OK... so it's the almost-obligatory-at-this-time-of-year look back at 2010 and look forward to 2011 blog post.

Its been a good year for Reading Geek Night. We've had twelve events; enjoyed some great talks; and continued to attract a few new people to every event (I kind of like the idea of growing it slowly but steadily). We've passed our first birthday, which seemed like a significant milestone and - dare I say the C word - its starting to feel more like the "Reading Geek Community" than just "Reading Geek Night".

There are many individuals I'd like to thank for what they have done over the year, its not an exhaustive list but here a few people I'd like to single out...

Firstly everyone who has done a talk. The talks are the fuel for the monthly events - without them there wouldn't be a Reading Geek Night. (Special big thanks to those that have filled gaps at short notice - you know who you are).

Everyone who has loaned a projector

Mike Robinson and Chris Berwick for designing & building this website (which Mike also hosts for us) and the RdgGeek iPhone App.

Tim Blair for his monthly write ups of the evening (the latest is here).

So.... the look forward bit...

We are booked in at Copa for the second Tuesday of every month for the rest of 2011 (how organised is that!!) with the first event being on January 11th. We have talked at various points about different venues, however Copa, whilst not 100% ideal, still seems to meet most of our criteria.

Talks... We need more talks. Ideally we need them lined up a couple of months in advance. We rely completely on people volunteering to do the talks (I don't generally go out and solicit them). Yes, it does take some effort to put one together and standing up in front of people can be a bit nervewracking, but think about the warm glow you'll get afterwards... :) I think Chris Alexander nailed it in the last paragraph of his post on RdgGeek14

There are two things you can do to help...

1. Make a New Years resolution to do a talk
2. Persuade someone else to do a talk - If you know someone who can talk about a topic you think other people would enjoy listening to then badger them to get in contact

Other stuff... there are loads of things people have talked about doing including Hackdays, masterclasses on particular subjects, a RdgGeek trip to Bletchley Park etc etc... It would be great to see some of these things happen in 2011... I'm keen that Reading Geek isn't just the monthly event that Jim organises but is a platform that any of us can use to get people together to do interesting stuff.

Happy Christmas
Jim