I already posted yesterday during my trip to Birmingham for this event, but I've now had a chance to think it over. I got home about 10pm and was soon off to bed. I find these events mentally tiring as you are constantly either talking or thinking about what others are saying. It's very rewarding though.
The venue was Impact Hub, which is a converted factory a short way from the city centre. The area looks a bit run down, but this sort of project can help to revive it. We had a couple of rooms with lots of chairs, lots of coffee and wifi. The format of this event is that anyone can give a topic they want to talk about and everyone decides which conversations they want to join in with. There were not that many of us, so sometimes we all just talked together. Unfortunately not everyone could make it. 
Those who did make it were:
- Organiser
@lloyddavis who did a great job. He made everyone feel very welcome.
@article61 had some travel issues, but got there in time to participate in most discussions.
- I'd been wanting to meet
@beautifulbullies for a while. She brought her crypto-fan brother
@dobsdies along too. She has a post up.
- I met
@dayleeo and
@teamhumble at Steemfest.
@redrica and
@ultravioletmag drove up from London. They instigated a game of Cards Against Humanity and a lunchtime expedition for more food.
@rimicane was telling us about the travel trail she helps curate. I think it's
@travelfeed.
- As I was walking up to the venue I heard my name being called and there was
@slobberchops with his wife
@bingbabe in the carpark. I've been helping him get going on Steemit and we had lots to discuss.
@davedev is a brand new Steemian who should have his first post soon. I expect it was a bit of information overload for him, but a good way to get introduced to what this platform is about.
- I also met
@cryptofunk at Steemfest and it was great to see him again. He also did a post.
As we had some new users we talked a lot about how to get going. The main theme there was to find people who share your interests and talk to them. Steemit is all about people and their connections. Good connections can lead to interesting outcomes.
I led a talk on my favourite topic of paid votes (or 'bid bots'). It was interesting to hear from newer users who say they struggle to get any attention if they don't use them. This shows that Steemit is lacking in ways for users with a small following and low reputation to get traction. I really hope the Communities feature will help with that. Others agreed with me that the trending posts paying hundreds for votes are not a good thing for Steemit. These are the first thing new and prospective users will see. They set unrealistic expectations and do not reflect what people are voting up.
When out time at the Hub was up several of us decided to go to a pub. I had booked a later train as I was hoping there would be a chance for further discussion. We wandered up the road to the 14th century Old Crown. It has lots of little rooms and we found our own space there. There's just so much to talk about.
This is outside the Hub. Those brick railway arches are spectacular.
Eventually I had to head back to the station. I still felt hungry, so I grabbed a tasty Leon Plant Burger. I had to laugh when I saw they had pastel de nata. This was a big feature of Steemfest in Lisbon and is pictured on the bad I got there which I took along yesterday. I didn't buy one as I'd already had lots of sweet stuff.
In all a great day. If there's anything like this going on near you then you really should go along if you can. You will get a lot out of it.
Some of the crew are going to the London Cryptocurrency Show next weekend. I may make it there too.
Steem on!
I'll buy guitar picks for Steem Dollars
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