ezekiel's chariot - 張敦楷 ([info]pjammer) wrote,
@ 2006-05-30 08:11:00
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Current location:Classified
Current mood: chipper
Current music:Gregorian Chants - I'll Find My Way Home
Entry tags:life

Stormhoek Roundup
Thursday's Stormhoek dinner was, to my understanding, the largest of the 100 Geek Dinners held thus far in the U.S. After a long memorial day weekend where I continued to follow up with client meetings and other miscellaneous activities, wanted to post a roundup of others' posts/impressions of the event. Oddly enough, it appears I was the only person there with a legitimate camera - in a room full of blogging geeks, Treo-style cameraphones were the weapon of choice overwhelmingly favored by those in attendence. I may have to bring my point-and-shoot camera to the next event so we'd have at least two sets of photos that aren't in the grainy cameraphone resolution!

Starting off, we have Eric who blogged a nice writeup of his impressions/thoughts of the evening as well as photos from his slides. (LJ users note: you can subscribe to feed of his journal here [info]echeng_rss.

Mie (from SixApart) posted photos and videos from the Harmonics' performances and her experiences from the party.

[info]flashfire took a leap of faith to attend and greatly enjoyed himself.

[info]aaangyl posted quite a few photos in her LJ Gallery of the event.

[info]sunyata__, who I've never met before Thursday (even though we lived in the same city), had a good time and posted a few photos as well as her raffle prize, a copy of Keith Ferrazzi's Never Eat Alone.

[info]tigresa came with her husband and The Biscuit for an evening of fun; entry of her evening's festivities can be found here.

[info]ladycalliope joined her fellow Stanford Harmonics for a final song "Change in my Life" and wrote about her evening in this post.

As mentioned, the event was sponsored by Stormhoek wines, who generously provided wines - for those of you who attended and haven't yet posted about your evening, we'd appreciate a brief mention in a public entry on the topic as a way of saying 'thanks,' and do drop a comment below in this entry if you'd like your post linked from this journal.

There have been strong interest from people who wish for me to host another event, and I have a few ideas in the works already. As always, I'd be interested in hearing from you on what directions we should take future wine dinners. If you have any suggestions that don't fit into the poll, feel free to leave a comment below as well.

Poll #738744 Stormhoek
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Would you like to attend a future Stormhoek dinner event and be included on the invite?

View Answers

Yes
18 (100.0%)

No
0 (0.0%)

It's more difficult to close-out a restaurant on a weekend - but what are your preferences for future events?

View Answers

I don't care, the only event I can attend is on a weekend.
3 (17.6%)

Early in the week (Mon/Tues)
2 (11.8%)

Later in the week (Weds/Thurs)
4 (23.5%)

Anytime is a good time for wine & chocolate!
8 (47.1%)

I'm considering raising the price a bit (say to $55 an evening) to cover the costs of hiring a professional magician to mingle with the crowd. Good idea?

View Answers

Yes! I love closeup magic.
8 (50.0%)

I like magic, but I wouldn't attend for $55.
7 (43.8%)

I am a cheapskate and think that $10 is too much for unlimited wine and live entertainment.
1 (6.2%)

P.S. For an idea of the sort of magician I'm looking to hire, please check out Jamy Ian Swiss. Site Meter


(Post a new comment)


[info]rcantilles
2006-05-30 03:56 pm UTC (link)
After we move, I'd be potentially interested, depending on the price and whether Robin has a job sooner rather than later. We may be living on 1 grad student stipend in Silicon Valley, such that "going out" means "noodle shop".

(Reply to this)


[info]ladycalliope
2006-05-30 04:37 pm UTC (link)
As long as the magician isn't a clown, I'm cool. I've had a fear of clowns since I was 5 and had a nightmare that my Ronald McDonald doll expanded to life-size and bit me in the hand.

If you want me to mingle with a clown, YOU have to pay ME $55. Deal?

(Reply to this)


[info]pinkfu
2006-05-30 04:39 pm UTC (link)
... Magic?

(Reply to this)


[info]flashfire
2006-05-31 01:12 am UTC (link)
I was thinking of bringing my camera, but it was one of those things where I didn't really want to be running all over the place with it. More fun to kick back and relax.

In the future, I like the idea of mixing things up a bit with various 'themes' or what have you.

(Reply to this)


[info]jhogan
2006-05-31 03:08 pm UTC (link)
A magician is a neat idea although as a frame of reference, I don't think would've been worth the cash at the last dinner. There was already enough going on with the crazy restaurant and harmonics and underwater pictures and chocolates. :-)

(Reply to this)


[info]choiceful
2006-06-01 12:24 pm UTC (link)
I have not quite overcome baby limitations yet, but it sounds fun, so please keep trying me ;)

(Reply to this)


[info]aaangyl
2006-06-04 07:22 pm UTC (link)
I'd almost rather stick to entertainment in the form of people who actively want to promote themselves, with less of a price increase. Also, nobody seemed anything like bored with all those people to mingle with.

I'm not too cheap to pay $55, but I'd rather take a book or print or something home with me for the extra money than have an extra distraction floating around. Or in more specific terms, I don't personally consider a magician as a value-add.

How about a karaoke contest? I clearly recall talking to lots of talented singers at the dinner, and it goes well with lots of wine. It's certainly no more cheesey than a magician.

And speaking of cheese, it's the other thing that goes very well with wine. Maybe you could network in some local grande fromage?

(Reply to this)


[info]tigresa
2006-06-05 12:38 am UTC (link)
My favorite feature of the evening and the thing that put it over the top as far as ROI for me was the request to get up and go talk to someone you've never met. If the dinners were structured in a way that would promote meeting new people, along with some means of breaking the ice, I'd prefer that vs. random entertainment.

Speaking of random entertainment, though, I'd pay $55 to see Scott Nery again, that guy was awesome. :)

(Reply to this)


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