Anton’s Hat

So it’s 4:04 am and I will be getting married to a wonderful woman in less than 11 hours. I’ve had a few beers and reminisced a bit about old times with my best man and groomsman and now I can’t sleep. I’m here talking to you guys on the computer instead. That’s ok though it’s quiet around here and I like the few people who swing by here anyway.

As an entrepreneur and as anyone who knows me will tell you, I approach everything in life with enthusiasm and vigour and passion and that goes double for this area of my life. Wish me luck in my latest endeavour and I’ll see you all on the other side.

I run a little networking event called Techludd. For an event we’re doing in Dublin with TechCrunch I decided to try out a new registration method for our meetup with TechCrunch on the 26th of June. Normally we use a comment hack to allow people to say who they are and that they’re coming. While this was fine I like to think I’m open to using a new service to see how it fits. Enter Amiando, a company operating in the same space as Eventbrite in the US. Also in this space is Mobaganda which takes a VERY minimalistic approach.

There are of course plenty of services like this (see Pingg, Socializr, MyPunchbowl, etc.). Mobaganda got started as a conversation between Web developer Jason Stirman and Twitter founder Evan Williams. the question they were pondering: “Would it be possible to create a better Evite, without even requiring a signup or login?”

Amiando is what we’re testing though and I have to say the setup is simple and the features are superb out of the box such as photo upload, carpooling and message boards. Importantly for me is that it’s free for free events, but if you have a commercial event and don’t want to handle the ticketing and payments they’ll do all that for you for a (very) small fee on a per ticket basis.

All-in-all I’m pleased so far but I will update this if anything changes my mind or based on the comments of those who use it.

Hi there folks I’ve been very quiet for a while around here but that’s because I’ve been running around like a maniac with things for benchd. We have some BIG announcements to make regarding people coming on board and our development plans but I’ll have to leave you hanging on that for the moment.

Anyway, if you know me, you know that I am passionate about helping other irish businesses and I’m a huge believer in the value of networking, which is why I decided to start TechLudd in January this year and it’s exceeded all my expectations.

So I’m delighted to announce that, as of yesterday (21 Apr), I’ll be workingwith the guys at the Digital Media Forum to help develop an All-island Digital Media Network. Neil Leyden chairman of the Digital media Forum introduced me thus.

I am happy to introduce our new Project Manager, Anton Mannering, who has joined the companies in San Francisco. Anton will be looking after the All-Island Digital Media Network, a collaboration between the Digital Media Forum and the Northern Ireland Digital Content Panel and kindly funded through Intertrade Ireland. Anton is going to help us build the network North and South and hopefully become a key dynamo in our continuing efforts to build and strengthen the digital media industry on the Island of Ireland.

So apparently I’m a “key dynamo”!! Never been described as such before but it’s appreciated all the same.

There are some very interesting things in the works at the moment so watch out for that and if you’d like to chat with me about it please get in touch.

Edit: I’ll be blogging about the Web2expo Tour and other things for the Digital Media Forum and the Network project here 

I was in the Digital Hub thursday and was chatting to Joe Drumgoole. He wasn’t around so it was on the phone.

He and Eoghan McCabe have come up with a great idea to recapture the Paddy’s Valley energy by taking a trip to London Open Coffee. This combined with a few days making contacts and meeting investors in another major centre would be fantastic.

The current proposed date is 24th April…  sounds good to me. As things develop I’ll keep you posted.

I’m in a bit of a mood right now about all the events that are coming up. While I absolutely delighted at the sheer volume of events that are going on I have to say that I’m frustrated by the fact everything is on at the same time and I can’t go to them all. OK enough whining here’s the lowdown on the next bunch of crazy days.

Tuesday 26th

IWTC conference Launch Cost: €245 (€189 online) | 7:oopm til late | CineWorld complex, Parnell St., Dublin

Wednesday 27th

Xcellerate 2008 Dublin Event Cost: €100| 8:30 to 12:45 | Ballsbridge Court Hotel, Dublin

IWTC conference Day 2 9:15 to 16:45 : CineWorld complex, Parnell St., Dublin

Drive Project conference Cost: €0 | 9:30 to 16:00 | Malton Hotel, Killarney, Co. Kerry - Opened by Michael Ahern, TD Irish Minister for Innovation Policy

Girl Geek Dinner Cost: €? | 19:00 til late | Odessa Club, 14 Dame Court, Dublin 2

Thursday 28th

ISA Conference Cost: €300 (€200 Incubator, €250 member/xcellerator) | 8:30 to 1:10 | O’Reilly Hall, UCD Campus, Dublin 4.

IWTC conference Day 3 | 9:15 to 16:45 | CineWorld complex, Parnell St., Dublin

Friday 29th

Xcellerate 2008 Belfast Event Cost: €100 | 8:30 to 12:45 | Malone House, Belfast

IWTC conference Day 4 | 9:15 to 16:45 | CineWorld complex, Parnell St., Dublin

Saturday 1st

Irish Blog Awards Cost: €10 | 19:30 til late | Alexander Hotel, Dublin

Sunday 2nd

WebCamp: Social Network Portability Cost: €60 | 9:15 to 18:00 | Kingsley Hotel, Victoria Cross, Cork

Bloggers Dinner Cost: € | 21:00 til late | Rossini’s Restaurant, Princes Street, Cork

Monday 3rd

BlogTalk Conference Day 1 Cost: €120 | 9:15 to 18:00 | Kingsley Hotel, Victoria Cross, Cork

BlogTalk Conference Dinner | 20:00 til late | Kingsley Hotel, Victoria Cross, Cork

Tuesday 4th

BlogTalk Conference Day 2 | 9:15 to 17:30 | Kingsley Hotel, Victoria Cross, Cork

Private equity Conference 2008 Cost: €270 | 8:30 to 16:10 | Waterfront Hall , Belfast

Wedneday 5th to Friday 7th

Nothing theres nothing on, take a break.

Saturday 8th

CreativeCamp Kilkenny Cost: €0 | 10:00 to 17:00 | The Parade Tower, Kilkenny Castle, Kilkenny

Now if that little lot doesn’t keep you occupied for the next while I don’t know what will.

I don’t know if you have read Andrew Olmsteads final blog post, prepared and posted posthumously, but if you haven’t then I really think you should.

There seems to be a lot of reminders of the brevity of this earthly coil in the blogosphere of late of people taken too soon and the pain of those left behind.  Maybe I just notice it more because my own brother died in a car accident a year ago.

Either way whatever you think of his reasoning or politics, this is poignant even for the personal notes at the end to his wife.