There were three big events in London this week, Tony Pearce and Graeme Ferguson’s Centurions networking event on Tuesday, the annual ME Awards on Wednesday and the MASSIVE LBi rave in Brick Lane the following evening.
In days gone by I would have got the train to London on Tuesday with a change of clothing in a plastic bag knowing that I would be at all three events, crashing with mates or on the floor of somebody’s hotel room… oh, and doing some work.
However, tempus fugit and my liver and brain can’t take as much as they did (I HATE, HATE writing that) so it was time to prioritise and choose one of these three spectacles to attend.
The Centurions is always a fabulous networking event, but I had been several times before so I scratched that one from my list, albeit with a certain amount of pain. As it was I probably missed the best one of all, spread out across the rooftop terrace of the Century Club and with a surprise guest Steve Coogan. Ah-ha!
The LBi rave was very difficult to turn down. Two thousand people with all those wonderful features from those heady rave days; I knew that it would be either a fantastic night of revelry or the music might be too loud. I opted for the latter and passed on my VIP ticket to somebody else. It was an amazing night apparently.
So, I settled on the auld favourite, the ME Awards over in Kensington. The usual story ensued. Met some people in a club earlier, got a taxi, sunk a few pints in the dodgy boozer opposite the venue, staggered in, staggered out 30 minutes later to watch Chelsea lose in the pub, came back, watched a comedian.
And very funny he was, too; one Terry Alderton. I thought he was in the TV series Please Sir but somebody pointed out that was John Alderton, which only goes to show how in touch I am. I’m still trying to work out if he was too funny, let’s just say that cocaine is very good for comedians to use, er I mean, refer to.
The awards came thick and fast, the mood was good, Tim Green made a joke at the end, everybody laughed and then retired to the Wapple post-party where I have to admit that at one stage I even danced, yes danced. Then it was into Soho, a 4am train home and a morning in the spare room.
I enjoyed the night out, notwithstanding the dancing, and it was good to see an industry that seems to have been quiet for a couple of years coming back to life. Recent acquisitions in the space and a maturing of the mobile web have brought back smiles… and very pissed mobile investors.
One thing I would point out though was the lack of a Twitter Wall. Events such as these are great for Tweeting, especially when people are drunk. It adds to the whole community thing, man. Let’s hope they do it next year.
As for those of you who were at the LBi party, HELLO HELLO HELLO, HOW’S YOUR HANGOVER?! As for me, I am quietly smug that I can now ration my parties and not feel as if I’ve missed out. In fact, I feel very well indeed. Bye-bye.
Monty Munford has more than 15 years' experience in mobile, digital media, web and journalism. He is the founder of Mob76, a company that helps tech companies raise money and exit. He speaks regularly at global media events with a focus on Africa, writes a weekly column for The Telegraph, is a regular contributor to The Economist, Wired, Mashable and speaks regularly on the BBC World Service.
