When I founded the geek dinner in March of 2006, the vision was:

To create a space, where people interested in, passionate about, those working with, building, creating, technology on the Internet could meet and get to know each other. Although most of these people would be working inside companies or for other people, some of them would eventually want to start their own endeavors. And when that happened, they needed people to collaborate and work with – that held similar values and mindset and varied skillsets. The geek dinner created the space for connections, true friendship bonds to be formed with self-selected like minded individuals.

We met over dinner, because a different relationship forms when sharing a meal. I was not interested in building the event into a brand or personal business, so I kept it as cheap and accessible as possible by making people responsible for taking care of their own costs. I did not explicitly search out sponsors, although some companies saw the value in the Geek Dinner and offered “sponsorship” money. I personally covered the costs of sharpies, nametags, restaurant guarantees (when necessary) and other misc things.

Fast forward 4 years and the LA Tech community is completely different – much in part because of the early efforts of the Geek Dinner and everyone who attended, supported and became this community. Although I “killed” the Geek Dinner at the end of 2009, I have miss the energy it supported. I have not been able to find the same feeling at other events.

I’m trying an experiment, I’m bringing the Geek Dinner back for one night – tomorrow – at one of our old favorite restaurants: Canter’s Deli. Canter’s has great food, though it’s not super cheap, plus a full bar, and can easily accommodate “over 200 people at a time”.

So if you want to make lasting connections, or just see some old friends, come join us. I promise no one will try to sell you anything, and if they do, I’ll ask them to leave.