • Bivvy bag?
  • Survival Bag
  • Bed roll
  • Cardboard?
  • Dry bags
  • Waterproofs
  • Coat
  • Overtrousers
  • Boots
  • Head torch
  • Thermals
  • Fleeces
  • Hats
  • Buffs
  • Gloves
  • Fleecey face thing
  • Sense of humour

More video

Byte Night video diary part 2


Byte Night Newcastle flyer

Byte Night 09 Newcastle Flyer

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Posted in Business, bonkers, business networking, byte night, experiment, gateshead, good cause, north east england, serious games, technology, work | Comments

Getting the north east trading online – your input, please

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

Introduction

I’ve been invited to take part in a roundtable event by RMT – my accountants.

This is an excerpt from the invite:

Getting the north east trading online @ RMT Gosforth on the 24th Sept 09

The aim of the day is to discuss how we can help get more north east based business trading online.

Cut through the mystery of trading online and dispel some of the myths, many of us take our knowledge for granted!

I will need to have a think about this and collect my thoughts – but please suggest anything you want me to raise on the day.

‘Trading online’ – to my mind – is about using the Web to market, sell, and serve customers. I suspect the ‘answer’ will be quite complicated and ‘multivariate’!

I believe there is a local newspaper involved, and also some people from various ‘grown-up’ industry bodies – so please chip in!

Agenda

There are two sessions, either side of lunch:

  • Session one – online business issues
  • Session two – develop a strategy to get the north east online

Further background:

If you could all think about your experiences of businesses that you have dealt with, which trade online and those that don’t, and try to identify any key issues.

Please bring to the table anything you think might be hampering online trade in the region, and things that might help improve it.

If you raise it, I’ll do my best to mention it – and then blog the upshot.

UPDATE 21/9/09: I thought I’d dig out the PDF that Peter Moran mentions and publish it through Scribd.com and hence make it more accessible…

The Value of ICT for SMEs in the UK: A Critical Literature Review

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Byte Night update #1

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

Umm, I’ve been seriously slack in getting myself sorted for this – mega :$

However, I’ve resolved to do a ‘multi / social media’ sleep out, basically because I need to rev myself up, and also rev up my fundraising activities, because I’m so behind schedule.

So, the idea is that you join me in giving money to Action for Children, but don’t worry, you can wait until I’ve actually done it to cough up.

JustGiving sends your donation straight to Action for Children and automatically reclaims Gift Aid if you’re a UK taxpayer, so your donation is worth even more.

Videos

Videos below, photos to come via Flickr, no doubt.

My lame first attempt

Ken Deeks intro

This explains what it’s all about.

Video Diary from 2007

A video showing the experience for some folk down in Reading.

Wash up

My mind goes back to New Year 99 – 00 (aka the Millennium), as I spent the evening at the Royal Horticultural Halls in London talking to homeless people etc. [press release in this links needs some punctuation – Ed.]

On a totally spurious note, this blog post is continued on page 94 (sorry, this is such a great Wikipedia entry… :$ again).

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Posted in Business, Social Media, blogging, bonkers, business networking, byte night, collaboration, education, enjoyable, experiment, good cause, newcastle, north east england, technology | Comments

Please help me raise money for Action for Children #bytenight

Monday, August 10th, 2009

BN09_Newcastle_esignature I’ve decided to take part in Byte Night, a rather good Tech Industry fund-raiser, probably because I’ve seen photos of Jenny Agutter in Computing each year, and think it might be a good laugh.

Speak it softly, but I’m sort of looking forward to donning a whole load of technical gear, as my interest in tech is not confining to IT! ;-D

The blurb from the AfC flyer for Newcastle reads:

"Each year, over 500 people from the IT and business community give up their bed for one night to experience a little of what it might be like to be homeless.

The money they raise helps Action for Children tackle the root causes of youth homelessness and gets thousands of children and young people off the streets and into secure accommodation with education and training opportunities.

Each year, at least 75,000 children and young people experience homelessness*; 1 in 3 attempt suicide† and 1 in 7 young runaways are physically or sexually assaulted (this figure rises to almost 1 in 2 after a week‡).

Byte Night is a unique event that takes place across the UK. In 2008, it raised £470,000. Now in its 11th year, it is one of the single biggest fundraisers for Action for Children.

Your support of Byte Night is vital to ensuring it continues to support the thousands of vulnerable young people Action for Children work with each year.

Byte Night sleepers range from systems developers to CIOs and business managers to marketers who regularly return each year for a rewarding and memorable experience."

I’m sure you’ll agree that this is an excellent cause, so "Do it, Do it – Do it now!"

Boilerplate from Just Giving, to put your mind at rest:

"Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity."

Thanks for reading and hope you feel you can contribute to Action for Children.

UPDATE 29/8:

  • For some reason, an html tag <p style="display: none"> had sneaked into this post, so there appeared to be no content. Hopefully you can see this now… :$
  • Also, the Byte Night website seems to be down / being worked on, so will keep you posted.

Posted in Business, bonkers, business networking, byte night, enjoyable, experiment, good cause, interesting, newbie, newcastle, north east england, technology, work | Comments

@Opencast at Hoults Yard

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

Intro

A post looking at Hoults Yard on Tyneside, and recent activities there:

  • A recent Digital Transport event, run by Newcastle University
  • A stop of the Digital Mission UK tour
  • And the latest Think and a Drink event

Hoults Yard

This bit of the post is a quick write-up of a visit I made to Hoults Yard with the eponymous Charlie.

I think it’s worth saying that the Hoults are family friends, that Charlie’s a good mate of my Brother’s, and that we were all at school together.

He, Kate (Charlie’s lovely wife) and the family are also good mates of Caroline’s and mine, and they’ve recently moved in close by. In fact, our new house is even closer to them…

Charlie showed me round the Yard, photos of which are below. He’s keen to attract the next generation of digital entrepreneurs and start-ups to the Yard, and has recently launched NomadNewcastle – “an open plan office space that small businesses and freelancers to share”.

There’s also a new development called The Kiln, described as:

The Kiln is the latest office development at Hoults Yard, Newcastle upon Tyne – 6 ground floor and 16 first floor offices in 450-5000 sq ft spaces. The Kiln will be ready for occupiers in early 2009, but you are welcome to view now and join our growing pre-let list.

[although I know some folk are already moving in… ;-)]

The yard used to be a famous pottery called Malings, and many elements from the Yard speak of this background. Check out the photos above to see some of the Frank Cooper marmalade jars! A little more background:

Other plans are centred around housing Artists in an old personal storage building, and also to help develop the Ouseburn Digital, Media and Marketing Cluster.

Digital Transport event

I was part of the team led by Hannah Bryan, putting on the recent “Where do you think you’re going event”, which looked at the future role of technology in transport.

Photos from the event below, and my feedback from the event in an earlier post here. It was held in ‘The Rail Head’ building at Hoults Yard [named because it used to be where goods were loaded, and raw materials unloaded from trains – on their way to and from the docks].

Photo credit to g j2006

Digital Mission event

You may recall I went to Texas earlier this year, to South by South West. I was part of the Digital Mission to SXSW, namely:

Digital Missions are a series of trade missions organised by Chinwag and UK Trade & Investment (UKTI).

The missions support UK digital companies to expand internationally, understand foreign markets, attract investment, find partners and develop business relationships.

I thought it would be good to ‘get the band back together’ [er, sort of] as the Digtal Mission UK Tour hit Newcastle. See Benjamin Ellis’ photos below from the afternoon event, and also the evening session, more of which is in the next section.

Think and a Drink

Final section to this post was a recent Think and a Drink event I (briefly) attended. Some great photos, via Paul Santos photography I believe. I am in the Stetson, bought from Allens Boots in Austin, Texas.

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Posted in Business, blogging, business networking, collaboration, digital mission, enjoyable, newcastle, north east england, photography, sxsw | Comments

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