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April 2010 sees two meetup’s planned…

Building upon the success of @BecomeKnown’s March meetup (which received a great review in the local news and attracted some new faces) I’m very happy to see a true Tuttle101 community spirit emerging – hope to see you at one/both of these:
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Evening Tipple101 by James @BecomeKnown

Tipple101 – Tues 20th April 2010 (7:00 pm) – organised by James @BecomeKnown – click here for more details!!

Venue: *somewhere* inside The George Vaults Rochester (Kent)
(35 The High Street, Rochester – click here for a map)

:

Morning Tuttle.101 by Natasha @NatashaSexton

Tuttle101 – Monday 26th April 2010 (9:30 am) – organised by Natasha @NatashaSexton – click here for more details!!

Venue: upstairs in The George Vaults Rochester (Kent)
(35 The High Street, Rochester – click here for a map)

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In addition… some feedback on the following would be most welcome please! ‘-)
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Since I organised the first Tuttle.101 back in September 2009 I’ve tried to encourage one simple philosophy: ‘Tuttle101 is not owned or run by me @FellowCreative, it is in fact owned by, and exists because of a growing community of people – and this means that the community are free to shape it, use it, or discard it, as they please’.

I’ve done my utmost to keep the Tuttle and Tipple experience(s) very separate from the world’s of sales, marketing, corporate sponsorship and paid-monthly-memberships but since January I must admit that I have given much thought to the introduction of a logo/identity, not because I want to constrain, dictate or monetize, but because I believe that such a visual key may be useful in establishing further community support.

E.g. over the past few months various people have asked me if I could supply them some  visual assets for blog posts and articles but I’ve had nothing to give them – I’m convinced there’s only so many photos of people drinking coffee you can handle =)
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With the above in mind, I’d like to introduce two things and I’d love to hear your thoughts please:

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1. an eNewsletter sign-up system (built using CampaignMonitor or MailChimp) to send out a single email notification each month to a Tuttle.101 and Tipple.101 attendee list (1 email per month, with a simple subscribe/unsubscribe feature – it’ll be concise and to the point, with a simple design theme!).
   >> NOW AVAILABLE HERE

2. two logo’s for community use – one logo for tuttle.101, the other for tipple.101 (please tell me what you think of the following, they have been designed to work alongside pretty much anything in terms of imagery or colour – if the community like them I’ll prepare a host of downloadable assets for you to use on blog posts – and as you see fit).

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The above identity designs can also be found and commented on at  Flickr.com

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More information on Tuttle.101 can be found here.
More information on Tipple.101 can be found here.
More Information on Floor.101 can be found here.

Photo: Twuddle Tunbridge Wells
Original photo taken and licensed by @ankertw

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The growing community of Tuttle.101 has lead to repeat comments, ideas and suggestions from attendees:

1. Not everyone can make 9:30 am on a Monday morning.
2. Coffee doesn’t calm nerves when introducing yourself to a room full of strangers – a beer or glass of wine might prove even more social.
3. Its difficult to get round and speak to everyone at a single Tuttle, and many folk feel bad interrupting/joining others long conversations.

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With the above in mind, we’re adding an evening Tipple to the February Calendar – inspired by the fantastic Royal Tunbridge Wells Twuddle.
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Tuttle.101 – Monday 15th February 2010 (9:30 am)
will be upstairs in The George Vaults Rochester (Kent)
(35 The High Street, Rochester – click here for a map)

Tipple.101 – Wednesday 17th February 2010 (7:30 pm)
will be upstairs in The George Vaults Rochester (Kent)
(35 The High Street, Rochester – click here for a map)

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A few additional things to note:

1) A big thank you to Matthew at Innovation Centre Medway who supplied the free coffee and tea at last months Tuttle.101

2) You don’t need to sign-up to attend either but please do try and leave a comment below (with preferably your actual name) so there’s a rough idea who and how many might be in attendance.

3) If you’d like more information about the above or would like to sponsor the coffee, please email Carl at tuttle101@fellowcreative.com or call me directly on: 07929 601737. More information on the ‘now global’ Tuttle Club can be found via the original tuttleclub blog. We hope you like the sound of the above and look forward to seeing you there! =)

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Photo: Twuddle Tunbridge Wells
Original photo taken and licensed by @ankertw

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On Monday 18th January 2010 (between 9:30am – 12:30pm)
Tuttle.101 (otherwise known as Social Media Café Medway)
will be upstairs in The George Vaults Rochester (Kent)
(35 The High Street, Rochester – click here for a map)
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Photo: I enjoy increasing conversation! Original photo taken and retouched under creative commons from James Whatley–

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Tuttle.101 isn’t your traditional business networking event, its about conversation and inspiration over coffee, not business card swapping or customer referrals. If you’d like to know more about Tuttle.101 click here.

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Photo: Every Body Comes Here Original photo taken and licensed under creative commons by Lloyd Davis–

You don’t need to sign-up to attend but please do try and leave a comment below (with preferably your actual name) so there’s a rough idea who and how many might be in attendance.

If you’d like more information please email (tuttle101@fellowcreative.com) or call me directly (Carl: 07929 601737). More information on the ‘now global’ Tuttle Club can be found via the original tuttleclub blog.

Over the years I’ve learnt that forming my thoughts into a written story provides me with a linear process and a declaration of intention, but most useful of all it delivers a new perspective and the viewpoint of hindsight – which is much needed today (01/01/10) to inspire both realisation of my situation and some direct action to guide me.

Christmas and New Year provided time away from the laptop, keyboard and iPhone, and I did my utmost to avoid the usual daily dose of Social Web, tweets and posts. The break has proven truly fascinating and sobering, not because its been fueled with intellectual conversations with Wiseman from Nazareth, but because it delivered a much needed period of self-reflection and thought.

As I type this I’m faced with a virtual desktop of half finished Word Documents and lists of to-do’s, all of which must be edited and prioritized – this document serves as a psychological waste-basket for some items and begins a 2010 commitment to others – both are much needed if I’m to have any hope of keeping my sanity and developing a truly sustainable business in the years ahead.

Today, my bank statements tell me I’m £2,000 down into my business overdraft and in debt to the tune of £4,000 personally, on the positive side I filed and paid my VAT on Christmas Eve, I have no outstanding supplier bills until February, I’m due £650 in invoice-able time and above all I own all my studio equipment outright (probably £10,000′s worth on ebay). – In short, I start 2010 financially down but in no way out. At the age of 30 I’m poorer than I’ve ever been but I’ve never been so opportunity rich.

Before I look forward into 2010 I feel it important to remember the path I’ve traveled thus far (and for any potential readers of this, may it provide an insightful lesson, and a rare glimpse into a Padawan business mind).

Its now four years since I stood on a high-wire ledge in New Zealand, the eight-second free-fall that followed delivered much more than I expected. I hung suspended at the bottom of the 134m bungy cord, fueled by adrenaline and a realization of “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” – it was at this moment a seed was planted in my mind – return to the UK, forsake the short-term safety of a mortgage and pension, and set about developing a successful business and positive mindset based on personal challenge and social value.

I was twenty-six. I’d already managed an agency studio, been registered as self-employed for years, and been a founding partner of Rorschok Creative (which was less of a traditional commercial partnership, and more of a part-time creative/collaborative team) – I’d certainly worked hard to learn my trade but at no point had I ever been solely responsible for making decisions to drive a business forward, but most importantly, I’d never been solely responsible for the consequences – I felt I needed to learn from my own mistakes.

Linus Pauling (one of only four individuals to have won multiple Nobel Prizes) once said “if you want to come up with a few good ideas, or even one great one, then you have to generate lots of ideas” [quoted from Jonathon Porritt's Audio Essay "Creative Sustainability" 2006 Podcast].

Suspended at the end of a bungy cord, I already understood Paulings quote to be true in regards to ideas and creativity, but upon boarding the Air New Zealand flight back to the UK I began an enlightening journey… and today I understand that Paulings philosophy also applies to life, experience, inspiration, people, knowledge, ability and business. I also now realise that bad ideas and poor decisions are inevitable along the way, and as it happens, they’re 100% necessary to get a great result.

In October 2007 I opened a business bank account in the name of Fellow Creative, I instructed my accountant to process a formal VAT registration; and the rest as they say, is history. With many thanks too, and loving memories of a late family relative, I opened Fellow Creative with £10,000 in the bank but I also had the words of an ex girlfriend ringing in my ears “Carl, you’re an idealist, you’ll never run a business where you get on with every single colleague or client, or do what you want every single day”. Today, on 1st January 2010, I realize that its cost me £16,000 to find out that she was half-right.

“If you want to come up with a few good ideas, or even one great one, then you have to generate lots of ideas” – In addition, I suggest that you also have to do and experience lots of different things, step outside your natural comfort zone, meet and work with people you don’t always see eye to eye with and take risks based on gut feel rather than monthly bank statements – I follow my instincts every single day, and taking the rough with the smooth, I enjoy every single minute of it. (I recommend watching this).

In early 2008 I thought this philosophical approach was traveling pretty well, that is until I was hit by a 20 ton aggregate lorry and a double-decker bus in a near fatal car accident, a true story that not only shut the A26 for three hours but thankfully reminded me that “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” and forced me to realize that although I’d been making gut feel decisions with people and time, if I was to truly succeed in business I really needed to gamble on my instincts with money.

Now four years on, I’ve made errors and poor decisions across all areas, and some gambles are yet to be proven but I’ve done my best to learn from everything – I’ve rarely made the same mistake twice and the few times I’ve been foolish enough to do so now insures I’ll not make them a third – not even I’m that stupid *-)

To this day I’ve not run a traditional business, I’ve not been driven by money, or operated upon a written business plan or formalized cash-flow forecasts and targets, nor have I had small-print terms and conditions or even a vision to grow to employ staff – I’ve lived at home with my parents (thanks for the support Mum and Dad) and slept on friends sofas (you know who you are, you are all legends – thank you!). I’ve paid myself little and randomly, yet I survived to turnover 32,000+ last tax year. I existed upon my creative skillset and curiosity, combined it with manners “show respect to everyone and never waste someones time” and a northern blood up-bringing “my handshake is my word and the first round is on me”. I supported efforts with the initial savings pot of £10,000 and proceeded to put myself in as many challenging situations as possible to help me better understand what I should value in this world, and in doing so I aimed to develop a Credentials document and portfolio, trusted contact network and list of testimonials that could, if need be, get me a Creative Director’s job anywhere I might wish to work.

Of the past thirty years I’ve spent seventeen in academic learning yet during the past four I’ve learned far more from being polite, helping people and simply saying yes to challenges, curiosity, intuition and gut-feel – but at every stage ‘knowing and believing’ I’ve got the ability to deliver anything I put my mind too – even if it kills me or my bank account – I’ve not tried to buy anyone’s friendship or use money as an advantage but I’ve made some great friends and colleagues, and I’ve delivered on everything I said I would, and all my suppliers got paid before I did.

At the age of 30 I still know relatively little about banking or business finance, which perhaps explains why £1,500 of the above £16,000 went on Northern Rock shares, but I’ve gained much understanding about myself and the worlds around me (referring to both the real-world and the digital-world). I believe I now understand the value of people and the value of investment – in both myself and others, and how and why others might invest in me – I believe that Communication is not about talking, its about listening. Value can always be found in encouraging and enabling others – being Social, Transparent and Honest.

2007-2009 I did many things, some of which were for paying clients but more were for the experience, knowledge and ideas. I founded and funded SustainableWidget, moved into and sadly back out of a second studio at The Skiff, fell in love with the co-worker mindset of Brighton, invested time and money into Social-Web Platforms, FellowCreative.com and Social Media Education and Events, worked with and mentored 3 talented upcoming designers (1,2,3), taught other creatively minded students, spoke at events on Creative Sustainability and found myself on iTunes as a downloadable PodCast and presented to a crowd of 80+ at Nesta. I facilitated thinking for a No.1 agency, began to seed Creative & Social Innovation philosophies like BarCamp and Co-working in Kent, learned about the Digital Economy, Digital-Legacy, wider Social-Web and real-time, traveled to Budapest to blog about Nokia, played with and gave away the latest devices, worked the door at the very first Twestival, supported random events, attended GeeknBury, WordCamp and numerous conferences, gave-away tickets, sponsored a gumball rally for charity, built contacts in video-on demand, live-stream and mobile, developed a list of Fellow Trustees and started Tuttle.101 – long may it continue.

At every stage I’ve taken great pleasure in meeting, helping and working with great people and organisations but because my experiences have been so diverse and my knowledge so seemingly scattered, I’ve struggled with how to describe my job role and offering (even the VAT man has me down as ‘specialty design service’) – thankfully respected names like Nixon McInnes and WOMWorld Nokia have presented me prize opportunities based on their own gut feelings and conversations with me.

“Sometimes you need someone else or something else to cultivate the great creative thinking. For a crucial piece of creative thinking we asked Carl to help facilitate us, and use his creative methodologies, his knowledge of our market but crucially his distance from our consultancy to improve our chances of making the mental jumps we needed. It worked! Carl was patient, thoughtful and used fun, theory and careful interventions to help us find ourselves some little gems of thought. A good man and one I’m happy to recommend”
Will McInnes, MD of NixonMcInnes

I love my title ‘Creative Midwife & Joiner-of-Dots’ but when Will McInnes gave me his testimonial I suddenly realised that I could only be defined by what I do – my now approach – not based on what I had done (The whole is greater than the sum of its parts).

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“Thoughts become things, choose the good ones!”

~The Universe. (via KB @ktotheb)

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Some may think of financial transparency as bold, others may define it as stupid – either way its honest and to learn from. Its all part of the journey, thankfully I’ve already secured enough paid client work to keep me alive until mid-Feb, with a superb Tender Opportunity already in motion for a February-March project *-)

At the mere age of 30, I’m poorer than I’ve ever been but I’ve never been so opportunity rich – nor have I been so excited about the future!

I begin 2010 as a product of all my experiences, conversations, contacts, learning curves, plus all the good ideas that haven’t left my mind or my gut in the past four years, I have a great idea and I’m intent on creating a truly Sustainable enterprise out of it! The best part about the idea is that its so clear in my mind that I’ve already written the Feasibility Plan. I plan to continue meeting and looking for the right investor(s) – to invest in me, not necessarily financially, but as I have done for others, with belief, time, advice and encouragement.

Here’s what I’ll be doing with the month of January:
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January Tasks:
A. Define a 2010 day rate for @FellowCreative – Done.
B. Write a draft Feasibility Plan for NewFellowVenture – 04/01/10 – Complete.
C. Get trusted feedback on NewFellowVenture proposition – 12/01/10 – Complete.
D. Prepare NewFellowVenture Plan for Partners/Investors – 20/01/10 – 50% Done
E. Submit LL Brand Proposal – 09/01/10 – Done!
F. Arrange Brighton meetings for 14-15/01/10 (TN,LL,RI,BB,P) –
G. Publish Social Media Blog Post – Late but complete!
H. Submit Client Summary Document – 11/01/10 – Complete!
I. LL Brand Phase 1 – 14/01/10 – Complete!
J. Prepare NMI Documentation & dispatch for 3 meets – deadline 15/01/10 – Done!
K. Prepare ORG & CK document for Jonathon Shaw MP meeting – 6.15pm 15/01/10 – Done!
L. Organise Tuttle.101 – 18/01/10 – Done!
M. Update Fellow Creative Credentials & Documentation – 20/01/10
N. Submit Tender Document – 21/01/10 – Done!
O. Implement Marketing Strategy for @FellowCreative – latest 10/02/10

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Hopes for 2010 (updated with URL links 24/05/10):
1. Update FellowCreative.com and define ‘What I Do’
2. Earn enough to attend SXSW Interactive > Done – Click to See!
3. Organise Tuttle101 Collaborative Project or BarCampKent
4. Inspire an Open-source Platform (#Deathbook #deBill #Floor101 #EmptyShops)
5. Plan a 15,000ft LIVE-stream sky-dive for charity

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Companies I’d like to talk to more:
ToggleUK, Automattic, NixonMcInnes, Ribot, TorchBox, 1000heads, WOMWorld Nokia, Nesta, FutureGov, PolicyUnplugged, Channel4, Ideas.org, 33digital…

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On Monday 7th December 2009 (between 9:30am – 12:30pm)
Tuttle.101 (otherwise known as Social Media Café Medway)
will be upstairs in The George Vaults Rochester (Kent)
(35 The High Street, Rochester – click here for a map)
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Photo: Tuttle.101 Venue in Rochester, Medway (Kent) Original photo taken and licensed under creative commons by Peter Harris–

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+ ideas are brewing for a Freelancers Christmas Bash
but more info on that once its confirmed!

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You don’t need to sign-up to attend but please do leave a comment below (with preferably your name and email) so there’s a rough idea who and how many are coming.

If you’d like more information please email (tuttle101@fellowcreative.com) or call me directly (Carl: 07929 601737). More information on the ‘now global’ Tuttle Club can be found via the original tuttleclub blog.

We look forward to meeting you there =)

I say this because I’ve worked with them all…

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David Ince
Author, Film-maker, Intellectual, Designer & Do’er

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Daniel Cudby
Strategic Thinker, Designer… eats Photoshop Retouching & Illustrator for breakfast

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Jonathan Markwell
iPhone App, Ruby on Rails & Twitter Developer – co-worker & all round good egg!

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Scott Evans
Designer & CMS Developer (XHTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL & WordPress)

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Gemma Garner
Designer & Maker of Crafty Stuff (iPhone sleeves etc…), Ethical thinker

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Christian Payne
Social Media Journalist, Video Blogger & Legendary Content Creator

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Jack Butler
Generation Y Specialist, Inspiring Young People & Public Speaker

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Benjamin Breckler
Designer for Mobile & Web – now working at Ribot!

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Alan Offord
Graphic Designer (up-coming-talent) and Tea Drinker Extraordinaire

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Gareth Rogers
Facebook Developer

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Remy Sharp
jQuery, JavaScript & HTML 5

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Steve Lawson
Social Media, Musician & Thinker

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Ellen deVries
Brand Language Consultant & Copywriter

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Josie Fraser
Social & Education Technologist, Digital Literacy, Identity & Citizenship

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Paul Anderson
Sustainability Consultant

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Tom Nixon
Social Media Consultancy (trust me, I don’t use that title lightly)

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Jon Kossmann (Kosso)
Createch – Social-Web Developer Extraordinaire & Founder of Phreadz.com

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Brian Noonan
LIVE-streaming & video-on-demand (Web & Mobile)

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People I trust enough to work with at the next opportunity:

* those I’ve not met in person at least twice

Anthony Ribot – User Interface, Experience & Apps (anything Mobile)
Phil Campbell – Content Creator, Video Blogger, Social-Web planner
Ben Sauer – User Experience (UX) Consultant
Mike Little – WordPress Developer *
Ben Walker – Musical Legend & Early Adopter
Stef Lewandowski – Developer: #DEbill http://debillitated.heroku.com & http://stef.io *
Paul Bradshaw – Blogger, Senior Lecturer in Online Journalism
Steve Purkiss – Drupal & Open Source Evangelist
Lloyd Davis – Social Artist, Community Builder
Antony Mayfiled -Digital Marketing Consultant
Oisin Lunny – Music & Social Technology
Ilicco Elia – Mobile, Web & iTV (high-value strategy)
Victoria Lennox – Enterprise & Academic Policy
Little Laura – Designer & Web Developer (with solid code and ethics)
Benjamin Read – Writer, Publisher & Indy Film Producer
Jof Arnold – Developer (currently iPhone App focused)
Peter O’Neill – Web Analytics
Gavin Wray – Content Manager, Information Architecture *
James Yorke – Online Marketing & Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Penny Jackson – Journalist & Audio PodCaster
Dave Goodchild – PHP (Zend, Codeigniter), Rals/Sinatra, SQL/MySQL, Y.Pipes
James Whatley – Social Media, content Creator, Blogger (anything Mobile)
Josh Russell – Product and idea development
Aral Balkan – Flash/Flex, Renaissance Geek & User Experience Advocate *
Alison Coward – Enterprise & Management for the Creative Arts
Allix Harrison-D’Arcy – Crap at mornings. Dead Amusing,  still not dead.
Matt Weston – Strategist & Planner (knowledge, design, space and people)
Dan Thompson – Empty Shops Network
Michael L Radcliffe – Artist & Plumber
Erica Grigg – Sustainability in Social Media Consultant *
Chris Dalby – Developer, HomeCamp Organiser
Leif Kendall – Technology Copywriter
Derek Mantle – Graphic Designer
Russ McVeigh – Web Developer, Flash Actionscript, XML, SOAP, JSON
Stephen Bartholomew – Ruby on Rails
Rob O’Callaghan – Developer, Connector
Neil Pepper – iPhone/Android/Mobile App development
Nicholas Butler – Developer (WordPress Back-End)
Xander Cansell – Connector and Planner (of anything) *
Dan Donald – Web Dev/Design, Social-Media, PHP/MySQL, CSS, jQuery
Jenny Brown – Internal Communications and Consumer Engagement
Debbie Davies – Co-Discovery Films
Danny Hope – Interaction & User Experience (UX) Design
Premasagar Rose – Social innovation + front-end engineering
Robert McIntosh – Marketing & Wine
Peter-Paul Koch (PPK) – Front-End Development (#1 Mobile Consultant) *
Euan Semple – Consultant, Writer
Alan Moore – Engagement/Participation *
Toby Moores – Interactive Game/TV/Online/Mobile
Daren Forsyth – Engagement Jedi
Mike Atherton – Writer for Screen

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My recommended ones to watch (some are students):

* those I’ve not met in person at least twice

Merle Cordier – Podcast & Radio producer/editor – will call it as it is!
Toby Watson – Mashupr & Maker of different things and crazy tech stuff!
Richard Mackney – Early Adopter, Blogger, Content Creator – interestingly visual! *
Dave Stone – Nomadic Business Designer
Thomas Forsyth – Artist & Maker *
Paul Davis – Designer, Developer – impressively self taught! *
Mark Phipps – Microsoft & Apple Certified Support
Katie Fotis – Branding and Marketing Student – full of enthusiasm!
Gaurav Patel – Blogger, a Voice with Good Tone – seeks an opportunity! *
Al-nashir Bandali – Marketing Planner & Strategist
Jon-Paul Davies – ASP.NET, AmpliFeeder *
Will Waterman – Thinker not Do’er – in the right team this man could be gold!
Lee Gavin – Psychogeographer
Giulia Piu – Designer, UX Researcher
Nathan Parris – Graphic Designer
William Morland – a young man going somewhere! *

As a gregarious Fellow who gets about quite a lot, I am fortunate to know a large number of diversely talented individuals and companies. So much so that I have never had to contact a recruitment agency to find someone with a particular skill set.

Although I often feel such a network has formed itself quite naturally, when I launched the Fellow brand I did consciously set out to meet gifted individuals that I might collaborate with and even be able call upon when and if I needed to. The name Fellow was born from the concept of exacting standards, academic connection, and a professional commitment to question everything and develop over time – but also the idea that I am a fellow creative, part of a larger community of talented individuals driving the future of technology, communications and creative disciplines forward into an uncertain future.

Many of the people I have met over the last few years have helped to shape what Fellow has ultimately become. I once read that Einstein wasn’t born a genius, he forged himself into one by surrounding himself with exceptionally smart people. I might be about as far removed from Einstein as a scruffy creative type can get, but we do share one thing in common: I am also surrounded by exceptional people.

Over the last few months, people from places like Tuttle, Tweetups, BarCamp and my broader social web have been getting in contact asking if I know anyone who can develop, say, widgets for this or a design for that. In each case I’ve been able to make those connections.

With this in mind, I am proud to launch Fellow Trustees.

The concept is very simple. The people and companies on this list I whole-heartedly recommend. They are exceptional at what they do and conduct themselves with absolute professionalism. I trust them enough to align my Fellow brand with them. They are Fellow Trustees.

If you are thinking about talking to a creative recruitment agency to help fulfill a project, I would say check out the individuals and companies on the following lists first (in time I may even develop some relevant twitter lists too but some of my recommended connections can’t be found on twitter).

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CLICK HERE TO VIEW LIST

On Monday 9th November 2009 (between 9:30am – 12:30pm)
Tuttle.101 (otherwise known as Social Media Café Medway)
will be upstairs in The George Vaults Rochester (Kent)
(35 The High Street, Rochester – click here for a map)

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Photo: Tuttle.101 in Rochester, Medway (Kent) Original photo taken and licensed under creative commons by Peter Harris–

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What is Tuttle?
The Tuttle Club is a loose association of people working better together both online and off.

It is not a business networking event. It is simply a meeting place for people to share in conversation, have a coffee, work on their laptop (with free WiFi), and hopefully talk to complete strangers about what they are reading, inspired by, or perhaps even working on in their shed or spare time – hopefully leading to some creative collaboration and long-term innovation.

In this video, Lloyd Davis (the Founder of Tuttle) loosely outlines it’s story in conversation with Chris Dalby:

You don’t need to sign-up to attend but please do leave a comment below (with preferably your name and email) so there’s a rough idea who and how many are coming.

If you’d like more information please email (tuttle101@fellowcreative.com) or call me directly (Carl: 07929 601737).
More information on the ‘now global’ Tuttle Club can be found via the original tuttleclub blog.

We look forward to meeting you there =)

Please click here for the latest information on Tuttle101

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Yesterday (Monday 5th October 2009), the upper floor of The George Vaults in Rochester (Kent) housed the first Tuttle.101
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Photo: Tuttle.101 in Rochester, Medway (Kent) Original photo taken and licensed under creative commons by Peter Harris–

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Announced only six days previous, and with very little organization (one blog post, two phone calls, twelve emails and a few initial tweets) resulted in a somewhat impressive attendee list of fourteen – no mean feat considering it was held at 9.30am on a rainy Monday morning (plus the fact at least four people got in touch to say they couldn’t make it this time round but would definitely come to the potential ‘next one’).

Attendees traveled to the Rochester venue from as far away as Cranbrook (an hour journey by car) so I remain convinced that there is a need for Tuttle gatherings in Kent.

With folk like Rob oCallagham already running Tuttle Royal Tunbridge Wells (tuttle.rtw) and initiatives like @CanterburyGeeks drawing crowds of twenty+ each month, I’m encouraged to find the seeds of a seemingly underground ‘Digital Creative’ community that is indeed willing to get out from behind their laptop monitor provided a platform for real-world inspiration and conversation presents itself. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who arrived with open minds and enthusiasm (full attendee list below) – I do hope everyone got something interesting out of the conversation and I’m happy to find that the initial feedback has been extremely positive.

As for what happens next, that’s up to you… I’d certainly like to organize another tuttle.101 to support the Digital Creatives (and the wider community of interesting folk) in Medway but a once a week commitment would be a struggle at present. This said, Tuttle in Royal Tunbridge Wells is every Wednesday (and has a monthly social ‘twuddle’ session in a pub) and I’ve also heard discussions about a potential Tuttle.Maidstone; there also appears to be a host of tweetups across Kent (including one this month being hosted by Wonderful Creative). This makes me wonder if a rolling Carousel of Tuttle events might actually be the most useful and worthwhile route forward.

My final thought is that we had no female attendees even though I personally invited five – if you know of any please do share this post with them!

Thank you! I’d love to hear your thoughts… ;-)

PS: If anyone is wondering why its called Tuttle.101 instead of Tuttle.Medway please do click here and read the post!

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Tuttle.101 attendee list 5/10/09 (in no specific order):

Rob oCallagham @robocallaghan
Chris Dalby @yellowpark (http://www.yellowpark.net)
James Yourke @BecomeKnown (http://www.becomeknown.co.uk)
Ahmed Nuaman @ahmednuaman (http://www.ahmednuaman.com)
Tom Lindridge @FutureBlogging (http://www.futureblogging.co.uk)
David Bahia @DavidBahia
Peter Harris @Sarchi (http://waterhole-forma.blogspot.com)
Brian Condon @brian_condon (http://complexitygroup.com)
Alastair Wood @alastairwood (http://www.awaccs.co.uk)
Russ McVeigh (http://www.russellmcveigh.info)
Steve Fleming (http://www.copythatworks.co.uk)
Peter Micklewright (http://rbpdesign.co.uk)
Steve Rowland (http://steverowland.co.uk and founder of MadeInMedway)
Duncan Court (http://cyberkix.co.uk)
Carl Jeffrey @fellowcreative (http://www.fellowcreative.com)

Plus some folk who’ve already expressed an interest in the next one:

Alex McIntyre @alex_mcintyre
Mark Phipps @fipz
Simon Wakeman @simonwakeman
Simon Mohr @canterburygeeks (http://semsolutions.co.uk)
Tim Deeson @deeson_emedia (http://semsolutions.co.uk)
Ben Breckler @benbreckler (http://www.benbreckler.com)
Ciaran Oliver @kentpictures (http://www.oliverphoto.co.uk)

You might even recognize a few names in the speaking lineup:
Christian Payne is now widely seen as the UKs #1 Social-Media Journalist.

If you would like more information on the VITAL Event and the Pioneering VITAL Conversation Platform please do click here to download the Press Release PDF.

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