In London For a Bit
October 3rd, 2009
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I didn’t mention this before because it was extremely last-minute, but I’m currently in London for TAM London. I won’t be back until Tuesday at the earliest. While I do have a laptop and internet access, there’s so much to do I doubt I’ll be spending much time blogging. If you happen to live in the London area and would like to get a pint, then leave a comment and I’ll try to check them fairly regularly. My phone does not work here, unfortunately.
There’s so much to do and so many people to meet plus there is so much to see here as well, that I’d rather spend my time experiencing it than on the internet, especially given that I will be headed back on Monday night.
Also, a big thanks to everyone involved, including, but not limited to: Ben Goldacre of badscience.net, Phil Plait of badastronomy.com, Adam Savage of Mythbusters, George Hrab and of course my good friend Tracy King, who organized the event.
This entry was posted on Saturday, October 3rd, 2009 at 9:50 pm and is filed under Amazing Meeting, Announcements, Misc, Website. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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October 4th, 2009 at 2:49 am
Not much point in meeting (or time to) if you’re going back on Monday, but enjoy your time here. I tried to get to TAM London but found out about it too late and tickets were sold out (plus I’m skint and can’t afford them anyway). I hope they do one here again.
Don’t mind the weather.
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October 4th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
[Other] Matthew said:
Jeez… In the future, if they have another one (which they are planning to do) please let me know if you have any issues like that. I could have gotten you a ticket. :-/
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October 6th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
I’m back. Probably not posting tonight, however. Too tired and jet lagged.
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October 7th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Damn, just read your post AFTER having got back myself from TAM London, so I’ve missed the opportunity.
I really enjoyed the event and I’m wondering if I should be planning on getting over to TAM8…ahem, this time with the rest of the family.
A big well done to the organisers who had to cope with a few glitches at the start, but seemed, at least from the delegates point of view, to go pretty smoothly. Loved the enthusiasm of everyone, and was surprised by the number of European visitors – I was hoping to be “unusual” as I came over from Italy. Scandinavia seemed to be well represented, would be interesting to see a breakdown by country of the guests.
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October 7th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Tim Cooper said:
Hi, Tim. I don’t remember if I met you or not. I’m sorry, but so many names. Perhaps if I saw your face too?
As for TAM-8, well it’s similar to TAM London, but different in a few ways. It’s bigger, for one thing, and there are several more “Big names” who are generally there. I’m not saying that the celebrities are necessarily the big draw, but the ones who are always at the regular TAM event include Penn and Teller, both of whom live in Las Vegas and preform their show there. The event is three days and not two and one nice thing is that its held at a hotel, so it’s easier to find people after hours and such. Generally everyone congregates around the main hotel bars and restaurants.
Las Vegas has always been the place to hold it because of the cheap hotel rooms and venues. It’s fairly easy for most in the US to get to. Of course, there’s always the big thing about it being difficult for people who live further away to get to. That’s a tough one. There’s no single place where it will be easy for EVERYONE to get to. That was part of the reason for TAM London. A lot of Europeans find it hard getting to the US for the main TAM event.
TAM london was a lot bigger than anyone expected!
TAM London of course had a lot of Europeans in general, which is great, since that was kinda the point of it – to make it easier for those in Europe, the UK or otherwise to get there.
TAM Las Vegas tends to have a lot of Americans (of course, given the location). It also has a lot of Europeans, Canada is always very well represented as is Australia. They get some from New Zealand, Japan, Korea… many other places.
I was asked by many to compare TAM London to the previous TAM’s. It’s kinda hard to really draw all the parallels. The one held in the US tends to get more of the very involved JREF people. People like Alison Smith, who has been in charge of the Million Dollar Challenge. The JREF is based in the US, but everyone is very pleased at how international it has become recently.
I guess if I had to address what the single biggest difference is between the two it comes down to the socialization after-hours and when there are not events going on. At TAM London, it was held at the Mermaid center and afterward most people went to their respective hotels or went bar hopping. At TAM in Las Vegas, when the final official event closes, most everyone is staying in the same hotel and it’s easier to find people to mingle with. The bars, restaurants, shops, the hotel pool and so on are all filled with familiar faces. I enjoy that a lot because in addition to the official events, there are so many fascinating people to talk to.
It’s also great that the speakers generally stay in the same place and mingle with everyone. At Tam-6 I had breakfast with Mr. Randi and some of his associates, at TAM-5 I had drinks with Julia Sweenie and later with Adam Savage and Tori from Mythbusters.
One thing though about the guests and speakers is that they’re always very gracious to mingle and their contributions are very appreciated, but occasionally some people tend to mob them or get a bit dazzled with their celebrity. That’s kinda something to be discouraged. I mean it’s one thing to sit with someone at lunch when there is a space at their table, but to try to squeeze your way next to them and talk their ear off with the typical “I’m your biggest fan. Oh my god, do you remember when…” That kinda ruins it and may discourage the openness… But that’s another story.
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November 10th, 2009 at 11:09 am
Did you do the ebay music lesson you won?
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