It’s always good to meet new people in this business. So when I heard a few enterprising individuals had arranged the inaugural Thames Valley Social Media Cafe, a get-together for media and technology industry-type people in Reading, I decided to head along.

Similar events (sometimes called “tuttles”) are well established in London, Brighton and other parts of the country. With this one happening just down the road, it would’ve been rude not to make the effort.

Workhouse Coffee

Reading’s excellent Workhouse Coffee was the venue, and as I arrived, the cafe’s regular customers were looking confused by the number of extra people who’d shown up. The proprietor took it in his stride though, serving up first class coffee which was some of the best I’ve ever tasted in the UK.

I reckon around 15 people were there altogether. It was good to chat to old friend Matt Brady, as well as meeting lots of new people – some who I’d previously encountered on Twitter, some who I hadn’t.

They included Drew Benvie, Adrian Moss, Andy Piper, Neville Hobson, Ravi Nar, Catherine Warrilow, Nicky Davis and Steve Lamb.

The conversation veered from the state of the coffee (excellent) through to the state of the economy (less than excellent), but – as you’d expect from an event where everyone’s on Twitter – it tended towards the geeky. And that was no bad thing.

I really enjoyed the chat and exchange of ideas, and left nearly two hours later feeling like the morning had been well spent.

Till next time

If you were there on Friday, good to meet you. And if you weren’t, but you’re local, why not pop along to the next one? Nothing’s arranged yet, but hop on over here to register your interest.

More (and better) write-ups here, here, here and here.