We took a little Rip Van Winkle nap and are now just waking up.  You beloved g33k d1nner will be back pretty dang soon.  Expect a imminent announcement (just need to confirm venue).  I will give you a hint loyal diner, it will involve beer.

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.

It’s been a long time, months since I retired the Geek Dinner last year and I don’t know about you, but I’ve been kind of missing the old geek dinner energy. There are so many great events in Los Angeles, but none of them have the same low-key, community building energy that made the geek dinner, the geek dinner. So, I’m bringing the Geek Dinner back – for a one-off geek dinner. Don’t be thinking it’s coming back for-ever!

• When: Tuesday, June 15, 2010, starting around 7:30pm
• Where: Canters Deli, Mid-Town on Fairfax near Melrose
• What: People who self-identify as geeks

How does it work: Show up, order a drink, some food, be open and friendly, meet some new people, have some interesting conversations, eat some pastrami.

It’s a chill scene. No uber networking, self-promotion or company promotion. Just be cool. We’re all friends you haven’t met yet. RSVP on our old friend Upcoming.

The Geek Dinner has joined up with Ignite to hold the first ever Ignite LA on July 21st at Cinespace (map) in Hollywood.

What is Ignite?
———————
Speakers get 5 minutes to give an amazing, inspiring talk. They submit 20 slides which automatically advance every 15 seconds.

At other Ignites, talks have included:
– The Secret Underground World of Lego
– How to Buy a Car
– Cyborg Anthropology
– Hacking Chocolate

This will be the first Ignite in Los Angeles; it is co-sponsored by LA Geek Dinner, Girls In Tech LA, and a few other groups to be announced soon.

What is Geek Dinner?
———————
The LA G33k dinner was kind enough to let us take over their July dinner to host the first Ignite.

LA Geek Dinner, founded by Heathervescent brings people with a passion for technology and the internet together over a meal where conversations happen, friendships form, and collaborations on various projects occur. L.A. Geek Dinner is an inclusive event.

Details & Schedule
———————
The event is free. We’re hosting it at Cinespace on July 21:

6:30 Geek Dinner& Drinks — Cinespace is doing a beer bucket special for us for the the first hour (5 beers for $20)
8pm-9:30 Ignite talks
10pm Cinespace opens to the general public for Dim Mak (you’re welcome to
stay for the band)

While the event is free, you are responsible for paying for your own food/drinks from Cinespace if you want ’em.

Please RSVP to the Geek Dinner list on upcoming.

Talks
———————
If you’re working on an interesting project, have an unusual skill, or just some interest that would be fun to share with everyone, please submit your proposal here.

Follow Us
———————
Ignite/LA announcement Mailing List
Ignite Twitter

Geek Dinner Facebook
Geek Dinner Twitter: http://twitter.com/lageekdinner

Thanks,
Heathervescent — LA Geek Dinner
Brady Forrest, Matt Forrest & Dan Gould — Ignite/LA

LA Geek Dinner – 3 Year Anniversary

Originally uploaded by heathervescent

I can’t believe it – the geek dinner will be 3 years old in April 2009. Please come down to uWink at Hollywood and Highland and celebrate with us on Tuesday April 21st.

(Get these updates privately by joining the mailing list – then I won’t have to post em here.)

This is a packed update, so I encourage to skim it all the way to the bottom. 🙂 First, thanks to everyone who came out to uWink for the 33rd geek dinner on January 17th! Everyone had a great time and there were lots of announcements (that I forget). Congrats to SXSWI winner Kevin Ciesielski Justin Kruger (Justin was kind enough to donate his winner pass to Kevin Ciesielski of Milwaukee who is a broke entrepreneur and helped with barcampMilwaukee.) See ya in Austin!

TWESTIVAL LA- new event alert!!!
Ninety cities around the world are organizing parties that night to raise money to bring clean drinking water to the 1 in 6 people who currently lack it. Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of all sickness and disease, and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war.

Let’s see what L.A. can do to match the New York, London and San Francisco events. What we need now is volunteer leaders to help make our event rock. Sign up on the web: http://la-twestival.blogspot.com/ or contact AJ on twitter @ajpape

FEB DINNER DETAILS
The 34th geek dinner will be on February 17th at uWink. Details and RSVP are here: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1002828/
Please spread it around and bring your geeky friends. You know that the geek dinner is the gateway LA geek event. Once you start – you’ll just go hardcore on to Barcamp, Mixergy, Twiistup or one of Mahalo’s Movie Nights…

HOSTS & VOLUNTEERS
I am looking two volunteers to host the February and March geek dinners. I will most likely be out of town Feb 17 and in Austin at SXSW  March 17. I would love to do a joint Austin/LA geek dinner in March, but I need a local LA host who is not going to SXSW.

What is involved in hosting?
You’ll show up with nametags, sharpies, cards and other goodies (that I can provide you) and make people feel comfortable. Engage them in conversation, introduce yourself to them, make sure everything is cool with uWink (that everyone paid their bills) and make announcements. I’ll coach you on everything you’ll need to do. For March, I’d love to hook up a web cam in Austin and stream the feed to the walls of uWink.
Who wants to let their inner geek-extrovert out?

OUR BIRTHDAY PARTY
April may be the cruelest month, but it’s also the 3 year birthday of the geek dinner. I’d love to do something special to celebrate, but I can’t do it alone. Who is with me to put together a party to celebrate
the geek dinner and how it has changed the tech scene in Los Angeles? How has the geek dinner improved your life? (Feel free to respond back to me.)

GEEK DINNER ON THE WEB (please share!)
Twitter ==> @lageekdinner
Blog ==> http://g33kd1nner.com/
Announce only mailing list ==> la-subscribe@geekdinner.org (That’s this!)
Facebook Group ==> http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2396233804

UPCOMING GEEK DINNERs
Feb Dinner RSVP ==>  http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1002828/
March Dinner RSVP ==> http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1002829/
April 3year Party ==> http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1002836/

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

HELP THE HOSTESS WITH THE MOSTESS
I’m not usually on the job hunt, but I’ve found myself with time on my hands. You know the saying, “Idle hands are the devil’s tools.” Well, in my case, my idle hands might create zombies – and LA already has
enough, so I’m actively pursuing something more worthwhile and valuable to the world – clients who want to have rock-star products and customers that love them.

What do I do you may ask?
That is a very good question. A “jill”of all startup trades, I help you build the best product for your market using my product management, usability and marketing expertise. Yes, I do more than organize tech events, do viral and social networking and create communities. I have over 10 years of experience helping create and launch innovative products. (Hello I did AJAX 10 years ago). At last count, I helped launch 50+ software, client-server, web-application, web sites and blogs. From 3 person startups to huge behemoth AOL. More
information about my specific services can be found here:
http://www.heathervescent.com/heathervescent/hire-me.html

Everyone who has worked with me is impressed. Check out my 30+ recommendations on LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/heathervescent

Finders fees to anyone who recommends me and it turns into a paying gig. Special deal for special friends. ;D

Thanks for reading this far! Here’s an ASCII Zombie for your effort.

brains, must have brains…
\
…..
C C  /
/<   /
___ __________/_#__=o
/(- /(\_\________   \
\ ) \ )_      \o     \
/|\ /|\       |’     |
|     _|
/o   __\
/ ‘     |
/ /      |
/_/\______|
(   _(    <
\    \    \
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\____\____\
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/`   /`     o\
|___ |_______|.. .

<3,
Heather

Creative Commons at 6, uWink

Originally uploaded by felicity redwell

Cameron, Andy and Mr Lessig jumping out of a cake.