Episode 25: The Geek Retreat
Listen (23 min, 59 seconds)On the weekend of the 19th to the 21st of June, a group of some of the greatest Internet minds in the country got together at the picturesque Elephant Sanctuary, nestled in the Magaliesburg mountains. The aim was to talk about what would make the South African Internet better, how to stimulate innovation locally and what role there is for a more formal industry-wide body to carry on these conversations and representations in the future. In essence, organiser Heather Ford wanted to create a manifesto on how the top of the geek pile wanted the Internet in South Africa to be.
In this episode we take a slightly satirical look at the Geek Retreat to see whether it was all just an excuse to drink or if this group, with their German sedans, fast Internet access and venture capital funds could solve the issues that face the man on the street?
In our agency of the week we speak to Mongezi Mtati of Netweb events to hear about his monthly offline networking events. The top 10 this week looks at the phenomenon of "Tubes" and Rob Stokes joins us to give his final tip on the topic of how to succeed at SEO.
Guests:
Mongezi Mtati:
Mongezi is an online entrepreneur and events designer working from South Africa. Since he started in business he have been able to design and host networking business events without funding or sponsorship, as open source talks.
Heather Ford:
Heather Ford is a South African social entrepreneur who has worked in the fields of Internet policy, law and management in South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. She is a former Executive Director of iCommons, a UK private charitable corporation.
Links:
Geek Retreat: http://geekretreat.wik.is/
Netweb: http://netwebevent.pbworks.com/
Comments:
Firstly, Thanks for a GREAT podcast, I never miss it! My question is do you think we can get our hands on the Geek Retreat Manifesto?
by Francois Brill on July 02 2009, 21:41
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it
Hey Francois
All Geek Retreat info can be found here: http://geekretreat.wik.is/
Not 100% sure if the manifesto is done yet but you can get details on that site.
by Saul on July 06 2009, 15:51
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it
Thanks!
by Francois Brill on July 20 2009, 12:49
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it