Last night was the first Philadelphia Geek Dinner. I went in with no expectations and would have labeled it a success if two people joined for a good meal and intelligent conversation.
But there were ten of us at our table. We shared in good drink, good food, intellectually stimulating conversation, and all of us were given the chance to make friends with new people in the industry. That’s what meetups are about.
The night’s crowd was diverse. Ten people. Four Philadelphians. Four imports (to Philadelphia). Two in-for-a-short-while-and-leaving-within-hours. A comp-sci teacher. Wireless expert. A few company owners. Developers (.NET, Mac, Linux). Project managers. Videographer. Pilots (four out of ten!?). Photographers. Security experts… In just ten people.
Favorite topics from the evening: Introductions, aviation (being pilots), the story of National Mechanics, wireless (T-Mobile 3G), blogging and video blogging, drive and aspirations between small and large companies.
By the way – National Mechanics feels like the quintessential starting point for intelligent people in Philadelphia to meet up. I’ve only been here twice, but I keep hearing that this is where those of us in the tech field (and beyond) can find smart people. When I was listening in on other conversations around us I overheard lots of great stuff. Bottom line, this is a must-visit-repeatedly location in Philadelphia (if you’re smart).
Anyway, couldn’t ask for anything more. So glad to have everyone in the mix.
