What do you call a gathering of Geeks?

[#1]

So, a lot of my colleagues at PlusNet know that I like a jolly good knees-up, the occasional beer (ahem) and talking about technology, especially where it can enhance my life and work. The chance to combine all three is usually an opportunity not to be missed, and one such opportunity came up last Wednesday at Leeds GeekUp. GeekUp is an independent and open community of tech-minded individuals who get together to share ideas and spread and grow their collective geek wisdom. The social gatherings are usually held in a pub or bar, and by their nature are informal and lively. There are usually a couple of short presentations by up-and-coming or established guest speakers (often in the 20:20 Pecha Kucha stylee) to get the crowd talking, against a backdrop of plenty of free-flowing beer (did I mention this was a social?) and occasionally some radical ideas. The latest instalment was a slight departure from said usual format. It started off hosted at Met:Space in the Old Broadcasting House at Leeds (a rather swank collaboration space not unlike Sheffield's own Workstation) before adjourning to the adjacent Dry Dock public house. Deb Bassett and friends, who organise the Leeds incarnation of the northern circuit, had managed to get hold of celebrated Javascript author and Yahoo! trainer Christian Heilmann to get the audience enthused. I'll be honest with you ... the YUI isn't anywhere on a list of topics to float my boat, but Christian's KeyNote presentation and delivery were surprisingly engaging and witty, as was his cunning dodge of the inevitable Microsoft-buys-Yahoo question. What really struck me as the evening went on was the diversity and brightness of the crowd. Sure, there were web designers and developers, but there were also social networking researchers, music technologists and others working in what's currently being known as Creative or New Media. Throw these all together and you've got a fascinating mix of thinkers and doers, working on some really exciting technology-enhanced projects. So, I should tell you - I'm not a developer, web designer, researcher, technologist or creative by trade. I'm a business analyst, as it happens (which is a whole different story for another day). But before I'm one of those, I'm a consumer, and living in one of the fastest growing digital cities in the UK. Community events like GeekUp and BarCamp may appear to be a tad niche, but they are exactly the kind of happening that needs to exist to foster the innovation and talent which not only gives us cool web-based stuff like iPlayer and Facebook but also exciting and contemporary art to enrich offline urban life. And, well, the conversation we have to explore those possibilities is exactly the sort that floats my boat. Looks like you've already started off musing over the collective noun for geeks, but how about a gathering of geeks ... GeekUp anyone?