Heath Ledger dies. World economy stumbles. Auspices are good for TechLudd
Jan 23rd 2008NiaLLLarkinUncategorized & dublin & markets & meetups & odessa & predictions & startups & techludd
Born of Fire
When Techludd was first mooted, some hotly demanded it stop before it starts. And protested that the scene is already well enough served. That another event would simply dilute the value of existing events.
All tough statements. Difficult to qualify. That is, unless you have some special way to predict the future.
Nature will find a way
Others countered that the mark of a vibrant scene is to see lots of events launched and lots of events failing, and letting the market pick and choose.
If they need it, they will come
With that, the planning for the event went ahead. A sort of “if they need it they will come” attitude. But it was more than that. It was extended to be more embracing. If they need it. They will tell us what they need. When they come.
When and where
So that’s it. Techludd is on tomorrow night from 7 PM at The Odessa Club • 13 Dame Court • Dublin 2 • 01-6703080. Open to all. If you are coming have a look at who else will be there (78 signups at last count).
Predicting success
Wondering if it will be a success? Enjoying the anticipation? Well, I couldn’t wait myself so I thought I’d join in on the prediction game. Now I can’t disclose whether I got my information from animal sacrifice or from reading the RSS feeds but I can say it is usual for the birth of something great to be preceded by some world-shaking events. Take a look around you and see what’s happening. Now judge for yourself.
All things considered. You are bound to conclude. If you are not there tomorrow. With the other 78 people. You’ll have missed one hell of an event.
9 Comments »
Robin Blandford on 23 Jan 2008 at 3:42 pm #
Nice - would be there if I was in Dublin on the day.
Paul Walsh on 23 Jan 2008 at 5:50 pm #
“And protested that the scene is already well enough served. That another event would simply dilute the value of existing events.”
I didn’t say that. Rather than repeat what I said, please refer back to my entire blog post.
Niall Larkin on 23 Jan 2008 at 10:23 pm #
@PaulWalsh
Jeepers, anyone would think you are deliberately misinterpreting what I said so as to drive further traffic to your blog ;)
The piece you quoted has a link in it. The link leads to the beginning of a well articulated argument made by fergus burns in the comments section of your post. People can reexamine it if they wish, but the conclusion was:
“At the end of the day the question is - do you want a vibrant community @ web2 in Ireland or do you want a host of little groups doing their own thing.”
This argument prompted a wider discussion in the blogosphere about whether true vibrancy in the ecosystem comes from concentration of effort in a centralised way or from or from a host of little groups doing their own thing.
Of course, this one has echoes of the Great Debates of the ages. There would be echoes of socialism vs capitalism in that one, or intensive farming vs organic farming, interventionist approach vs laissez faire management of wild spaces…
Anyway, glad to report the debate isn’t over. There’s a lot still to be worked out. Let’s hope it continues to get people worked up and that the friction continues to generate plenty of heat and light as we venture forward.
Paul Walsh on 24 Jan 2008 at 5:24 pm #
“Jeepers, anyone would think you are deliberately misinterpreting what I said so as to drive further traffic to your blog ;)”
No, I was just pissed off by your comment :)
Paul Walsh on 24 Jan 2008 at 5:29 pm #
May I point out that it was my post to which you refer, that triggered TechCrunch to talk about TechLudd. So, it was through that conversation that attracted people to sign up to the event.
It’s important for me to highlight that I’m all for people getting off their ass to do this stuff. I was annoyed ***only*** by how crap the messaging was and the fact that it gave the impression it was community led - i.e. people like me, Fergus and Conor were involved when clearly, we were not.
The site, messaging and organisation of it was very very embarrassing to say the least.
TechLudd did stop before it started as I suggested. What’s there now is entirely different to what was there. I mean, who on earth prints business cards for this stuff?
Jessica Roy on 25 Jan 2008 at 9:24 pm #
What I think about the whole Paul Walsh disses TechLudd thing.
“TechLudd did stop before it started as I suggested. What’s there now is entirely different to what was there.”
TechLudd started out, continued to, and ended up being what it was set out ot be; A social event for tech startups. People came to it with hopes of meeting new and interesting people and mission accomplished.
“I was annoyed ***only*** by how crap the messaging was and the fact that it gave the impression it was community led - i.e. people like me, Fergus and Conor were involved when clearly, we were not.”
No one ever suggested people were involved in it that weren’t (dunno where that horseshit came from).
“I’m all for people getting off their ass to do this stuff”. How lovely. Is talking about people like that how you get them to follow your blogs? I must try that one.
“The site, messaging and organisation of it was very very embarrassing to say the least.”
WTF do you care? You left Ireland to find your way in London remember? Last time I checked we didn’t need to call London for the approval of Irish tech meetups. Maybe for Limerick’s event we should phone up Silicon Valley and get the OK?
And the business cards were an interesting twist that no one had ever done before. It’s called “thinking outside the box”. More people should try it. In the end, because of a name change then change back (don’t fix what isn’t broken), the cards weren’t used. Bygones. It was the most successful most attended event, barring a conference, that the Irish tech community has ever seen. Kudos TechLudd organisers!
Hopefully the momentum will continue for the next (un)event in Limerick.
Niall Larkin on 25 Jan 2008 at 9:24 pm #
If you say so Paul. I don’t think too many would agree with you there. But that’s okay too, right?
TechCrunch UK » Blog Archive » TechLudd - not so luddite after all on 28 Jan 2008 at 1:22 am #
[...] From being branded an event which could “do more harm than good” and was poised to “damage the Ireland Inc brand“, TechLudd, a first-time event in Dublin last week for the tech startup community, is now being described as “a huge success”. As Eirepreneur points out, blogger Jessica Roy says “It was the most successful most attended event, barring a conference, that the Irish tech community has ever seen”. Check out the great photo albums on Pix.ie, and the next event will be in Limerick. Congratulations to the organisers for damaging the Ireland Inc brand in a rather positive manner. TCUK digg_url = “http://uk.techcrunch.com/2008/01/28/techludd-not-so-luddite-after-all/”; digg_bgcolor = ‘#ffffff’; digg_skin = ‘compact’; digg_window = ‘new’; digg_title = “TechLudd - not so luddite after all”; [...]
TechLudd 1, Walshie 0. More importantly, Ireland wins - Paul Walsh, the Irish Opportunist on 28 Jan 2008 at 11:59 am #
[...] EirePreneur has a great post, providing more insight to the event I’ve got to take my hat off to the people behind TechLudd and toast what was, by all accounts, a huge success. Jessica Roy says “It was the most successful most attended event, barring a conference, that the Irish tech community has ever seen”. See what you missed by browsing some of the great photo albums on Pix.ie. I’m certainly looking forward to the next event in Limerick. P.S. fair play to Microsoft for jumping in, yet again, as sponsor of a grassroots tech event in Ireland. [...]