Unlimited Drinks San Francisco - 22nd of February 2008
The next SMS Text News Unlimited Drinks is on Friday 22nd of February 2008 here in San Francisco.
I appreciate that this might be a big ask if you’re currently sat in London, Moscow (Hi everybody at MTS Russia) or Sydney. But you know, it’s a global village. And you could even buy some trees to offset your carbon emissions.
We’re going ultra-personal this time with San Francisco — Unlimited Drinks will be hosted at my rather superb penthouse in Nob Hill. (For the avoidance of doubt, I’d like to point out that I am, alas, not a yet a trillionaire with an apartment in every timezone — this is, alas, just the one I rented for the time I’m here).
Although it sports excellent views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay, it won’t, I don’t think, hold the standard Unlimited Drinks capacity of 150 people so do email me quickly if you’d like to come along. Think fridges stuffed with unlimited drinks and some brilliant catering. (For those a little bit more at home with comfort food, I will, in true mobile blogger fashion, be proving the concept of mobile ordering by ordering a pizza from Pizza Hut via mobile — and possibly something from that Taco place via Gomobo.com)
If you’d like to join me for a relaxed evening of mobile related discussion (and to poke around with a lot of different devices), then whack me an email with ‘SF drinks = yes‘ in the subject line.
We’ll be operational from 6pm — you’re most welcome to pop by for a drink to say hi or pop by for longer. Expect a mix of friendly mobile and media related people. A critical point: There will be food. Tons of food. I’ve just done the catering order so if you’re coming straight from work, have no fear, there will be lots of stuff to eat (and obviously drink).
What is Unlimited Drinks?
It’s an opportunity to meet people from the mobile industry and related areas in relaxed surroundings. It’s also a personal thank you to you for reading. There are no badges, no feedback forms, no thumping music, no ‘one glass of wine’ rules. The guest list is strictly controlled, generally by huge hulks in dark coats with bad attitudes. I don’t tolerate arses (see the ‘attendee criteria’ below) because I don’t want to waste time talking to people without spark, enthusiasm or a bit of vitality. I don’t like going along to ‘networking’ events that aren’t managed. I like there to be a visible host to act as a central focal point (just in case you can’t find someone to talk to, you know how it is). Therefore at an Unlimited Drinks event, you’ll be met at the door by me — and I’ll most probably politely demand a business card (I know, old world) so I can remember to put you in my write-up of the event the next day (helps with the memory). I’ll then point you to the bar — or in the case of this upcoming event, steer you to the bar and the food and introduce you to some other attendees.
I host these events in different cities (watch out for Cape Town, Moscow and Sydney coming soon). The name of the event is related to the ‘unlimited data’ plans that many network operators have introduced — and they obviously all come with fair use policies. Ditto Unlimited Drinks — the fair use policy is heavily governed by my ability to pay the bill!
How are they funded?
It’s me who pays for the events — sometimes with some assistance from sponsors. Often Nokia are good enough to send us out some of their latest handsets to play around with during the evening and I try to bring along some other technology too (at the upcoming event, I’ll give you the opportunity to try and break one of the new JCB phones).
Attendee Criteria
My job is quality control. I manage the guest list because I don’t want to spend the evening surrounded by weirdos — and the other attendees don’t want that either. So, if you’re simply looking for a job and have no capacity for independent thought and zero passion for mobile, don’t email me — try out a ‘mixer’ or the like, because Unlimited Drinks is not for you.
If, however, you work in or around the mobile industry and you’ve got something to say — good or bad, or both — about what’s going on with mobile, good. Come on in! You needn’t work for a mobile operator — in fact, we often have attendees from all sorts of professions — PR, legal, accounting, marketing — the glue, the commonality, is a degree of passion for mobile.
Get on the list
Just knock me an email (ewan@smstextnews.com) with a one-liner about yourself and anyone else you’d like to bring and I’ll get you on the list. In order that your email doesn’t disappear into the vast void, you can help me out by using the subject ‘SF drinks = yes‘.
See you there? 😉
