What happened at Preston Tweetup?

One of the break-off groups at Preston Tweetup

I really didn’t know what to expect when I floated the idea of Preston Tweetup and it just goes to show how a decent idea can really go places when people get on board. The night itself generated a fantastic response and fantastic ideas.

Now, what to do with all the great ideas that are floating around on Twitter?

1. Collate and upload onto a wiki

2. Present to Steve Parkinson the Head of Communications at PCC, then possibly to other relevant staff/councillors

3. Maybe ask specific people to expand on their ideas and develop them further?

Using twitter in the room. It was noisy! I think some people had a vision of a tweetup being very quiet, with everyone sitting around on laptops/mobiles and not speaking to one another. It was the complete opposite.

As Chris Skoyles blogged after the event, he was taken aback at just how ‘social’ the social media event was. Damn straight.

And that’s exactly how sites like Twitter should be used; putting the emphasis on the social element of social media/technology.

Yes, a bunch of people did meet up in a pub tonight to post stuff on the Internet, but isn’t that far less anti-social than staying home and doing the same?

Martin Rue added his voice about ‘why Preston Tweetup was cool’:

Reflecting on the event, it was insightful to see an event where conversation was indeed that – conversing with peers without heavy debate or argument. Perhaps it was the subject area, perhaps the people, perhaps the cool name.

And the Preston Writers Network have also done a great write-up of the event and it seems there could be a Guild related literature/writing project on the cards:

I sense a PWN Guild Project brewing – collecting stories via a creative tweet-up: memories of PGs past, and collecting your wildest imaginings for PG 2032 – what kind of Preston will we have created for ourselves by then?

From our point of view the event was a success. The conversation was flowing, but people got it – posting snippets/ideas onto twitter and these were cascading in real-time on Twitterfall (thanks to Jeremy, phpcodemonkey for hooking this up). We estimate there were around 500 tweets during the course of the evening, but some of these were coming from people who weren’t even in the room – it was definitely an inclusive event.

There were two conversations going on, one in the room and the other being played out on twitter, in real-time, in living rooms, bedrooms, trains, wherever there was wireless access, not just in Preston but anywhere that was interested in #prestontweetup.

The LEP photographer got some of us to pose for a suitable cheesey pic at the start, and to their credit the LEP were giving it some on twitter about the Tweetup and posting a couple of pictures on Tweetpic!

This event showed that there is an appetite for social media in Preston and that there’s some incredible ideas out there among the people of Preston – spanning all generations (I think the age range in the room was 16-60!).

What’s the future for Preston Tweetup? We don’t want overkill. I think once a quarter, with a different topic each time, would work really well. It’s a great chance to get people from all different backgrounds, sectors and business’ discussing one topic. As one person commented to me, they’d gone in the space of 30 minutes from chatting to someone with an arts background, to a businessman, to a student, to a teacher!

Preston Tweetup was an example of Britain 2.0, connected, constructive and creative.

Thanks to all who came and a huge thank you to Ruth and Jeremy at the New Continental for providing the venue and thank you to Emma and Colin at Stage 9 Marketing for sponsoring the event, taking part and providing everyone with a free drink to start the night with!

I’d really appreciate your comments below about the night, whether you attended physically or virtually, and your thoughts on the format and topic for the next event.

Why isn’t Preston’s MP on Twitter?

Mark Hendrick is Preston's MP

I was browsing the web and came across this excellent site that lists which MPs are on Twitter and gives you an insight into the corridors of power. It’s called Tweetminster. It got me thinking, is Preston’s MP Mark Hendrick on Twitter?

I checked out the list of MPs on the Tweetminster site and couldn’t find him. I tried his own website, no mention of Twitter there. I tried searching Twitter, but no luck – twitter.com/markhendrickmp was not registered.

I think it’s great if MPs are on Twitter, it’s a top way of being transparent and also connecting with your electorate and the people who you are supposed to serve once elected into office. A great example of an MP using Twitter is Labour MP tom_watson (there’s also Tories and Lib Dems using it well, I just picked the best example I could find before someone shouts at me for being bias).

So, I found the contact page on Mark Hendrick’s website and wrote him an email with the subject: Twitter – why aren’t you on it?

Dear Mr Hendrick,

I’d like to inform you about a great web service called Twitter (you may have seen it being talked about in the media). There is a website tracking which MPs are using the service, to keep in touch with their constituents and improve the transparency of the democratic process, called Tweetminister (http://tweetminster.co.uk/). I took a look through the list of MPs using the service and couldn’t find your name.

Preston has an ever increasing Twitter community (https://prestonblog.wordpress.com/preston-twitter-directory/

) and it would be a great move if a public figure such as yourself were to join in the conversation.

At Preston Blog (https://prestonblog.wordpress.com) we’ve been using Twitter to connect with people in the Preston area and we’d be happy to show you the ropes. We’ve even used Twitter to organise Preston’s first ‘Tweetup’ (https://prestonblog.wordpress.com/tweetup/) where local people will be coming together to discuss ‘How the web can be used for Preston Guild 2012’ and using twitter and other web 2.0 tools to capture and bottle that discussion.

I hope you’ll look into using Twitter, as other MPs such as Tom Watson (http://twitter.com/tom_watson) have, and you’ll see that http://twitter.com/markhendrickmp is still available. Get on there and register it quick!

We look forward to tweeting at you.

—
Ed
Preston Blog
https://prestonblog.wordpress.com

It’ll be interesting to see what he has to say in response. Maybe he’ll even make an appearance at Preston Tweetup? I’d like to think that he’ll get on Twitter and respond by tweeting at us – that’d be impressive. Twitter is a great tool for sharing ‘what are you doing?’, and for an MP to be able to tell us what they are doing – we elected them in after all – I’d take interest in that. I know he’s probably a very busy man, but I’d like to be able to follow what the very busy elected official is.

If you’d like to drop Mark Hendrick an email and tell him about Twitter, feel free. His contact details are on his website. I’m sure if lots of us tell him about it, it’ll seem like even more of a good idea.

Preston Tweetup Logo Competition

We’ve been running a competition to design a logo for Preston Tweetup. The entries are now in, and here they are with a short write up of why the designer picked the fonts, colours etc that they did:

Entry 1 – submitted by David Perkins

Preston Tweetup Logo Entry by David Perkins

Description:

It was basically a quick concept that I thought looked quite cool, I then added colour in the style of the twitter colours (blue and yellow). I thought that i should use a handwritten sort of font to make a point that handwriting is becoming less and less used due to the the amount of / the evolution of social networking and blogging around the world!

Entry 2 – submitted by J0sh D Semans

Preston Tweetup Logo Entry by Josh D Semans

Description:

When I first thought about “Preston Tweetup” I immediately thought about Preston. In my minds eye, I saw a city. I wanted my logo to draw the mind away from the urban view of Preston and focus on the calmer side, like the nature side, like Winckley Square. Hence the nice green grass, the blue sky and the clouds. I also tried to capture the essence of Twitter itself, simple, pleasing to the eye, and somewhat humorous. The lamb is, of course, the lamb from the Preston Coat of Arms. The lamb is at a laptop computer, on Twitter.com, the humour side breaks through around here. On the back of the Lamb, is the Twitter bird, perched happily and looking at two banners that read “PRESTON” and “TWEETUP”. This text is in PNE-like colours, the “PRESTON” in white, and the “TWEETUP” being in two different shades of blue. The overall appearance of my logo is quite Twitter-Like and has obvious references to the city of Preston.

Entry 3 – submitted by Kerry Sholicar

Preston Tweetup Logo Entry by Kerry Sholicar

Description:

My initial thought was to design a typographical logo that could somehow represent the social occasion, capture an essence of Preston City and still give people a relation to Twitter and the Twitter logo. My first job in creating this was to find a font that I felt fitted the criteria. After sifting through and trying many fonts, I decided to stick with “Learning Curve” for the main “Tweetup” part of the logo. I chose this font as I think it represents the relaxed and friendly feel of the event. I then chose a simpler font for the “Preston” part to contrast and help it to stand out, ensuring that it can easily be read. I then decided to go with the blue theme as it relates to both Preston (the city councils coat of arms and the football team) and Twitter.

Voting

You can vote now for your favourite entry. You have until Tuesday 10th March 2009 at 5 PM to register your vote.

Don’t forget to register for Preston Tweetup and claim your free drink on arrival.

Venue confirmed for Preston Tweetup, now for a date

Preston Tweetup will bring people together to discuss a chosen subject

Had a really positive meeting with Ruth at the New Continental yesterday as we planned Preston Tweetup. The New Continental has agreed to host the event in their ‘Snug’ area. It’s ace.

They are installing wi-fi access later this week so that’ll be up and running ready for the event.

Now we need your help. When do you want the event? I’ve created a quick schedule/poll via Doodle that lets you tell us which of the days we’re thinking of would be best for you.

Go and fill it in and then once I see a most popular day we’ll confirm the date. It’ll definitely happen in March 2009! Spread the word amongst everyone you know and get them to add their availability.