The one where I met Mark for the first time at Likeminds

The first memory was our initial meeting in June 2010.

I was in my last year of university and interning at Aaron+Gould Social Media consultancy in Exeter, Devon. At that time Scott Gould was also running a two-day social media conference/festival called Likeminds – which, for a time, was a beacon of immense creativity to the UK digital conference scene.

The night before the first day of Likeminds, many of the delegates (for want of a better word: everyone involved in Likeminds is too cool to be called a ‘delegate’, trust me) decamped to the Phoenix in the Exeter

I went with my friend Debo* as my wingman as up until that point I had never mixed with working professionals with businesses and branding and communities before. Much less Twitter-famous ones**.

As soon as I entered the Phoenix I recall the various characters of the Likeminds scene propped up at the bar; Paul Simbeck, John Lewis, Wisdom London, and there, in the middle, a frenetic ball of energy in a distinctive hat; Mark Jennings.

I didn’t get to speak to Mark that night (Paul and I got embroiled in an hour long conversation about Germany and his past as a diving instructor), but never one to respect personal space or social boundaries, I managed to get this photo with him the next day (I suspect he had no idea who I was and just wanted me to go away):

Thus started a great Twitter friendship – the type that bards and anthropologists will write about for years to come.

The one where Mark gave me the confidence to run Purley’s First Tweetup

Mark next big assistance for me was in January 2011 when – on the night before Purley’s first tweetup – I gave him a panicked call having I realised for all of my love of social media and talking to people, I had no idea what I was doing (I had been wow’d by Mark’s phenomenal work building up the #Media140 community). Mark kindly – and with great patience – took me through the fundamentals of hosting a tweetup, even though I so obviously encroaching upon his evening.

So basically Mark was the reason this happened and went so well:

The one where Mark did my job for me

Mark saved by butt professionally in Feb 2011 when I started working p/t for Top Hat Property Services. Although I was perfectly competent at setting up and creating content for Top Hat’s various social profiles, it was lacking a certain ‘pep’. Another phonecall later and Mark advised on how he had worked for a DIY client in Scotland by tweeting every Friday a ‘Guess the tool’ competition.

Completely devoid of any originality myself, I promptly copied the idea (to great success, I might add):

The one where Mark had a party in a Soho bar and I ended up writing #givejonnyroseajob on a drunk Benjamin Southworth’s body

The second time I saw Mark in the flesh (and, yes, with the same hat I’d seen him in the year before) was at Meet140 reunion in London, April 2011. Meet140 by this time had gone international, but Mark had brought it back ‘home’ to London for one night.

I think the reunion also coincided with Mark’s birthday as there was a lot chocolate cake, champagne and merriment. Mark was his usual ebullient self and although we only exchanged a few words that night in the dingy depths of Bar LVPO in Soho – I had the pleasure of meeting some of the London digital scene’s great and good (Mark, if nothing else, is a great connector). Most notably – as at this point the #givejonnyroseajob campaign was in full flow – so I had the good fortune of being able to physically deface an inebriated Benjamin Southworth (then a hirsute ne’er-do-well, now Deputy CEO of Tech City Investment Organisation).

The one where Mark turned up in shorts to an idio business breakfast

The third time I met with Mark was on my home turf running an idio breakfast on ‘Content Marketing and Hip-Hop’ with Jon Akwue (Partner, Engine Group).

It was Summer 2012 and by this point, Mark was working for social media agency behemoth, Spreading Jam, and had come along to support his colleague.

Although I was glad to see Mark,  ever the misfiring prude, I was more scandalised at seeing his bare knees (he’d cycled in) than by any of the abrasive NWA tracks Jon insisted on playing that morning.

(if you listen, you can hear Mark’s laugh throughout)

—————————————————————————————-

Today, Mark send me a video (below) of him speaking at the GEEK Conference in Margate. In it he cites both #PurleyBreakfastClub and Croydon Tech City. I hope he realises that he has been a bigger part of both of these initiatives than he will ever know.

This post is just to say that although I don’t see or speak to Mark as much as I’d like, or articulate my thanks to him enough, he is very special to me and I am very appreciative of his continual support.

Mark’s banter with Gary Day Ellison (including the time they set up a mock account based on an anonymous man in the background of Mark’s profile pic, “eh?”); His exchange of reggae wisdom with Glenn Le Santo; His droll exchanges with various bigheaded London-ers in the digital scene; His occasionally sharp, frank ways and unfailing conscientiousness, make Twitter a delight for me.

Mark Jennings, I salute you!

PS I’ve also promised to take him to The Ivy one day and I’m more than happy for this post to be used in evidence against me until I make good on my offer.

PPS Sorry Mark that you get a bit grouchy on Sundays when I tweet about church X

*History has taught me: always bring another ethnic minority to a professional event to use as a decoy/sacrificial offering to the police. Trust me.

**This was a time when being ‘Twitter-famous’ and several thousand ‘followers’ was worthy of something approaching reverence.

N.B.  Thurs November 22nd is a follow-up meeting from the first Croydon Tech City event held October 4th (see below to see what was discussed).

On Thurs Nov 22nd:

• There will be a full presentation of the vision (as below) from 7.30 – 8pm for those who were unable to make the previous event.
• 8pm onwards there will be a presentation from Croydon Creatives, and extended time for audience feedback and discussion of how to take Croydon Tech City forward.

——————————————————————————————-

The Silicon Valley of South London

Croydon Tech City is a vision of mine in which I wish to see Croydon become a credible player in the European tech scene and an attractive home for digital and creative start-ups.

The aims of the evening are primarily to:

• Explain why Croydon should commit to this vision
• Show how I intend to push Croydon Tech City forwards in 2013 
• Find out how others can help me
• Learn from any suggestions or criticisms 

The agenda for the night is as follows (although subject to change):

•  Introduction (with pyrotechnics and laser show, budget permitting)
  • Personal background
  • Purley 2.0

• An introduction to Tech City
  • Brief history
  • Notable companies in the area
  • Events and culture
  • Success stories

• Why Croydon should commit to this vision
  • Matthews Yard
  • Fairfield Halls
  • Examining current local tech cluster
  • Croydon Creatives
  • Commercial office space
  • Residential properties
  • Local culture

• Plans for 2013
  • Croydon Creatives
  • Events at Matthews Yard
  • Croydon Tours
  • Code Club (Primary Schools)
  • Young Enterprise in Croydon
  • Summer event 2013 - Startup Weekend Croydon

• Q&A (with possible premature escape through the back exit from groupies/irate naysayers)

The event will formally finish at 9pm – although it would be great to carry on the conversation well into the night. Ideally somewhere classy (read: KFC).

______________________________________________________________

Please do come along on Thurs Nov 22nd at 7.30pm, it would be wonderful to have you listen, contribute and shape this vision.

I can be contacted at jonnyrose1 [at] gmail [dot] com or 98rosjon on Twitter.

The crowd at the Oct 4th meeting wanted to meet again to progress the idea!

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a MASSIVE advocate of Matthews Yard – a new cafe and workspace behind Surrey Street Market, established by Saif Bonar.

The venue is fast becoming popular with the various denizens of Croydon who have warmed to its urbane cafe culture and spartan style.

As well as organic word-of-mouth from its many patrons, Matthews Yard has also benefitted from the calculated efforts of Hillcrest PR who has continued to gain the venue borough-wide and national exposure, which notably culminated in Autumn 2012 with a visit from the Royal family.

Hillcrest PR dynamo John Lavabre (centre back) introduces Prince Charles to the workspace members of Matthews Yard

The appointment of Alice Cretney – a local artist – has meant that Matthews Yard now plays host to regularly updated arts exhibitions and cultural programmes (something that is dramatically lacking in the borough).

Locals have also formed the ‘Croydon Craft Club’ held on third Tuesday of each month 5.30-8pm. 

Croydon Craft Club in session…

Further compounding this sense of wider community utility is the presence of Croydon Radio – a venture founded by Tim Longhurst – which provides round-the-clock music, comment and personality.

Tim Longhurst and cohort brighten up Croydon’s airwaves (photo source: Inside Croydon)

On Friday and Saturday nights, Matthews Yard has live artists in residence bringing in crowds from across South London.

Temi Odesanya has been appointed in recent months as Matthews Yard’s Community Manager. An enviable role which has seen her boost membership of the workspace as she seeks to make Matthews Yard be at the forefront of Croydon’s social enterprise and collaborative workspace movement:

My affection for this place and the people there is boundless, and I look forward to seeing it continue to improve the social and cultural landscape of the area.

—————————————————————————————

SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT

On Thursday 24th January 2013 7.30pm at Matthews Yard, myself and others will be speaking on ‘Croydon Tech City’.

We will be detailing:

• Why Croydon should commit to this vision
• How we will push Croydon Tech City forwards in 2013 
• How YOU can help us

PUT THIS IN YOUR DIARY RIGHT NOW. YES, RIGHT NOW. I look forward to seeing you there

StartUp Weekends are 54hr events where developers, designers, marketeers, product managers and startup enthusiasts come together to share ideas, form teams, build products and launch start-ups.

Beginning with open mic pitches on Friday, attendees bring their best ideas and inspire others to join their team. Over Saturday and Sunday teams focus on customer development, validating their ideas, practicing LEAN Startup Methodologies and building a minimal viable product. On Sunday evening teams demo their prototypes and receive valuable feedback from a panel of experts.

This is JUST the kind of thing I would love to do in Croydon in Matthews Yard (please do get in contact – see below – if you’d like to help me do one in Summer 2013)

Until then, please do check out this beautifully produced 15min documentary following two entrepreneurs as they go from idea to product in 54hours.

Reblogged from Inside Croydon:

• 
• 

As property giants Hammerson and Westfield charge headlong into a £1billion battle for the rights to develop another temple to high street retailing, proud Purley resident JONNY ROSE puts forward an alternative vision for regeneration: the Silicon Valley of South London

Retail is dead, long live the start-up!

The unwelcome news last week that Allders of Croydon is closing comes after a line of other long-established businesses are preparing to flee the borough.

Read more… 1,065 more words

For more on the story behind the video, go here.

I’m aware that it might be hard to visualise – so below are examples of other cities/towns that have started on the road to encouraging a large hub of start-ups and digital/tech industries.

Please enjoy (and savour!) each of them – they’re well-made productions which display different facets of the global tech-boom and its various effects on localised areas. Keep in mind how they might apply to Croydon!

1. Lisbon

2. Kiryat Gat, Israel – a framework for a ‘mediated city’

3. Cincinnati

4. Berlin – Betahaus ‘People in Beta’ (co-working community)

5. Johannesburg

6. Philadelphia

7. Copenhagen

8. Baltimore

9. Chicago

10. Philadelphia

11. Helsinki

12. Berlin (again!)

Also check out: 18 Latin American tech hubs!

_______________________________________________________________

If you are interested in finding out more or helping me realise my vision for Croydon as ‘The Second Tech City’, please do get intro yourself to me.

I can be contacted on Twitter: @98rosjon or by email: jonnyrose1 [at] gmail [dot] com

Matthews Yard, Croydon – a new co-working site

Co-working is (according to the unimpeachable veracity of Wikipedia):

a style of work that involves a shared working environment, often an office, and independent activity. Unlike in a typical office environment, those coworking are usually not employed by the same organization.^[1] Typically it is attractive to work-at-home professionals, independent contractors, or people who travel frequently who end up working in relative isolation.^[2] Coworking is also the social gathering of a group of people who are still working independently, but who share values,^[3] and who are interested in the synergy that can happen from working with like-minded talented people in the same space.^[4][5]

The rise of co-working spaces in the last decade has been fuelled by several things, including technologies such as cloud computing; more freelancers and remote workers in the workforce, which means greater demand for flexible work arrangements; and economic pressure on firms’ property costs.

A key part of my vision for Croydon to be ‘The Second Tech City‘ (blog post soon come, I promise!) is to capitalise on this trend and cultivate a strong and vibrant community of entrepreneurs and workers in the co-working space of Matthews Yard in Croydon’s Old Town district.

———————————————————————————————————————————

For those who prefer pictures to reading this is a really interesting presentation that I found which profiles some of the effects of co-working in various European countries:

———————————————————————————————————————————-

I am convinced that Matthews Yard is best positioned as a co-working space which budding entrepreneurs and more established groups in Croydon should be utilising, for a variety of reasons:

• Better networking. Not everyone is comfortable with the soulless flurry of handshakes and calling cards at networking events. But, when you’re among a group of diverse people in a coworking space, without even trying, you’re already networking! Even better, you can actually see the kind of quality of work your coworkers do, and their own contacts, when passed on to you, have most likely been vetted.

• A professional venue with a meeting room (without the cost!)

The Matthews Yard workspace…

• ‘Accelerated serendipity’ galore. Just by exposure to other people, you discover something new without trying— be it a new Ruby on Rails tweak, a PR secret, or – most importantly – where the nearest KFC is(!). Furthermore, you get to meet new people, new clients, and find new resources the same way.

• Collective brainpower. In his book, Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration, Keith Sawyer says that acts of collaboration – not solo flights of genius – are the key to breakthrough creativity. When you hang around a coworking space, where collaboration is not only encouraged but also cultivated, you get the opportunity to harness your coworkers’ collective brainpower.

• Shared resources. If you need to get things done on the cheap, coworking spaces are the place to do it. You don’t have to fight for a spot, all the equipment and space you need to run a business is there (printers, Wi-Fi, conference rooms).

• Opportunities for bigger projects. With access to people working in different fields, you can now nab bigger projects without worries about biting off more than you can chew or hiring new people. In fact, you can simply outsource the parts you can’t handle to your coworkers.

• Maslow’s Pyramid of (co-working) Needs

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs applied to coworking – Matthews Yard provides this

At a local level, co-working has tangible impact on micro-economies and public realm:

Coworking keeps stellar talent in town

Coworking spaces are “office buildings” for those who had the ingenuity to create their own job in a difficult economy. Without coworking, many in mid-sized urban areas (like Croydon) would have to commute or move their families to bigger cities with more opportunities. Coworking provides an opportunity for workers to stay in town, preserving their money, talent, and enthusiasm for use in the local economy.

Coworking supports small business

Don’t let the mega-corps fool you; they employ people only because it’s necessary for the creation and dissemination of their products and services, not because they want to revitalize a town (*cough* Nestle *cough*).

Croydon Jelly meets at Matthews Yard on the second Thursday of each month. Organised by Claire Kerr.

Small to mid-sized businesses are the lifeblood of a local economy. They live and work and shop locally, and tend to invest more into the personal lives of their employees. It might be the swarthy world-weary hotshot who just formed his own PR practice or couple of buddies who decided to create their own design company. Either way, these businesses are driving down unemployment rates at a time when multi-billion pound companies are still laying people off. Joining a coworking space means these tiny businesses will have a safe place to grow and learn from more experienced members.

Coworking creates a network for collaborative consumption

The quest for bigger, better, faster has crippled our economy. People are tired of keeping up with the Jones’ and just want to keep their families fed. Collaborative consumption means reusing, growing, renting, bartering and making instead of buying. But the sharing economy demands a network of friendly, trustworthy people to make it work. Like the people who work right next to you in a coworking space.

When a community is connected and open to sharing, people save money, learn new skills, and reduce their impact on the environment. New ideas emerge, problems are solved in creative ways, and the community at large reaps all the rewards of a happy independent workforce.

That’s what a great coworking center -particularly Matthews Yard – can do for Croydon!

To learn more about Matthews Yard or buy a membership, please go here.

Interested in internet evangelism but not sure where to start?

Want to learn various ideas and techniques to share your passion for God online?

COME TO DAVE ROBERTS’ ‘WOW CLINIC’ - An interactive seminar for 90 minutes about Churches and Christians using the internet, new media and social networks!

When: Monday December 3rd at 7pm 

Where: Matthews Yard, Croydon - behind Surrey Street Market  

Cost: Free (but suggested donation £5)

Please contact Jonny Rose on jonnyrose1@gmail.com, tweet @98rosjon or leave a comment below in the comments section if you would like to attend…or feel free to turn up on the night!

___________________________________________________________

Dave Roberts is a pint-sized Australian with a massive personality.

He has been involved in internet ministries for well over a decade and runs the wildly successful Partakers Ministry site where he writes daily sermons, records podcasts and hosts a prayer-wall which connects worshippers around the world.

Dave is an expert at helping people who are on a shoe-string budget share their passion for God online, and is looking forward to sharing ideas and resources with Croydon churches – please do join us!