Current and Twestival (the UK's first Twitter Festival)

With the excitement building for the Hack the Debate series on Current.com (http://current.com/topics/88834922_hack_the_debate) we took a team outing to the interestingly titled Twestival to make some connections with the whos who of the UK Twitter scene.

For those of you not yet familiar with the service, Twitter is a micro-blogging platform, allowing short messages of 140 character to be broadcast to a wide ranging audience.

Events such as Twestival have the potential to really put the UK social media scene on the map. I know here at Current UK we often look on enviously at the multitude of vibrant networking events our San Francisco colleagues enjoy.

Being social media butterflies we love a good party here at Current UK and when that party includes the opportunity to talk till we are hoarse and make connections with other like minded individuals it is difficult to keep us away. It is with these elements we found ourselves deep underground on a Thursday night.

The idea behind the event was to bring together fun people, fresh ideas and a few surprises in an unforgettable event and all whilst helping to raise money for The Connection at St Martin-in-the-Fields, a community centre based in Trafalgar Square that works with homeless people.

http://www.connection-at-stmartins.org.uk/

Whether by design or luck the location turned out to be perfect. Hosting a party for social media types in a basement insured that conversation flowed. iPhones and mobiles became cameras for the evening with all communication functions disabled. We bought our tickets for the raffle and entered the breach, lubricated liberally with some free wine we got stuck in. Introductions were made, conversations flowed and we all floated around on a sea of optimism and ideas.

We met so many interesting people and had so many connections that it would be impossible to name check everyone involved and all the planning that went into the event. But Current UK would certainly like to extend a hearty congratulations to all those who had a hand in it. All in all a really successful event that has us eager for more.

Finally in what can only be described as the cherry on the cake, I managed to win a star prize in the raffle, kindly donated by www.sixdegreespr.com so left with a big grin and a Nintendo Wii under my arm.*







*Friday afternoon productivity is going to be seriously below average.