TVSMC

Well here we are at the end of our first year - trusting everyone has had a good Christmas and is enjoying the holiday!

2009 has of course been an important year for TVSMC, in that is was the year our conception in mid March. After a few more sporadic meetings during the Spring, we started meeting on a regular twice monthly basis in the Autumn. The locations that seem to working best at the moment are the Reading and Farnborough vicinities, but we're keen to try new locations if there are enough to make it viable. The Village Hotel has turned out to be a great venue in Farnborough, with easy access by road and rail, free wifi, great coffee and lots of sofas! We've also enjoyed Chronicles in Reading, but the parking is dismal, so come the New Year, we'll be trying out a new venue in nearby Caversham called Alto Lounge - there's 2 hrs free parking in the adjacent Waitrose, and also a pay and display car park nearby. It isn't so close to the station as Chronicles, but there are enough people passing the station en route to offer lifts, so don't let that put you off - just @tvsmc and let us know. In fact the same applies for any meeting or venue - the nature of the group means that folks are traveling from all over the area so we are no stranger to lift shares and communal train journeys which provide longer TVSMC conversation time!

We've had about 40 different folks come along to the meeting over the year, and about another 20 who would like to. We've tried out 6 different venues so far, some fab, others not so great, and we're still experimenting. We're very open to suggestion, and of course the occasional sponsor who would like to buy us all coffee wouldn't be shunned!

So, onwards and upwards to 2010. Personally I'm really looking forward to reconvening - I'm always inspired by bright conversations and new angles of thought. I love meeting the new folks who come along and then carry on coming along! I'm looking forward to meeting some of those who have been wanting to come along for a while. And of course I'm looking forward to the unexpected. Roll on January 7th! If you're planning to come then or on a future date, head over to the wiki and let us know - looking forward to seeing you!



(Picture courtesy of @rutthenut's Flickr set)