TAM London Updates-Everybody Post here

It's often a trade-off.... in venues where you have space to play with, you end up craning your neck upwards at the stage.

I attended a conference by a volunteer organisation in London last year (which had a minuscule budget) with 946 delegates . they ended up splitting their operations between the Novotel in Hammersmith, and Hammersmith town hall.
 
I really enjoyed it and thought that it was well organised, and quite a different "atmosphere" to the TAM I attended in Las Vegas.

Big thanks to Tracy and her team for organising it.


And to the three people that said I was a "grumpy barstool" (or words to that effect) - Bah humbug!
 
I just looked at Luke's blog - I was standing in front of him in the queue! If only I'd spoken to him instead of standing there like a zombie (who'd got up at 3.30 that morning) his entire review may have been different!
 
Just came home from TAM, and I'm totally blown away, but way tooo tired. First eat, than sleep, analysis tomorrow.

But I have a little problem with my scepstick, too. I can't even see anything. If I connect it to my computer, it asks me to format, because it apparently isn't. Should I just click "yes"? But that'll loose everything that's on, right?
 
I had a brilliant time too! can't wait for more next year (not ready to think about there not being one next year)

The speakers were funny and inspirational, and it was just fantastic getting to meet so many great skeptics.

I'll post a more articulate review later, I've received good news at work today re. a promotion, so I'm for (yet more) drinks to celebrate. I'll post back once my head clear sufficiently :D
 
First, thanks to Teek and all her team. It was a great meeting and went pretty smoothly. This was a first and I don't think anyone anticipated the demand that was there, but we'll know next time. There must be a venue for TAM London that is both a hotel and a conference centre that can accomodate our needs. Let's try to find it. Does it have to be in central London, for instance? As long as it has good transport links, should that not do? TAM Vegas was in a place 6 or 7 miles out and speaking to attendees they had a great time.
The speakers were, by and large, excellent, IMHO. The only thing missing was the social side - people were scattered all over London and there was no easy way to communicate. Perhaps a contact board next time, giving what's on where and who'll be there, with space available for messages. A number of forum members didn't have cell phones, so this might help.
All in all, though it was excellent - well worth the money and an event I'd happily attend again.
 
nene said:
But I have a little problem with my scepstick, too. I can't even see anything. If I connect it to my computer, it asks me to format, because it apparently isn't. Should I just click "yes"? But that'll loose everything that's on, right?
Click to expand...

Yes, formatting will effectively wipe everything on the stick. It's pretty unusual for USB sticks to not automatically recognise these days. If you have a different USB port, try it in that; if you have another computer, try it in that. If you have no joy, then I'm afraid you are the proud owner of a shiny new, unformatted USB stick.

The original stick (at least the one I have) contains the following:
I wasn't able to find a link to the essays or video and I'm not sure of the distribution license on them, so if you want them I'd suggest shouting loudly until someone hears. :)
 
Please add me to the " I had a brilliant time, many thanks to everyone" list. :)
 
Jumile said:
Yes, formatting will effectively wipe everything on the stick. It's pretty unusual for USB sticks to not automatically recognise these days. If you have a different USB port, try it in that; if you have another computer, try it in that. If you have no joy, then I'm afraid you are the proud owner of a shiny new, unformatted USB stick.
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I feared that much. I'll try again tomorrow at work.
 
Can I just give a warm welcome to all those who are new to JREF and the skeptical world? Keep your eye on the forum - and register - because there are events going on all the time!
 
luke burrage said:
Image the scene: 600 science and scepticism nerds in one place at the same time. 90% of these were 20something and 30something white males, all with patchy beard growths, and with long hair that is more the result of simply not cutting it than any style decision.
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Hey, I resemble that remark!

luke burrage said:
nerds aren't that good at working out social stuff; TELL them which pub to go to after the event, as they won't work it out themselves!
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But it was good exercise walking between pubs looking for people.
 
Happy, satisfied and bereft of sleep...

I had a blast!
The only thing I found a bit lacking was the aforementioned breakfast and seating.
I was a bit concerned when I turned up on saturday morning, starving and a bit parched, only to be given a dehydrating cup of coffee and sticky pastries.
Not to worry though, I managed to cajole one of the staff into getting me some water - it took some work to get the need for hydration across - and the otherwise oncoming headache was averted.
- And, did you know there's something called Darwin's Deli? I thought they'd be the perfect supplier for a hearty breakfast for starving skeptical brains, and had a couple of them on sunday, but I digress, I'll leave the nutrition analysis to Ben Goldacre ;)
Apart from that, the bangers & mash was really good stuff and I managed to meet people from all kinds of places, getting the skinny on what the situation was in Spain, Switzerland, Hungary, Ireland and lots more.
I must point out to Luke Burrage that he might be suffering a bit from confirmation bias on what he might have presupposed a crowd of skeptics might be. I was actually impressed with the diversity; old, young and quite a lot more female attendance than expected.

Enough about the bitching though, mostly nitpicking, I know, but this is the place to be anal about all kinds of stuff, right :D

I really enjoyed the whole event, and between Angusburgers and beer I also managed to meet a bunch of really nice, interresting people like George Hrab, Rebecca Watson, Phil Plait, Brian Cox, Ariane Sherine and more.
The mood at the Black Friar and subsequent pubs was, as far as I could judge, pretty relaxed, lots of laughing, joking and skeptic musings about all kinds of stuff - a wonderful outlet for those inclined towards a geeky/nerdy sense of humour.
All in all, the 'The Amazing Meeting' is a fitting description for my whole experience in London as far as I'm concerned.

I'd like to offer a big thanks to Tracy and her hordes for putting this together, I really look forward to TAM London 2 :)
 
Well, for my part, I had a blast.

The speakers were all top notch, the atmosphere was buzzing and despite a few technical hitches, the event went off without too many problems and went as smoothly as can be expected.

Suffice it to say, I'm still recovering from the awesomeness and I *really* hope there's a TAM London II.
 
yngve said:
I was a bit concerned when I turned up on saturday morning, starving and a bit parched, only to be given a dehydrating cup of coffee
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Coffee is not dehydrating, it is a myth that the caffeine causes you to lose more water than you gain from it.
Enough about the bitching though, mostly nitpicking, I know, but this is the place to be anal about all kinds of stuff, right :D
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Exactly. ;)
 
I had a blast as well, I met and talked to a lot of friendly people from all over Europe (since I am very shy, this is somewhat of an accomplishment for me :boxedin:). I am already looking forward to TAM London 2.

Seating at meals and other problems with the venue itself are all secondary, the speakers and attendees were all top notch :)


One other thing, though: It seems like PayPal did not like the payment for the books I bought, since it appears they have limited my account and opened up an inquiry. (Probably because that computer was used to log in to quite a lot of PP accounts). The status on the inquiry is "Awaiting other party's response" at the moment, so I guess I'll wait and see whether they need anything from me as well.
 
I just wanted you to kow hat I hate you all and will continue this until such time as there is a TAM(UK) occurring when I am not totally brassic.
 
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tim said:
There must be a venue for TAM London that is both a hotel and a conference centre that can accomodate our needs. Let's try to find it. Does it have to be in central London, for instance? As long as it has good transport links, should that not do? TAM Vegas was in a place 6 or 7 miles out and speaking to attendees they had a great time.
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Agreed. Next time it should be somewhere like Birmingham to make it easier for more people to get to. And the cost should be lower than London
 
I just came home minutes ago after 16 hours of flights (8 hrs London-Miami + 8 hrs Miami Santiago, and 7 hrs layover in Miami), and curiously I'm not tired at all. Ready for a marathon hehehe.

Well, it's hard to put in order so many ideas and flashes of memory I have in mind.

First, and foremost... a big THANK YOU! to Teek. She did a wondeful job on the organization of the event. She had to face problem after problem, it was surely a stressful time for her, and yet, she looked fresh as a lettuce and always approachable.

Many thanks to my friends Tim and Lynn for the warm welcome to their home, it was a short but fantastic time I spent up north. My gratitude also extends to BillC and Zooterkin for their tour guide on London highlights. Finally I'd like to thank Scrut, Exarch, BillC and Winslow (not a forum guy) for the so may rounds of beer.

The conference itself was interesting, the lineup of speakers and entertainers was excellent and very well balanced. Brian Cox's talk about CERN's LHC was particularly interesting (though I can't say I understood every bit), his communication style is appealing. Bad Astronomer's presentation was superb, as ever.

Yes, the venue is small, nothing compared to the big spaces we've been used to in Las Vegas. As has already been mantioned, the spaces for breakfast and lunch were probably not very appropriate, but yet, not a big deal for me. More space to socialize inside the venue would've been great, the abrupt end of the event on Sunday afternoon was kind of sad.

It was particularly amusing to me how we literally took over the Blackfriars pub for the farewell get-together on Sunday. Sort of magical moment how everybody, including most speakers, slowly showed up one by one until the place was packed with TAM London'ers. And Bad Astronomer showing is arm muscles and tattoo was priceless.

This was also an opportunity to meet in person, for the first time, many forumites. At least I said hi to or shook hands with (no particular order): Zooterkin, Rat, Cuddles, Mojo and Alisha (ahh, what a lovely girl! :candyheart:, and she likes Formula 1...!!). Hopefully I didn't leave anyone out, hmmm I'm struggling to recall...). Sadly, I missed many others I would've liked to meet, Ersby, Steenk (sp?), 666, SusanM-B1. Next time.

Well, that's it for now. Now out to unpack.
 
Shaun from Scotland said:
Agreed. Next time it should be somewhere like Birmingham to make it easier for more people to get to. And the cost should be lower than London
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But then you'd have the language problem and the need for vaccinations, which may put off quite a few British people from attending.
 
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