However, beyond the promising nature of the idea itself, the eG8 was disappointing. The content of the conference was substandard considering who was actually sitting on the panels. And it was clearly (very well) organised but in an old school style where there was a linear agenda that everybody was ‘forced’ to attend – stopping people from discussing issues and networking amongst themselves outside of the ongoing plenary session.

All of the value for Sarko & his team (including Maurice Levy) was in the political theatre and the kudos earned by attracting the likes of Eric Schmidt and Mark Zuckerburg with only a few weeks notice. All of the value for delegates was to be had outside of the official conference – in the cafes, smoking areas and social events that surrounded the conference.

And then I did something about it by launching Drink|Tech|Bath and tweeting about it. Within a week we had over 40 members signed up – all great people from companies like Google, Cisco, Future, LoveHoney, Picochip, The Filter, IPL, Microsoft, etc…

There are already a number of other great events in Bath (like Bathcamp.org), but the demand for a purely social event that mixes up all types (entrepreneurs, creatives, engineers, marketers, etc) has truly blown me away.

So, due to the massive demand, I have had to make some very quick decisions on venue, dates, sponsors, and more. And here are the main headlines:

Organisers: this is a bigger event than I thought with a lot of potential. To make sure it is well organised, I have joined forces with Tim Tucker, Tom Lewis and Keir Whitaker – they all have significant experience in organising events like this (in Bristol, Bournemouth and London) and bring a lot of fresh ideas, energy and additional contacts into the mix.

Venue: we decided to go for a venue that can cater for up to 100 people and that can give us a private space for the event. I am delighted to confirm that the good folk at Market have made their first floor available to us.

Date: the choice of venue means we have to change the date of the first meetup to Wednesday 23rd February, from 6pm. Please add this to your diaries!

Sponsors: we have secured a sponsor for the first event so we can provide free drinks. I am just crossing ‘T’s and dotting ‘I’s and will announce who it is in the next few days.

Name: In joining forces with Tim, Tom and Keir we have decided to rename the event BathSpark. My initial name of DrinkTechBath was a bit literal (I took 5 mins to come up with that), whereas BathSpark has as much potential as the event itself.

We will be making the name changes to the website/meetup.com page and twitter handle in the next few days. So keep an eye out for any mention of BathSpark!

Click here to sign up for the event and/or to stay informed about up and coming BathSpark evenings. And feel free to pass on this link to others.

I have done my Martin Lewis full Money Makeover (I recommend it – may sound dull, but if you follow his instructions, it’s the easiest and quickest way to give yourself the equivalent of a 25% pay increase) and it has made me more sensitive to finding the best price for everything I buy.

So, naturally, I have signed up to two online discount services with a view to continue the process of savings: GroupOn (uses the power of group buying to bring you offers for local goods and services) and Vouchercloud (high street and online time-based discount vouchers) redeemed via your iPhone and/or printable vouchers.

These two services are very different:

Groupon delivers massive savings on fairly specialist products and services: e.g. laser hair removal, sports massage therapy, food allergy consultation as well as local restaurants. The catch is that you can only get the saving (which in many cases is substantial) if enough people sign up for the offer. Groupon is very much a push service – once they have your details they keep on pushing emails to you every day in the hope that one of their offers will resonate.

Vouchercloud is much more of a search engine for local offers that covers shopping (mainly for chain stores) and outings (museums, cinema, restaurants). You find the offer, you print the voucher and you use it. There is typically a use by date for the offer, but you don’t have to wait for 20 other to sign up for it before you can get the saving. This is more of a pull service – i.e. you have to remember to check out the app or site before heading out on your shopping spree of your annual trip to Alton Towers.

Over the last 3 months I have to say that the only savings I have achieved on my day-to-day spending is through Vouchercloud – a 30% discount voucher at the Gap for a Christmas present.

During that period Groupon have emailed me every day with offers, but even though the offers are always financially interesting (60% off spinal reflex healing) they have never ever been relevant to me. Yet, having just looked at all of the emails from them in my trashcan, I can spot a few offers that would be relevant to me now, but sadly the offers have run out…

My conclusion is that right now, the best way to continue saving is to scour the likes of Vouchercloud every time you plan to shop/go out as you may well find vouchers. In terms of Groupon, while they continue to use fairly basic information about me (mainly that I live near Bath) to target offers, their emails aren’t that different to spam.

However, I can see that if they could convince me to part with more information that would enable them to filter and target their offers – we could both win: me with a relevant offer for something I want and them with a much higher click through and conversion rate.

I found a good article that describes how the VC model works and also debunks a few myths. If you don’t understand your VC or are planning to start working with one, read this.

The advice goes along the lines of comparing creating social networks to organising great parties. And the analogy works for me.

It goes something like this:
1) have a great idea and host,
2) set the mood,
3) invite the right people,
4) spend time setting up,
5) open the doors,
6) crank it up to the next level,
7) expect gate crashers, and finally,
8) bask in the afterglow of creating something special.

My experience in creating social networks (isporty being the most recent) fits these 8 stes perfectly.